Among an ever-growing array of platforms across Latin America, entertainment formats continue to find audiences in the region.
In recent years, television in Latin America has undergone a significant transformation, driven by the rise of new entertainment formats that capture the attention of diverse and increasingly demanding audiences. With the arrival of digital platforms and the growing demand for dynamic content, international production companies have found fertile ground to expand their formats. Some of the leading global companies in this evolution have played a key role in diversifying the television offerings in the region.
One of the challenges for companies aiming to create local versions of their formats in Latin America is considering the wide cultural variety of each region or country. “We are collaborative partners,” explains Rebecca Tavares, format sales manager for Latin America at BBC Studios. “We complement the breadth and depth of our world-class content portfolio with a range of strong creative and commercial capabilities, and our commitment is to bring our content to the widest possible audience.”
She adds: “Each format has its own DNA, but it is essential to understand what is relevant in each local culture. Since I was born and live in Latin America, share the local culture and have worked in media for more than 12 years, I can help represent the specific needs of each partner and work to ensure those needs are met.”
One of the most notable examples, Tavares says, is the Bake Off format, which had its tenth season in Brazil with weekly broadcasts on SBT and its first celebrity edition in Argentina on Telefe. “In Brazil, the format airs weekly, while in Argentina, we had to adapt and develop the content to meet the channel’s demand for a daily show,” she explains. “To achieve this, we had to work closely with the content and culinary teams to understand the preferences of each audience and tailor the format to align with the cultural particularities of each country.”
All3Media International has a portfolio of entertainment formats designed to meet the needs of viewers, regardless of their country. The company offers titles to the global market, such as The Underdog and Cooking Up Love.
Speaking specifically about the challenges of adapting entertainment formats for the Latin American market, Yari Torres, VP of sales for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic at All3Media International, notes that the required length for certain territories in the region could present a challenge.
“The delivery of a show consisting of 6 to 12 episodes from a U.K. or Western European format might be considered too short for the region,” she explains. “Some formats can be adapted to have a duration of 30 episodes, but others would be fundamentally altered when considering broadcast TV and cable.”
FLEXIBILITY ABOVE ALL
For María Pérez Campi, sales director for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic at Dori Media Group, entertainment formats are simpler to adapt than scripted formats.
“We don’t encounter major obstacles when adapting in different territories in Latin America and even across various continents around the world,” she says. “We are flexible so that clients can make the modifications they consider necessary to localize the format, trusting that this will better engage audiences and enhance the success of the product.”
Power Couple, says Pérez Campi, is the company’s most successful reality show, with adaptations in more than 20 countries, “and we are still negotiating new territories. It is a format that has been sold in Brazil, Mexico, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, India, Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary, to name a few.” Power Couple, created by Abot Hameiri, was renewed in Germany, Brazil, Hungary and Mexico, among other markets. At MIPCOM, the company presented Yum Factor, a culinary competition format that gives a twist to traditional food shows.
Another standout format from Dori Media is Smart Face, a game show “which has also been adapted in over 15 countries, with more than 2,000 episodes aired in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia, Portugal, Indonesia, Germany and Croatia, among others,” says Pérez Campi.
FERTILE GROUND
Smart Face is a trivia show where contestants are asked questions, but they cannot answer them themselves. They must find someone on the street to answer each question for them. If the person they choose answers correctly, the contestant wins money and moves on to the next question. If the answer is incorrect, the contestant is out of the game. Lo sabe, no lo sabe, the Spanish version of the show, premiered on Cuatro in Spain.
“As Latin Americans, we consume all kinds of genres,” highlights Carlos Quintanilla, VP of original content for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic at Sony Pictures Television (SPT). “But what we’ve recently seen in the region is that large audiences are looking for feel-good content. The genre that still dominates is melodrama. The challenge we face is telling these stories well and ensuring they are high-value productions.” One of the company’s standout formats is Escape perfecto.
The Turkish distributor Global Agency is not only known for its high-quality Turkish drama portfolio but also for its entertainment formats. The company is present in Latin America with a variety of local versions produced in the region.
Iván Sánchez, sales director for Latin America, says that Brazil has been the country where Global Agency’s formats have performed best. “It is the market where the success of our formats has been proven the most. Four of our formats have already been adapted with excellent results, both for free and pay TV. The best examples are undoubtedly Keep It or Lose It and My Wife Rules, for which SBT is already working on the 15th and 9th seasons, respectively.”
“Other formats adapted for multiple seasons in Brazil have been Keep Your Light Shining and The Rolling Kitchen,” adds Sánchez. “In the rest of the region, formats like My Wife Rules and Shopping Monsters have also been adapted in Peru and Chile.”
In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about global content with local flavor, and audiences are increasingly interested in consuming content that reflects their tastes, customs and cultures. “Many trends in Latin America are similar to those in Europe and the U.S., with most of the formats being the same,” explains Tavares from BBC Studios. “However, in Latin America, there is more daily prime-time programming, where reality formats and talent shows are very popular. I have also noticed streaming platforms relaunching classic reality shows like Temptation Island and Survivor.”
Pérez Campi at Dori Media points out that audience preferences change: “Interests are cyclical. There are times when reality shows are in higher demand, as is the case now. [Sometimes], reality shows gain more interest during economic crises. There are periods when talent shows dominate and others when dating or culinary shows take the lead. After a while, the market becomes saturated, and the audience begins to look for different types of content.”
For Quintanilla at SPT, “formats that worked in the past do not necessarily guarantee success. The trick is to find the essence of what you want to adapt, seek the best writers and talent in the region and work as a team to tell a story that honors what worked in the past but addresses current themes.”
Sánchez at Global Agency states that despite the region’s diversity, “we can say that family entertainment formats have always worked very well in most Latin American markets. This is something that is aligned with our catalog. We see that major international franchises have always been well received, whether they are contests, competitions or talent shows.”
UNIVERSAL TRENDS
Latin America has always been impacted by economic ups and downs, which presents challenges when it comes to producing high-quality television. For this reason, collaboration among production companies, broadcasters and distributors is key.
“For years at Global Agency, we have been in continuous contact with most of the channels and producers in the region,” highlights Sánchez. “We are aware of the need to adapt the format not only to the idiosyncrasies of each country but also to the economic and logistical realities of our clients.”
He states that this is the company’s strength: “The fact that most of the formats in our catalog are original gives us the flexibility to collaborate with local companies, who are the best at understanding their own market.”
Torres at All3Media International comments, “One of the challenges we may face is when entertainment formats are talent-based. In this way, local adaptations don’t always work because the talent pool is quite small. However, incorporating everyday people has helped boost production.”
Tavares at BBC Studios highlights the importance of establishing partnerships with local production companies or broadcasters to ensure the success of the format. “We have global reach combined with local expertise, which offers long-term value to our content and makes the BBC Studios team an indispensable partner in a competitive market,” she says. “We also have an excellent team of format consultants who are always involved in productions to ensure the highest quality standards are met and share the knowledge they have gained from the different regions where the formats have aired. This experience is crucial when launching a new show, and this is what we offer our partners, whether they are local producers or broadcasters.”
BUSINESS DIRECT
“Generally, we sell our formats to production companies and/or channels or platforms directly,” says Pérez Campi. “We can also enter into other types of co-production deals when it comes to paper formats that have not yet been produced or aired.”
In those cases, she adds, “we can establish other types of business partnerships that aren’t just about selling the license, but this only applies to paper formats. For scripted, we have other models and strategic partnerships in the region. In any case, we are always open to hearing business models and thinking about strategies that benefit all parties to expand our catalog.”
Beyond linear, basic and paid channels, other platforms, including streaming services, are also betting on the adaptation of entertainment formats, which could represent a growth opportunity for the main IP owners offering these formats.
“Indeed, in recent years, we have seen how not only free and pay channels are venturing into format adaptations, but streaming platforms are also increasingly open to this type of content,” comments Sánchez. “In fact, we have had some experiences in this regard in other regions that we would like to replicate in Latin America. Two of the formats in our catalog have been adapted for international platforms: Real Love on Netflix and The Remix on Prime Video.”
All3Media International’s Torres points out: “It’s exciting to see that streaming services are more open to content with different and shorter durations, which opens the window for more opportunities.”
GROWTH INNOVATION
Pérez Campi agrees that entertainment formats work well both on broadcast television and streaming platforms. “Streaming platforms are looking for more niche formats, while traditional channels seek more mass-market and popular formats that appeal to general audiences. So, as distributors, we can offer what best suits their respective interests.”
She adds, “It’s a good time for entertainment formats because they are more feasible to produce than scripted, which is unfortunately declining right now as resources become more limited. Alliances between platforms and channels will continue to boost the production of more expensive formats. I also think that for some time, the trend of simple-to-produce reality game shows, along with talent and cooking shows, will still be popular on the screen.”
