Boom! time for gameshows on TF1

French commercial broadcaster TF1 will test two gameshow formats this summer as it fights back against pubcaster France 2 in access primetime.

Antena 3’s version of Keshet format Boom!

The French version of Keshet International’s Boom! will be produced by TF1 Productions, while Sony Pictures Television (SPT)’s format Win Your Wishlist will be made by SPT-owned prodco Starling.

The shows will each be hosted by popular TF1 hosts, Boom! by Vincent Lagaff (The Price is Right) and Win Your Wishlist by Christophe Dechavanne.

The news was confirmed by TF1 programmes director Fabrice Bailly on radio station France Inter yesterday.

TF1’s key 19.00 slot faced trouble this season thanks to the growing success of N’Oublez Pas Les Paroles, France 2’s adaptation of Don’t Forget The Lyrics. The pubcaster’s decision to keep the gameshow and air two episodes back to back all year long proved a shrewd move.

The 19.20 episode of N’Oublez Pas Les Paroles, hosted by Nagui and produced by his company Air Prod, a Banijay subsidiary, has achieved market shares of up to 16% this season, against less than 9% the previous year. It sometimes leads among housewives under 50.

Earlier this year this success hit TF1 and FremantleMedia France’s The Price is Right. In April, the show fell below the 19% share mark.

Endemol France’s Money Drop, brought back into the schedule earlier than expected, at the end of April, regained some audience for TF1. Nevertheless, the channel urgently needs to find new powerful gameshow formats, as the 19.00 slot has to attract as wide an audience as possible in the lead-up to primetime.

As a result, the channel did not re-commission Endemol France’s Au Pier du Mur, adapted from 1 vs 100, for this summer, despite the fact it did well last year, in order to leave room to test new formats.

In related news, France 3 has re-ordered Endemol France’s Ne Le Dis a Personne, its version of Pointless, for the late afternoon zone. It previously aired on the channel in 2011.