BBC Studios, Nippon TV development partnership
October 18, 2023
Nick Snow @ MIPCOM
BBC Studios and Nippon TV, the Japanese media and entertainment company, have partnered to co-develop a new comedy gameshow format Koso Koso.
BBC Studios will act as distributor for the format globally, with Nippon TV leading distribution in Asia. The format launches to international customers at BBC Studios Showcase in February 2024.
The new format is the result of a co-development partnership between the two companies and Asia-based content incubator Empire of Arkadia (EOA).
The comedy gameshow format, Koso Koso sees celebrity secret agents prank unsuspecting contestants to win them a cash prize. The contestants think they are in a reality show, unaware of the secret squad of celebrity agents constantly observing their every move. The pilot aired in Japan in June 2023 on Nippon TV’s flagship commercial broadcast network and achieved a strong 24.9 per cent viewership share (within the 13-49 demographic).
Suzy Lamb, MD of BBC Studios Entertainment productions, commented: “We’ve really enjoyed working with the development team at Nippon TV on what has been an exciting creative process. Bringing together the experience and ideas from us in BBC Studios and Nippon TV has been hugely beneficial. Together we have created a format which may not have happened in isolation – it’s a real coming together of UK and Japanese creativity to create a format that will have wide appeal.”
Tom Miyauchi, Head of Formats, Content Business & Distribution at Nippon TV, said: “Our partnership with BBC Studios and Empire of Arkadia, will spearhead both creatives and distribution across vast territories in both east and west, as reputably covered by each party. Koso Koso celebrates both hilarious comedic elements with strong reality aspects as garnered by producers from both ends of the world for a global audience.”
Fotini Paraskakis, Founder of EOA, said: “Our aim is to leverage creative gaps in the highly competitive unscripted market, by creating a format based on known international structures with the addition of fresh Japanese creative twists. We are truly thrilled with this achievement. It’s been an amazing plus incredible journey to see how two powerful and very culturally different platforms have come together, with our support, to create something unique that really addresses content demands today.”
Emma Hardie, Commercial Director, International Production and Formats at BBC Studios, added: “We are delighted to collaborate with partners from around the world to share expertise and co-develop new, exciting and original ideas to bring to a global audience.”
The agreement builds on the established relationship between the BBC Studios International Production and Formats team and Nippon TV. Earlier this year BBC Studios licenced the Doctor Foster format to Nippon TV. The local version premiered on Nippon TV’s new Friday night drama slot targeted at young female audiences, as well as streamed on SVoD and AVoD.