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Mum of the Week builds on Eastern success

Mum of the Week airs as Super Mama on STB

London-based distributor Can’t Stop Media has sealed a deal with a Russian broadcaster for its Mum of the Week format, as well as another for a renewal and spin-off in Ukraine.

In Russia, reality-focused broadcaster U-TV has confirmed the commission of a first season of Mum of the Week, with 40 episodes ordered that will launch this fall in access primetime, four days a week.

The production marks the ninth adaptation for the reality format and comes after Media-1 subsidiary U-TV, aimed at women aged 14 to 44, has already begun airing the Ukrainian version of the format, titled Super Mama and produced for STB.

The Ukrainian free-to-air channel broadcaster, part of StarLightMedia, has also renewed Mum of the Week for a fourth season. The new episodes will premiere this fall, airing four days a week in access primetime.

STB has also ordered a spin-off series titled Super Grandma, in which grandmothers rate each other’s parenting skills under the eyes of family relationship expert. Each week, one will be crowned Grandma of the Week.

The new series, totalling 40 episodes, launches on STB on July 21 with two back-to-back episodes airing on Thursdays and Fridays in access primetime.

StarLightMedia will handle the distribution of the format in CIS and the Baltics, while Can’t Stop will shop it in the rest of the world.

The deals comes after the success of Mum of the Week in Ukraine, where the third season delivered a rating of 11.7 in the main target demo – a 25% increase from the S1 average and 14% increase on S2, according to Gfk Ukraine.

The Mum of the Week format, created and originally produced in 2014 for French channel D8 by Can’t Stop and Equilibre Productions, sees mothers of different social backgrounds rate each other’s way of raising children

“During the production of Super Mama/Mum of the Week, our creative team at STB realised that the main reasons why mothers brings up her kids in certain ways is their own family backgrounds and values. That is how the Super Grandma idea was born,” said Natalia Franchuk, general producer of TV programmes at STB.

Anna Tyumenva, U-TV’s head of acquisitions, said of the Russia deal for Mum of the Week: “Currently, we’re airing the Ukrainian version of the show and the ratings are the best. Because the female audience likes it so much, we decided to make our own version.

“U-TV is positioned primarily for a female audience and more than 70% of our viewers are keen on family issues, child care and behaviour. Women are interested in different ways of raising kids, combining work and family and all other challenges faced by them today. Mum of the Week is able to ask and hopefully answer all these questions.”

Can’t Stop partner Damien Porte added: “In just over a year since we started to work with the STB team, we’ve managed to put on air three successful seasons of our format and create a new show that should speak to many countries around the globe.”

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