THE RESILIENCE OF "WARM SHOWS": Now or Never
A brand-new music-reality with a dash of sex - A virtual Spanish host (but she is not the first...) - An inside look at IPXChange, the third Independent Producers' Xchange
THE RESILIENCE OF “WARM SHOWS”: NOW OR NEVER
Sometimes we overestimate novelties (or supposed novelties), both in terms of technology and content, and underestimate more traditional and apparently “humble” formats. But the truth is that even now lots of viewers still appreciate the good old “warm formats”, i.e. emotainment and other genres based on emotions and feelings (and yes, where the participants also cry a lot, and you with them...).
Maintenant ou Jamais (“Now or Never”: here the trailer) - produced by ButterFish and distributed by Can't StopMedia - that is going to premiere Wednesday 20 March on the French-language Belgium-based private television channel RTL tvi, belongs precisely to this group.
In every episode, ordinary people, after trying every other means, contact the production team because they’ve had a break-up with someone close to them. If the summoned person (the “guest”) accepts the anonymous invitation, they enter the “reconciliation room” (the symbol of the program), without knowing who made them come, or why. After discovering it, the protagonists will have 30 minutes to talk, convince and try to reconcile.
The host (Emilie Dupuis) intervenes remotely to avoid clashes and help to put the pieces back together. At the end of the 30 minutes, they will have to make a radical choice: to continue their story together by both selecting the “Now” door, or definitely break up leaving through the “Never” door.
This scheme, to tell the truth, is not original (I’m thinking of formats like the Italian C’è Posta Per Te - “there is mail for you” - which continues to be a big hit on Mediaset, the German Look Me In the Eye, the Israeli Boxed and many others). But there is little need to be picky: it’s terribly effective.
“DOWNLOAD” THE MUSIC-REALITY
La Descarga (“download”), a Caracol Televisión's original format, premiered last 11st March on UNIMÁS, an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network, owned by TelevisaUnivision.
The format, hosted by Jessica Cediel and Carlos Calero, is a mix of reality and music competition. In the fist round (All or Nothing) 91 competitors will face off in singing challenges that will eliminate more than half of them. In the second round (La Selección - The Selection), 4 renowned artists, as mentors, will choose the best remaining talents in the game to form their teams. Each mentor will select 11 participants, which will lead to an intense competition between them.
As the programme progresses, the participants will be immersed in the Music Camp, where they will live together, prepare for auditions and face emotional challenges, while the eliminations continue until the final winner is declared.
As mentioned, a mix of music, competition, reality and a dash of sex, for a very hot primetime…
VIRTUAL SPANISH HOST
Yesterday, 14th March, Alba Renai premiered as host of Supersecretos con Alba Renai on streaming platform Mitele, owned by Mediaset España. Every week the programme will reveal "unpublished and exclusive contents" of Supervivientes (Survivor), on air on Spanish channel Telecinco.
But it is not this simple spin-off that is interesting, but rather the fact that Alba Renai herself is a virtual influencer created and trained by AI designed by Be a Lion, a subsidiary of Mediaset España (below, her “self-presentation” on Instagram).
She (it?) is not the first case of “virtual host”. Exactly one year ago (18 March 2023), the Mexican media group Radio Fórmula introduced NAT - Neural A.I. Technology, the very first news anchor, which uses texts written with the help of ChatGPT. “My face, hair, clothes and even my voice have been constructed with AI to provide an innovative and exciting news experience” said NAT making her (its?) introduction.
One month later (12 April 2023) Fedha, anchor of Kuwait News, made her debut on screen with these words: “I'm Fedha, the first presenter in Kuwait who works with artificial intelligence at Kuwait News. What kind of news do you prefer? Let's hear your opinions”.
In India, Viral Bhabhi debuted on 20 August 2023 on Q Tv channel in the show Viral Hua Re, which aims to transport mobile phone experience of scrolling through multiple short format videos into the television set, through a lineup of short videos.
So, virtual hosts and virtual anchors will certainly not be the future of television (they only serve to create some hype), but they begin to be quite a number…
IPXCHANGE: EXCHANGING CONTENTS AND IDEAS IN COLOGNE
Among the new events of the new media landscape (completely different from just a couple of years ago), IPXchange - that took place on 11th and 12th March in Cologne, Germany - immediately found its own position. Wolfgang Link, co-creator of the event (together with Sandra Lehner), has written these notes for us:
“What a nerve-wracking experience it was this time: what’s wrong with the sound equipment? Why do the microphones not work? How many speakers will cancel their participation shortly before the event – due to the strike of German railway and cancellation of trains to Cologne? Will all attendees come – or will there be many empty seats?... With these questions started the third “Independent Producer’s Exchange” Monday 11th March, in Cologne.
When Sandra Lehner and I in December 2022 had the idea to set up such an event we did not know anything. Neither how much work this would be nor how many people would like and visit such an event.
The idea was: to create an event where independent TV production companies could meet and network, where format distributors would present their catalogues in front of a (mainly German) audience of tv producers and where industry experts would talk about topics related to the present and future of television: the need for content; advertiser funded programming; tv versus Youtube & co; trends in genres and many more.
Now we know: there is a need for our “IPXchange”, as we call it meanwhile. And at the end it all worked out well, again, for this spring’s issue of our event series: all attendees praised this year's conference and – as far as we can judge – the speakers, too, enjoyed the opportunity to connect with tv producers and other valued members of the international TV community.
Some of the world's best-known format distributors such as Tanja Van der Goes (Allrightmedia), Andrew Sime (Newen), Tim Crescenti (Smallworld), Danny Fenton (ZigZag), Julian Curtis (Lineup), Lindsey Ayotte (LGI) and Matthieu Porte (Cantstop) presented their current catalogue highlights.
Speakers such as Simon Kennedy (EssenceMediacom), Christina Bröker/Stephan Sorkin (EDFVR), TV futurist Sandra Lehner and TV legend Michael Schmidt provided valuable insider knowledge on topics such as "Branded Entertainment", "Calculating Success with AI", "TV in the Age of Metaverse" and "Tiktok interacting with TV".
This third Independent Producers' Xchange which ended on 12th March 2024 might even mark a turning point in the entrepreneurial self-image of German TV producers and format developers. At the very least, many were left pondering whether their entrepreneurial self-image is still up to date in an international context.
It was the show director and production strategist Tony Gregory (UK) who was able to trigger thought-provoking impulses for a rethink among the producers. In a panel discussion he himself initiated entitled "How can Germany's creativity be unleashed?", he wanted to find out why a TV market as relevant as Germany imports so many more TV formats than it exports. Is it due to a lack of creativity, a lack of investment/risk appetite, structural or legal framework conditions?
Internationally experienced TV industry experts such as David Ciaramella (UK), Dries Verhaeghe (Belgium) and Tanja Van der Goes (NL) presented their views on the status of German TV formats on the international market at the panel.
It became clear that the leading roles of the top countries in the format trade (USA, UK, NL, BE) are due to better legal and structural conditions on the one hand, but also to companies' greater willingness to invest and take risks on the other.
German TV producers must now ask themselves whether they have not received sufficient support from their broadcasters and German media policy. Or whether they perhaps need to take more entrepreneurial risks themselves and negotiate harder in order to create better conditions for their own developments.”
NEWS IN A NUTSHELL
AI ACT - Wednesday 13 March is a historical date for AI: European Parliament approves world’s first AI law
ITV has ordered two additional seasons of the entertainment quiz show The 1% Club
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) U.S. Hispanic and Omnicom Media Group (OMG) have teamed for the new reality series Juntos en Acción (Together in Action)
TelevisaUnivision has adapted the format The Noise, from Japan's Fuji TV and part of Fremantle's catalogue, for prime time on its broadcaster Canal 5 in Mexico
Food Network is adding a new series to its extensive collection of Guy Fieri-produced content. Best Bite in Town will be executive produced by the celebrity restaurateur and presented by actor and TV host Noah Cappe
All3Media format Race Across the World heads to Germany after ZDF deal
Two international deals for Talpa Studios: the Dutch content house has teamed up with Bunim/Murray Productions and The Natural Studios to bring the new adventure reality show No Way Back to the U.S., led by Bear Grylls; furthermore its reality Million Dollar Island makes its debut in Bulgaria
The ultra-classic game Le Juste Prix (The Price Is Right) is back on M6 from Monday 11 March.
The British game The Weakest Link will return to Spanish free-to-air TV after 20 years thanks to Mediaset España,
