K-POP FORMATS PHENOMENON
2 brand new K-Pop themed formats with (also) off-TV purposes
K-pop is not only a global musical phenomenon, it also provides inexhaustible material for formats mainly, but not exclusively, of the talent show genre (competition, factual, etc.). Here are two examples of this growing trend, which often generates business outside television.
K-POP PLANETS
The starting point is simple: the singing talent show Boys II Planet, the second edition of Boys Planet, is set to air on Korean music channel Mnet in the second half of 2025, produced by South Korean entertainment company CJ ENM and Mnet itself. Casting is currently underway.
However, if you look a little deeper, it is a very complex and multi-layered project. Boys Planet - BP (the first series) premiered on Mnet on 2 February 2023. However, it is in turn the spin-off/male version of Girls Planet -GP 999, a singing competition featuring 99 female trainees that aired in mid to late 2021. The 7-piece (formerly 9, but 2 left) girl group made their debut on 3 January 2022 as Kep1er. It was a good deal: upon release, the group achieved immediate commercial success, selling around 400,000 copies and peaking at number 1 on the South Korean Gaon Album Chart.
But if we go back further in time, both BP and GP999 are themselves successors to Mnet's former music competition show series 'Produce', a group of K-pop talent shows - including the formats Produce 101, Produce 101 Season 2, Produce 48 and Produce X 101, all of which aired on Mnet between 2016 and 2019, and were created with the aim of forming disposable successful bands.
But let us return to to Boys Planet. After a massive casting process (involving thousands of participants from 84 countries and regions, including South Korea, other parts of Asia, Europe, America and the Middle East, and 229 management agencies!), 98 finalists were selected and divided into K-Group (Korea) and G-Group (Global). The aim was to create a "global group" that would dominate the K-pop industry and have a worldwide impact. In the finale on 20 April 2023, which was broadcast live, the show announced the final nine members who will debut as Zerobaseone (ZB1).
This operation was also a commercial success: ZB1's first EP, Youth in the Shade, sold over two million copies and debuted at number one on the South Korean Circle Album Chart. The group also achieved a ‘Rookie Grand Slam’ (2023-2024) by sweeping the 10 Rookie of the Year awards from various domestic award ceremonies, including the Golden Disc Awards, MAMA Awards, Melon Music Awards and Seoul Music Awards.
In this second series (Boys II Planet), the aim is perhaps even more ambitious, as it is the first 'global twin' project to create two brand new groups for two different languages and regions (Korea and China). The two programmes will be called Boys II Planet K (Korea) and Boys II Planet C (China) and will be produced in Korean and Mandarin respectively. Each show will be produced by a separate group - with both groups working together on certain projects.
The last thing to note is the overall look of the concept, which, as you can see from the title and the trailer below, is space-themed, adding an even more mysterious and intriguing aspect to the whole project.
K-POP WAR
Apple TV+ announces KPOPPED, hosted by Korean singers PSY (Gangnam Style) and three-time Grammy Award winner Megan Thee Stallion (Savage) (pictured).
The format has been defined as "a new K-pop song battle series". According to the official description, "in each episode, Western icons reinterpret one of their greatest hits and collaborate with top K-pop idols to deliver spectacular battle performances, with a live audience in Seoul choosing the winner of the best new K-pop song".
Megan Thee Stallion is also executive producing along with American singer, songwriter, record producer and television personality.Lionel Richie. CJ ENM is also involved in the project along with Eureka Productions, a Fremantle company.
Another strong signal of K-Pop's growing popularity in the Western music world.
YOU TUBE’S DOCU
The process of convergence between the world of 'traditional' TV and the online world is in full swing and stronger than ever. On 27 March, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamer Max will launch Paul American, an eight-episode series produced by Boardwalk Pictures and North of Now, that will follow the daily lives of the Paul brothers, Jake and Logan (who are also executive producers).
Jake Paul is most recently known for his boxing match against Mike Tyson, which took place in Texas last November and was streamed on Netflix to a global audience of 65 million people. Logan, on the other hand, is a WWE wrestler. Both have more than 150 million YouTube followers, as well as a fight promotion company, a sports drink brand, a sports gaming and media company, a men's grooming line and more.
The series promises archival and never-before-seen footage of the controversial lives of the two brothers, following the well-established genre of 'docu-soaps' (or 'personality shows'), which has produced numerous classics in the past (just think of The Kardashians, or before that Jersey Shore - 2009/12 - or The Osbournes - 2002/05).
Another example of how the 'new' TV of the creator economy is feeding off the 'old', but revitalising it with new internet personalities and a fresher, less 'filtered' and - apparently - more 'authentic' approach to content, also riding into controversial and often provocative times, as you can see in the promo below.
NEWS IN A NUSHELL
Temptation Island, which originally debuted on Fox in 2001 and has been rebooted by NBCUniversal's USA Network from 2019 to 2023, will make its Netflix debut on 12 March.
ITV has revealed two newly commissioned reality series for 2025 featuring cast members from popular reality series The Real Housewives of Cheshire and The Only Way is Essex.
Peacock has become the new US home of Married at First Sight, which is moving from Lifetime. The hit reality format made its US debut on FYI in 2014 before moving to Lifetime. The Peacock original will premiere in 2025 with season 19.
Banijay Nordics label Meter/Jarowskij and Meter are preparing a celebrity sports format centred around cross-country skiing for Sweden's SVT. Against All Odds will see celebrity novices train to become experts in order to take on Sweden's annual Vasaloppet, the world's largest cross-country ski race
The 14th edition of Dans Avec Les Stars, the French version of the hit format Dancing With The Stars, will be broadcast on TF1 tonight, Friday 7 February, in prime time.
Spanish free-to-air channel Televisión de Galicia has renewed the game show Gaña a Túa Aldea for a second season. The original Romanian format - which tests contestants' knowledge of their own province - is distributed by US-based Small World IFT under the international title Win Your Country.
WBD-owned culinary cabler Food Network has set a March 18 premiere for the new series House of Knives, which will stream next-day on Max.
Jay & Pamela, the upcoming docuseries on TLC that follows a couple who also happen to share the same rare brittle bone disorder, premieres Tuesday, March 4
The article GEN AI TOOLS PYRAMID is available for free download at FORMAT ESPRESSO - LECTURE NOTE: https://www.formatespresso.it/lecture-notes/
Another cracking, fact-filled newsletter, Axel ! Thank you for all the work you do on the world of formats.