Industry

A special focus on TBS, talking to the International Distribution Department, International Business Center (TBS Television)


Formatbiz: Who is TBS and what do they do?

TBS Television: Founded in 1951, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. (TBS) is one of the oldest and a pioneering free to air broadcasters in Japan. Today, as one of Japan’s premier media and entertainment companies making transitions to the digital era, TBS has developed a diverse array of businesses in all genres of productions for multiple media and outlets, events, real estate, commerce, etc.


Formatbiz: TBS is one of the biggest TV format producers in Japan. Could you tell us how many formats are produced in house?

TBS Television: For more than 50 years, TBS also has been active abroad for over half a century and is one of Asia’s most successful content exporters. Tens of thousands of episodes from more than 1,000 TBS titles have been distributed to countries and territories around the world. TBS began program format sales in the 1980s in cooperation with U.S. agent Bellon Entertainment, and has since been a major player in this field. With a well-earned reputation for innovation and a pioneering approach to the non/scripted and reality format business, it has licensed over 200 localized formats globally and many thousands of episodes. These include long-running global hits like: America’s Funniest Home Videos (the UK’s You’ve Been Framed), Takeshi’s Castle, Happy Family Plan (the UK’s The Moment of Truth), Waku Waku Animal Land and SASUKE / Ninja Warrior, among many others.


Formatbiz: What is the latest development in your global business?

TBS Television: In a move designed to more effectively find and secure business opportunities overseas, TBS Television launched two new departments within its Media Business Division in January 2019, to create the TBS International Business Center, a 3-pronged strategic organization consisting of International Distribution Department, International Business Development Department and International Strategy Department. In recent years, TBS has been licensing a greater number of rights to its IP and is committed to exploiting the full spectrum of its global businesses. This will cover conventional program and format distribution, merchandising, publication, gaming, sponsorship and co-promotion, and even theme parks.

Formatbiz: Ninja Warrior is one of your greatest hits. In how many countries has it been exported?

TBS Television: “SASUKE / Ninja Warrior” has been broadcast in 165 countries, spawning local productions in 25 countries, including the US version American Ninja Warrior—with more to come.


Formatbiz: How do you explain the success of this format?

TBS Television: In short, there are mainly three elements to its success: creativity, originality and uniqueness. Multiple numbers of reality formats in the West are based on competition in various forms and most of them are based on a win or lose type of ‘elimination’ at the same time. Ninja Warrior is an obstacle based sports-like physical entertainment. It is about the human achievement and if there were a competition – contestants are trying to ‘conquer’ the monstrous obstacle course rather than trying to win against the other contestants. It’s not a regular competition program, it’s not about man vs. man (who wins against who), it’s about man vs. the invincible obstacle course. It’s about one’s achievement. It’s about how contestants face and tackle with obstacles, difficulties and hardships. Like life itself. Viewers can relate themselves to the contestants on course. There are far more times when there is no winner at the end as there are only 4 contestants who have conquered the course out of close to 4,000 who tried; even limited to the Japanese original SASUKE.

In the beginning, most of the foreign TV executives strongly objected to the idea of not having a winner at the end saying a competition format like that would not work in the West. Ironically, however, not always having a winner at the end raised viewers’ anticipation whether there will be a winner and also the expectation to have a winner the next time.


Formatbiz: What are the values of this programme?

TBS Television: In short, it has both entertainment and commercial values as well as branding and IP values. As it is not just the regular physical or sports competition program but also an entertainment program demonstrating achievements and human drama, the messages program bring are all clean and positive that viewers are not just entertained but also encouraged, motivated and inspired. The TBS formats have touched off a worldwide boom in obstacle-course sports entertainment as well as gym and fitness. It is a family entertainment and the ratings in each country prove that it’s strong in all generations: kids to elderly both men and women. It also has strong affinity with the social media. Along with the official websites for each country version which has large number of fans, there are countless numbers of fans and community sites and contributed in creating buzz across the countries over many times. As such, it is also popular among the sponsors which led to multiple numbers of tip-ups with the global brands like TOYOTA, Jeep, LEGO, TARGET, Reebok, Subway and Hollywood films just to name a few. The popularity of the program further expanded SASUKE / NINJA WARRIOR-related business opportunities through branding of its IP. TBS has been actively registering, managing and protecting the trademark internationally. This has allowed for successful merchandising, tie-ups, publication, and various forms of innovative branded commercialization. Some notable examples are family entertainment centers where visitors can tackle obstacles modelled on the Ninja Warrior course. Three have been launched in the U.K. in collaboration with ITV, the broadcaster of Ninja Warrior UK, and four similar facilities opened in Israel in the summer of 2019. In the U.S., the NBCUniversal released American Ninja Warrior Challenge, a video game for the 3 major game consoles, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.


Formatbiz: What are your new formats?

TBS Television: There one and it is called “TIME IS MONEY – THE CELEBRITY LIFE HACK SHOW,” a production in partnership with British format specialist Dave Winnan, CEO of Global Creatives, Inc. who has worked on close to 100 titles including global hits like “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here”, Hell’s Kitchen,” etc. The show will present groups of celebrities who endeavor to pass on personal tips that make life easier and more enjoyable.

Formatbiz : What are the new programme trends coming from Japan?

TBS Television: “Edutainment” (education + entertainment) type programs and “Focus on Japan” type programs occupy a lot of time slots across the stations. Former is probably because viewers want to get something out of the program in addition to good laughs. Latter is both about what’s within Japan and Japanese presence abroad which is probably because government is giving focus on both in-bound and out-bound policies (tourism, industries, import / export, etc.) and of the coming Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

As for formats, there are some major differences in market (viewer) needs and fundamental differences between the foreign formats and Japanese formats. First, foreign formats have structures under one topic (singing, cooking, quiz, etc.) that are repeatable for a multiple numbers of episodes by professional MCs plus the amateur participants. Japan did have this trend but it was over 20 years ago. This doesn’t necessarily mean we are 20 years ahead of the rest but nevertheless the patterns that died down in Japan a long time ago appear popular now elsewhere. As Japanese viewers are so picky and easily get tired of the same pattern, regardless how successful the foreign format is elsewhere, most of those under a single theme / topic not working in Japan. Also, multiple numbers of global hit titles do not seem anything new to the Japanese TV audiences as there were programs very similar to the titles considered a global hit now over several decades in Japan.

As for the environment surrounding the entertainment industry, the situation is more or less the same as in the rest of the world as literally everything has been drastically changing due to technological advancements including digitization, increase in media outlets, diversification in entertainment, etc. We take them as new opportunities and challenges.