First finalists unveiled for Format Awards

C21 has unveiled the finalists in the Best Brand Driven Format category in the International Format Awards 2020, which is organised in association with FRAPA, EMC and MipFormats.

The International Format Awards will be presented online this year with a digital event initiative that runs between June 10 and 25, sponsored by All3Media International and ITV Studios. The finalists in each category of the awards will be revealed daily up until June 23, with the event taking place ‘as live’ online on June 25 at 7am PST/10am EST/3pm BST/4pm CET.

More than just a bit of product placement or brand integration, the Best Brand Driven Format category is about formats that owe their existence to a brand or advertiser that has played a crucial role in the format’s creation. The format could be anything from a studio-based gameshow to a factual entertainment chatshow, but the key thing is it was brought to television with the input of a brand.

Finalists in the category in this year’s awards include six formats from four continents, reflecting the international flavour of the format business these days.

From Europe come four shows: Supermarket Sweep, a refresh of the 55-year-old US format that was produced for ITV2 last year by Fremantle’s UK subsidiary Thames; The Food Inventors, from Finland’s Aito Media; Beat the Channel, from Florida Entertainment for Germany’s ProSieben; and Top Photo, from Warner Bros International Television Production in Spain for Movistar.

Supermarket Sweep is distributed by Fremantle, following its successful revival in the UK last year, hosted by Rylan Clark-Neal. The Food Inventors is a show about ethical and sustainable food that is produced for Discovery-owned Finnish channel TV5 and distributed by Aito and UK distributor Magnify Media.

Beat the Channel, meanwhile, has already been commissioned for a third season by the German broadcaster and is being distributed by Red Arrow Studios International. The company describes that show as “a riotous new entertainment gameshow” that gives two TV presenters the chance to win a 15-minute live broadcast slot. And Top Photo “is a zeitgeist format that rewrites the rules of photography,” according to Warner Bros International Television Production.

Representing Asia in this category is South Korean format Stars’ Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant, which aired on public broadcaster KBS2 last year and is distributed internationally by KBS Media. Producers claim the show “covers everything from recipe show, development, judging and competition – and you can actually try the winning food the very next day.”

And from Africa comes The Taste Master SA, a cookery show that Cape Town’s Cardova Trading produces for South African pubcaster SABC3. The format centres on “an individual of good taste that wants to share his or her creativity of food, style, places and a flair for entertaining,” according to Cardova, which is shopping the format internationally, following the show’s debut last November.

Watch out for the finalists in the Best Comedy Format later today on C21Media.net.