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Lip Sync Battle fought overseas

An internet portal in Asia and a Chilean broadcaster have become the first companies to order local versions of US cablenet Spike’s ratings hit Lip Sync Battle.

Mike Tyson on Lip Sync Battle

Mike Tyson on Lip Sync Battle

The show, which sees celebrities lip sync to well-known pop and rock hits, quickly became one of Spike’s most successful programmes after launching in March, having originated as a segment on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show.

Hosted by rapper LL Cool J, it averaged an audience of more than three million viewers a week across its 18-episode run, while a clip of Anne Hathaway’s performance garnered 15 million views online alone.

Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) launched the format at MipTV in April and has now licensed it to Asian search engine and video site Sohu.

The company will produce a 13-part series in China for tv.sohu.com and 56.com, as well as other digital platforms owned by the online media giant.

This comes after Sohu, which has a user base of more than 600 million people, ordered a remake of US entertainment format Saturday Night Live for China in March.

TVN in Chile, meanwhile, will be the first free-to-air network to show its own version of Lip Sync Battle, airing it in the second half of 2015.

The 12×70’ Chilean version is currently in pre-production and will be hosted by journalist and TV presenter Karen Doggenweiler.

Caroline Beaton, senior VP of international programme sales at VIMN described the property as “one of the biggest, brightest and most infectious formats ever to come out of the Viacom stable.”

The door remains open for a UK version of the show after Viacom launched Spike in the country in April, marking the first ever international version of the channel.

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