A comprehensive look at the latest commissions, digital pivots, and global distribution trends shaping the unscripted landscape.
What’s Inside ScreenMDM Factual & Formats Digest this month.
- Docs in the Public Interest
- 9:16 Opportunities
- Breaking New Format IP
- The Creator Pipeline
- Factual Goes FAST
- Criminal Activity & Going Back in Time
- ScreenMDM Selects: BossaNova’s The Accused
- ScreenMDM Factual & Formats at MIPCOM
Docs in the Public Interest
Despite funding challenges, public broadcasters worldwide are fighting the good fight, cobbling together funds to keep investing in trusted factual fare—geared primarily to local audiences, but universal enough to travel. Pubcasters that made news with their commissions over the last month included PBS in the U.S., which revealed the 2027 lineup for its American Experience strand. The long-running strand is set to feature limited-series docs on Charles Lindbergh and the FBI, alongside continued emphasis on driving its social video presence after its short-form videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube generated more than 19 million video views in the last five months. S4C is also leaning into digital, calling for digital-first versions of established shows as part of its More than a TV Channel strategy. True crime, contemporary history, terrorism, and the role of mythology in popular culture feature among a new batch of commissions from indie production companies at BBC Scotland. Meanwhile, the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Studios, has begun the search for a successor to Jonny Keeling at the head of its storied Natural History Unit.
9:16 Opportunities
Breaking New Format IP
Meanwhile, in 16:9 formats, the last month featured news of a smattering of new concepts, including a brand-funded one that Banijay Entertainment is bringing to seven European markets simultaneously. Live Better for Less, a lifestyle entertainment format produced by Banijay UK’s Electric Robin with Vinted and WPP Media, will air in the UK, France, Germany, and Spain (Prime Video), the Netherlands (RTL 4), Poland (TVN Style), and Italy (Warner Bros. Discovery’s Real Time). Each series will consist of seven 24-minute episodes, with a localization strategy developed in partnership with AI outfit Adapt, powering translation, voice generation, and visual lip sync. Also at Banijay, SAT.1 and Joyn have commissioned The Million Dollar Idea (Die Millionenidee), a new business competition format created by Endemol Shine Germany. The new prime-time format will feature inventors pitching their product and service ideas, vying for an investment from German entrepreneur Ralf Dümmel. FOX Entertainment is heading to BCWW in Seoul next month on the hunt for compelling new Korean IP. Belgium-based Primitives has acquired the worldwide format rights (excluding German-speaking Europe) to Terrain: Battle of the Flags, an adventure-reality competition from ZDF and Roses Are Blue created by German comedian, actor, writer, and YouTube creator Torge Oelrich—better known as Freshtorge.
The Creator Pipeline
Three original series from Dan Abrams’ Law&Crime now fill a Monday prime-time slot on REELZ‘s linear network. The block delivers back-to-back episodes of Bodycam, Most Outrageous Crimes, and Interrogations, three of Law&Crime’s most popular digital-first series. Little Dot Studios expanded its global digital broadcast network to 250 actively managed channels and surpassed 30,000 hours of premium long-form programming after a series of new and renewed licensing agreements with international distribution partners. ChaiFlicks secured the SVOD rights to both seasons of the award-winning YouTube series And They’re Jewish with Hen Mazzig. World of Wonder assembled an expanded lineup of Drag Race UK content for WOW Presents Plus ahead of the season eight launch of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK on BBC Three. Merzigo has announced a new season of its popular dating reality series Qesma W Naseeb: Alarusat & Alhamaat. After building a large, dedicated following during its previous season on YouTube, the format now moves to SVOD as a Prime Video original across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Ample Entertainment unveiled a YouTube channel to develop and launch original IP. Ample Originals will host documentaries, series, creator collaborations, and companion content. KC Global Media partnered with the Sarawak Tourism Board to produce a new original travel and adventure series for AXN Asia and its accompanying YouTube channel, featuring content creators from the region (reflecting the growing trend of turning to tourism boards to help get shows off the ground).
Factual Goes FAST
The lean-back nature of the FAST ecosystem has made it fertile ground for factual distributors, and this month was no exception. Germany’s Joyn streaming platform expanded its lineup of FAST channels from BBC Studios to include BBC Earth and BBC Lifestyle. Subscribers to discovery+ in the U.S. can now access a suite of streaming channels built around some of the platform’s biggest franchises, as well as live events. The 24/7 linear-style curated feeds highlight popular genres and themes across unscripted, factual, home, food, and crime content.
Lifestyle is a key offering in the TV5MONDE FAST strategy, which ScreenMDM covered in a recent podcast with Patrice Courtaban, EVP of global growth and business development at TV5MONDE and CEO of TV5MONDE USA. “We are still in the experimentation phase because we always try to learn, and every market is different,” he said. “When we launched our FAST channels, we looked at the markets and tried to identify the drivers across all regions. Also, where can we launch a FAST channel where the space isn’t already overcrowded? If you have 20 drama series channels, maybe that’s not where we want to be. We’re always trying to differentiate.”
TV5MONDE Voyage, a lifestyle-and-discovery channel spanning trends, fashion, craft, and travel, and TV5MONDE Info, a live news channel, lean into easy, lean-back viewing that can cut through the clutter on FAST.
Criminal Activity & Going Back in Time
On the history front, BBC Select commissioned Woodcut Media to produce the six-part series Ancients: The Greatest Finds; and History Hit and Little Dot Studios revealed a collaboration on How the Tudors Lost Their Heads, a six-part series for National Geographic in the U.K.
ScreenMDM Selects
The Accused: A new true crime series exploring the impact that fighting against miscarriages of justice has on the people involved. BossaNova Media.
Watch the trailer here.
ScreenMDM Factual & Formats at MIPCOM
Print with Tier 1 Distribution (Palais, Croisette, Hotels): Distributor Survey / True-Crime Trends / Competition Formats / Digital-First Rollouts.
Digital Thought-Leadership Strands: We’ll be doing a series of MIPCOM-pegged interviews for our Real Talk & Format Zone strands.
Plus, ScreenMDM Selects, ScreenMDM Hit List, pre-market dailies, and a hub for all of our MIPCOM news.
Contact Mansha Daswani (editorial) or Kate Roach (advertising) for more information.
