Japan’s appetite for global partnerships has picked up pace with a string of new international alliances for both scripted and unscripted development. Meanwhile, the domestic market remains relatively closed to international adaptations.  

Japan’s appetite for global alliances – a long-running refrain that has picked up recently with a string of new high-profile co-developments – far outweighs its ability to stomach domestic adaptation of foreign formats for Japanese audiences at home. 

In the first six months of this year, the country had three shows commissioned or on air – one from the U.K. (ITV Studios’ 35 Up), and two from Korea (reality/dating show Just Married and The Masked Singer Japan, both based on IP from free-TV broadcaster Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation/MBC), according to ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook for the first half of 2021. 

Just Married Japan premiered on 9 July exclusively on homegrown streaming platform AbemaTV, featuring young celebrity singles experiencing virtual married life.  

The Masked Singer Japan is an Amazon Prime Video exclusive that premiered in September. The third title is factual format 35 Up, which followed a group of children from when they were seven years old, aired on NHK in February.  

The country’s broadcasters and distributors have been a whole lot more successful at creating a foothold in international co-development and format licensing. And, post Covid-19, expectations are high. 

“There is a huge trend for Asian non-scripted formats worldwide... everyone in the world is ready to move on, as we had to hold in 2020 due to the pandemic,” says Fuji TV’s team leader and head of formats, Ryuji Komiya.

TBS’ Mayu Sunaga, director of international content development, agrees. “Our format business in Asia has been slow due to the influence of Covid-19 last year. However, we have seen some very strong signs of recovery since the beginning of 2021... and the finalising of a few deals for our scripted formats with our partners in South Korea and China. In addition to that, several contracts that were made in the past, have started up and proceeded into local production,” Sunaga says.

Moe Kanzaki, Nippon TV’s format sales, international business development, says the leading commercial network has used the Covid-19 to focus on new products. “For us, this transitional period has been a time to focus on developing new formats that have potential in the international market,” Kanzaki says. 

In the first half of this year, Fuji TV had four formats sold or on air outside of Japan – drama Matrimonial Chaos in China; medical drama The Voices and sports romance series, Pride, which has gone to CJ ENM in Korea; and reality cooking show Iron Chef season 10 on BBTV’s terrestrial broadcast service, Channel 7, in Thailand. 

During the same period, Nippon TV had one (game show Pharaoh! China season eight); Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) had an adaptation of Korean feature thriller, Stolen Identity, sold to an undisclosed buyer; and TV Asahi had two – romance drama Ossan’s Love on ViuTV in Hong Kong and game show Turn Back Vietnam season five on HTV7.  

In the run-up to Mipcom 2021, commercial broadcaster Fuji Television Network and Dentsu’s production/distribution studio, The Story Lab, put the finishing touches on the first international entertainment format from their seven-month-old co-development partnership.

The new show, The Spin, is part of a growing slate of co-developments with international partners as Japanese broadcasters – including Nippon TV, Fuji TV, TBS and TV Asahi – execute on their upsized global ambitions.

The game show is The Story Lab’s second co-development out of Japan after game show-meets-talent contest Nine Windows, developed in partnership with the country’s top commercial broadcaster, Nippon TV.

The Spin – led by Fuji TV’s head of format/producer, global business, Ryuji Komiya – features a huge spinning machine and five players competing over five rounds to build their prize pot.

Aired in Japan on 23 March this year, the game show was adapted for the international market with U.K.-based Rumpus Media, which retains U.K. production rights.

The Spin is among a slate of new Japanese formats headed for Mipcom 2021, which runs from 11-14 October.

Japanese creators are also going full tilt at creating shows for international platforms. 

New unscripted properties making their way overseas include Nippon TV’s Money or Junk, an unscripted business survival game show format that challenges contestants to make money from nothing.

Money or Junk aired on Nippon TV in July this year; Nippon TV has already flagged a return to its Japanese platform later this year.

In another co-development partnership inked this year, Japanese commercial free-TV broadcaster TV Asahi and European production house Red Arrow Studios International kicked off with game show Crazy Elevator. Crazy Elevator (working title) involves players trying to reach the top of a tower to claim the treasure. Each floor presents a different challenge they must successfully complete and make it back inside the elevator before the doors close.

On the scripted development front, Nippon TV has dramedy series, Life’s Punchline, about three young comedians. Life’s Punchline was broadcast weekly on Nippon TV in a Saturday night slot from April to June 2021 with almost 14 million total views to date on VOD.

Tokyo Broadcasting System Television (TBS), meanwhile, is co-developing 10-episode crime procedural, Deep Crime Unit, with Israel’s Keshet International and Canada’s Facet4 Media. 

The original crime drama, starring Japanese actor Hiroshi Abe, centers around a fictional organisation, the Deep Crime Unit, which specialises in underwater investigations. 

The 10-episode series, which the partners started discussing two years ago, is scheduled to premiere in January 2022 in TBS’ prime Sunday night 9pm slot. 

It is the first of a slate of shows that TBS, Keshet International and Facet4 are planning for global distribution and adaptation. 

Japan’s top commercial broadcaster, Nippon TV also has crime drama high on its priority list.  Scripted formats for later this year/2022 include the co-production of a crime drama series, based on Nippon TV’s Double Booking (2020), with Envision Entertainment in London. The two companies said earlier this year that their alliance aimed to develop East-Meets-West scripted projects for the global market.

Published in ContentAsia October 2021 Magazine