International TV distributors are betting big on the food and property genres, leaning on proven franchises while pushing into new markets and platforms to keep the content travelling.

Food and property formats are enjoying a strong run across the international distribution landscape, with established players leaning on proven brands while pushing hard into new markets, digital platforms and format spin-offs.

Banijay is riding high on the enduring strength of MasterChef, which Lucas Green, the company’s global head of content operations, calls “not just the most successful food show in the world” but “the most adapted format anywhere of any genre last year”.

The format produced 58 seasons across 35 territories in 2025 alone and has now been made in 74 markets. Green attributes its longevity to a combination of authenticity and adaptability: “First and foremost, it’s a cooking competition for amateur chefs,” turning the “universal experience” of cooking under pressure into compelling drama. He stresses that each cycle is freshly conceived, noting “every new season of MasterChef is a new show”, with recent iterations including MasterChef 24/7 in Mexico, produced by EndemolShine Boomdog for TV Azteca with a telenovela-inspired structure.

Banijay’s wider slate is also expanding the genre’s boundaries. The company has commissioned 100 Knives, co-developed by Bunim/Murray Productions and Smart Dog Media and picked up first by TV4 in Sweden and then TV2 in Denmark via Metronome, which pits 100 chefs against one another in what Green describes as bringing “Squid Game Challenge-style scale to food television”.

In Italy, Foodish, made by Banijay Italia, has reached its third season on TV8 and is, in Green’s words, “more like a food brand than just a food format”, with ambitions to extend into live events. On the property side, Sort Your Life Out with Stacey Solomon continues to perform for the All3Media International, blending decluttering and home organisation into what Green calls “a really modern and successful format”.

Germany’s Seven.One Studios International, the ProSiebenSat.1-owned distributor, is pursuing a similar strategy built around catalogue depth rather than new development. Tobias Schulze, senior VP of global sales, says “most of our clients are looking into existing brands that have a proven track record”, pointing to The Taste, Buying Blind and My Restaurant Rocks as titles that “really fulfil what clients are looking for”.

The Taste, developed originally by Kinetic Content for ABC in the US, has run for 14 seasons in Germany with a 15th already planned. My Restaurant Rocks has clocked close to 2,000 episodes since 2013 and continues to travel, with Sky Uno recommissioning its Italian version, 4 Ristoranti, for a 12th season and developing a hotel-based spin-off. Schulze attributes its appeal to local specificity: “Every week we have five restaurants and every week we are in a different city.”

Buying Blind, in which families purchase homes unseen, is also gathering pace, with RTL Netherlands ordering a tenth season, Play Media commissioning a ninth Flemish-language run, and Banijay optioning the format for French-speaking Belgium. Schulze is candid, however, about the scarcity of fresh hits, saying “lately I have not seen something where I would say, okay, that’s a 10 out of 10 that should be able to travel.”

UK Love Productions creative director, Sarah Lazenby, is familiar with both food and property genres. She was responsible for bringing the Great British Bake Off, the hit Love Production format, to Channel 4 when she was commissioner there, and oversaw another C4 commission, Renovation Rescue, in her former role at Hello Sunshine. The property series returns for a second series on July 30 fronted by Luke Abbott and Vogue Williams. She is watching for formats that pair lifestyle territory with recognisable intellectual property, citing Netflix’s forthcoming Wonka’s The Golden Ticket as “smart use of marrying perennial lifestyle territories with iconic IP to make them even bigger for a streamer audience”.

Warner Bros Discovery remains a dominant force in both genres in the US, with its HGTV channel launching celebrity-fronted titles including Totally ’90s House, hosted by Jaleel White, and pairing it with a YouTube companion series, House Call: ’90s Edition. Another WBD channel, Food Network’s slate includes Tournament of Champions and the newly launched 100 Cooks, produced by Lando Entertainment and hosted by Terry Crews.

Streamers and digital-first players are increasingly part of the distribution conversation too. Netflix has struck a deal with YouTube culinary star Nick DiGiovanni, while Amazon Prime Video has partnered with Sidemen Productions on Sidemen Present: SideMenu, released simultaneously across YouTube and Prime Video. Shannon Royal, senior creative producer at Sidemen, calls the food category a “natural fit” for the group, which has “done food content for years and years and years”.

In France, Mediawan Thematics continues to build its dedicated food channel Kitchen Mania around established culinary names such as Jamie Oliver, Eva Longoria and Nigella Lawson. New titles, include acquisition including Eva Longoria: Searching For…, produced by Hyphenate Media Group.

As the appetite for food and property content continues to build, the strategy across the distribution landscape is increasingly consistent: back proven franchises, keep reinventing them season on season, and extend their reach onto the platforms where younger audiences are already spending their time.

Whether through MasterChef’s continued global expansion, Seven.One’s catalogue-led approach or the growing traffic between broadcasters and YouTube, distributors are showing that heritage brands, handled with care, still have plenty of runway left to travel.

International TV distributors are betting big on the food and property genres, leaning on proven franchises while pushing into new markets and platforms to keep the content travelling.

Food and property formats are enjoying a strong run across the international distribution landscape, with established players leaning on proven brands while pushing hard into new markets, digital platforms and format spin-offs.

Banijay is riding high on the enduring strength of MasterChef, which Lucas Green, the company’s global head of content operations, calls “not just the most successful food show in the world” but “the most adapted format anywhere of any genre last year”.

The format produced 58 seasons across 35 territories in 2025 alone and has now been made in 74 markets. Green attributes its longevity to a combination of authenticity and adaptability: “First and foremost, it’s a cooking competition for amateur chefs,” turning the “universal experience” of cooking under pressure into compelling drama. He stresses that each cycle is freshly conceived, noting “every new season of MasterChef is a new show”, with recent iterations including MasterChef 24/7 in Mexico, produced by EndemolShine Boomdog for TV Azteca with a telenovela-inspired structure.

Banijay’s wider slate is also expanding the genre’s boundaries. The company has commissioned 100 Knives, co-developed by Bunim/Murray Productions and Smart Dog Media and picked up first by TV4 in Sweden and then TV2 in Denmark via Metronome, which pits 100 chefs against one another in what Green describes as bringing “Squid Game Challenge-style scale to food television”.

In Italy, Foodish, made by Banijay Italia, has reached its third season on TV8 and is, in Green’s words, “more like a food brand than just a food format”, with ambitions to extend into live events. On the property side, Sort Your Life Out with Stacey Solomon continues to perform for the All3Media International, blending decluttering and home organisation into what Green calls “a really modern and successful format”.

Germany’s Seven.One Studios International, the ProSiebenSat.1-owned distributor, is pursuing a similar strategy built around catalogue depth rather than new development. Tobias Schulze, senior VP of global sales, says “most of our clients are looking into existing brands that have a proven track record”, pointing to The Taste, Buying Blind and My Restaurant Rocks as titles that “really fulfil what clients are looking for”.

The Taste, developed originally by Kinetic Content for ABC in the US, has run for 14 seasons in Germany with a 15th already planned. My Restaurant Rocks has clocked close to 2,000 episodes since 2013 and continues to travel, with Sky Uno recommissioning its Italian version, 4 Ristoranti, for a 12th season and developing a hotel-based spin-off. Schulze attributes its appeal to local specificity: “Every week we have five restaurants and every week we are in a different city.”

Buying Blind, in which families purchase homes unseen, is also gathering pace, with RTL Netherlands ordering a tenth season, Play Media commissioning a ninth Flemish-language run, and Banijay optioning the format for French-speaking Belgium. Schulze is candid, however, about the scarcity of fresh hits, saying “lately I have not seen something where I would say, okay, that’s a 10 out of 10 that should be able to travel.”

UK Love Productions creative director, Sarah Lazenby, is familiar with both food and property genres. She was responsible for bringing the Great British Bake Off, the hit Love Production format, to Channel 4 when she was commissioner there, and oversaw another C4 commission, Renovation Rescue, in her former role at Hello Sunshine. The property series returns for a second series on July 30 fronted by Luke Abbott and Vogue Williams. She is watching for formats that pair lifestyle territory with recognisable intellectual property, citing Netflix’s forthcoming Wonka’s The Golden Ticket as “smart use of marrying perennial lifestyle territories with iconic IP to make them even bigger for a streamer audience”.

Warner Bros Discovery remains a dominant force in both genres in the US, with its HGTV channel launching celebrity-fronted titles including Totally ’90s House, hosted by Jaleel White, and pairing it with a YouTube companion series, House Call: ’90s Edition. Another WBD channel, Food Network’s slate includes Tournament of Champions and the newly launched 100 Cooks, produced by Lando Entertainment and hosted by Terry Crews.

Streamers and digital-first players are increasingly part of the distribution conversation too. Netflix has struck a deal with YouTube culinary star Nick DiGiovanni, while Amazon Prime Video has partnered with Sidemen Productions on Sidemen Present: SideMenu, released simultaneously across YouTube and Prime Video. Shannon Royal, senior creative producer at Sidemen, calls the food category a “natural fit” for the group, which has “done food content for years and years and years”.

In France, Mediawan Thematics continues to build its dedicated food channel Kitchen Mania around established culinary names such as Jamie Oliver, Eva Longoria and Nigella Lawson. New titles, include acquisition including Eva Longoria: Searching For…, produced by Hyphenate Media Group.

As the appetite for food and property content continues to build, the strategy across the distribution landscape is increasingly consistent: back proven franchises, keep reinventing them season on season, and extend their reach onto the platforms where younger audiences are already spending their time.

Whether through MasterChef’s continued global expansion, Seven.One’s catalogue-led approach or the growing traffic between broadcasters and YouTube, distributors are showing that heritage brands, handled with care, still have plenty of runway left to travel.