Markets

At NATPE Budapest (June 23-26, 2025) one of the most anticipated sessions was the Global Format Briefing: Spotting the Next Big Thing, delivered by Clare Thompson, Non-Executive Director at K7 Media. Thompson provided a clear snapshot of the format industry’s evolving landscape, spotlighting key trends, emerging territories, and the formats set to shape the coming year.
Despite a slight decline compared to the previous year, the unscripted format market remains healthy and robust. According to Thompson, there were 1,500 active adaptations of 450 unscripted formats outside their home country in 2023-2024. This represents a small drop from 2023, but it is still well above the levels seen in 2022, when the industry was emerging from the pandemic.
One of the standout insights is the growing significance of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), now representing 20% of global unscripted format adaptations. The region has firmly positioned itself as the second largest format market worldwide, trailing only Western Europe.

The Ongoing Dance: Reboots and New Formats
While industry conversations often focus on revivals, Thompson’s data reveals a more nuanced reality. Yes, reboots are on the rise—with a 12% increase in revived formats year-on-year—but new formats are also thriving, with an 11% increase in original creations. Buyers appear to be striking a cautious but encouraging balance between tried-and-tested IP and bold new ideas.“Broadcasters are not retreating from fresh content,” noted Thompson. “There’s a healthy appetite for innovation alongside familiar brands.”

The standout success of the year is The Floor, a Dutch quiz format from Talpa Studios. Pitting 100 contestants against each other on a giant LED floor divided into knowledge categories, the format has already achieved widespread international sales, with versions launched across Latin America, Central Europe, Romania, Ukraine, and the USA. With eight new adaptations confirmed for 2025, The Floor looks poised to remain at the top of the charts.

Another breakout hit is The A-Talk a smaller format distributed by Can't Stop Media. The show, which features celebrities interviewed by a panel of journalists on the autism spectrum, has achieved remarkable global traction, with 21 versions across 19 territories in just three years. Its success in Asia, particularly Singapore, is noteworthy, as the region has historically been resistant to Western format imports.

The Power of Evergreen Brands
The market’s love for evergreen formats continues. Wheel of Fortune remains the reboot champion, with 16 active versions and 12 relaunches since 2023 in markets like France, Serbia, and Turkey. Central Europe, in particular, has shown a strong appetite for game show revivals, including Money Drop, Fort Boyard.
Meanwhile, MasterChef continues to defy the passage of time, consistently launching four to five new versions every year since its UK debut in 1990. The Voice remains a returnability powerhouse, with 29 local versions recommissioned in the 2024-2025 cycle, many of which have now surpassed the crucial 10-season milestone.

Adventure and Romance: Formats on the Rise
Adventure-driven reality shows and dating formats are gaining momentum, particularly on streaming platforms like Prime Video, which is currently the leading adapter of international formats among streamers.

New adventure formats such as Stranded on Honeymoon Island and The Summit—which combine survival, romance, and social experimentation—are resonating with global audiences, despite their complex production requirements.

The Shifting Influence of Asia
While South Korean formats dominated international markets in recent years, exports from Korea have slowed, with a 39% drop in volume over the past year. Still, new psychological reality formats like The Bloody Game and Genius Game are attempting to reignite momentum.

Meanwhile, Japanese comedy game shows are on the rise, thanks in part to Amazon’s success with Last One Laughing. Quirky, clippable formats like Funny Face Spy and Ants are gaining attention for their family appeal and viral potential.

Familiar Games, Fresh Twists
There is also a growing trend of reimagining classic childhood games for prime time: Scrabble (Fremantle): Performed well in the US on CW, especially with younger audiences. Sea Battle (DreamSpark): A battleship-inspired quiz show with a high-tech LED floor. Game of Chairs (Banijay): Musical chairs meets quiz battle.
That’s My Chair (DreamSpark): A cross-country treasure hunt with celebrity duos.
These formats are simple, visually engaging, and offer multi-generational appeal—a winning formula in today’s crowded marketplace.

The New Brain Games
Following the success of The 1% Club, logic and common-sense quiz shows are booming: The Easiest Quiz Show in the World (Yes Yes Media): Contestants answer simple questions under time pressure, with one wrong answer wiping out the entire prize pot. Focus (TF1 France): A striking LED-floor game show testing different areas of brain power in an intense, competitive setup. Adding reality-style narratives to quiz shows is becoming a smart way to attract younger viewers and works well across both linear and streaming platforms.

The New Wave of Psychological and Adventure Reality
Thompson also spotlighted emerging adventure and psychological formats: The Box: A Norwegian hit placing celebrities in isolated boxes with surprise challenges. Extracted (Fox): Families remotely control contestants' survival strategies via live feeds.The Neighbourhood (ITV, 2026): Families live side by side and vote each other out in a competitive suburban setting. The Inheritance (Studio Lambert): A stately home, mysterious fortune, and elimination-style gameplay hosted by Liz Hurley. These shows blend high-concept competition with interpersonal drama, echoing the success of The Traitors while offering fresh twists.

Comedy, Clippability, and High-Tech Experiences
Comedy remains a major player, especially with physical endurance formats from Japan:
100 Choices (Sony/Yoshimoto): A hilarious mix of trivia and physical endurance. Funny Face Spy (Nippon): Celebrities make ridiculous faces to trick security systems.

There’s also growing interest in high-tech formats, such as The Honesty Box, which gamifies emotional honesty using lie detection elements, and AI-themed concepts—though often more in name than in application.


Thompson’s briefing made it clear: the format market in 2024 is not retreating into the comfort of the past. While there is undeniable enthusiasm for reboots, there is also real space for bold, imaginative, and emotionally engaging new formats. Whether it's childhood games reimagined for prime time, psychological reality adventures, or clippable Japanese comedies, the key to success remains the same: simplicity, scalability, and the ability to surprise audiences across generations and platforms.