Friday Format Sweep 23 Sept

The format market isn't short of ideas. But is it short of courage?

Four developments caught my eye in last week's international format sweep. None involved a completely new format.

Last One Laughing is heading to the US, with Nick Kroll hosting. A format that has already demonstrated its appeal across multiple territories.

In Other News, Today, a Belgian celebrity news quiz, has secured a Dutch adaptation. A simple, repeatable idea built around the previous 24 hours of news.

House of Villains has launched its first Spanish-language adaptation on Telemundo, bringing an established reality franchise to another audience.

And Boxing Stars is returning in the Netherlands after eight years, this time as three live events for streaming platform Videoland.

Four different deals. Four different approaches. One common thread.

The underlying ideas have already faced an audience.

For commissioners, that offers reassurance. For distributors, it creates another opportunity to exploit existing IP. For producers, it provides a degree of certainty in an uncertain market.

But here's the thing.

A proven format isn't necessarily a guaranteed hit. Moving it to another territory, changing its platform or reinventing its production model still requires considerable creative judgement.

And somewhere in this process, someone originally took a risk on every one of these ideas.

That's what concerns me about a market increasingly attracted to proof of performance.

If everyone wants to buy the next successful format, who is prepared to commission the first version?

For format developers, perhaps the challenge is no longer simply to come up with a brilliant idea.

It's to demonstrate how that idea can become a repeatable, commercially viable piece of IP before anybody has commissioned it.

And that is a much harder pitch.

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