Abstract
In 2005, one of four subheadings of an article on trends in entertainment programming published in the RTL Group’s Television 2005 Yearbook read “Format is king” (IP, 2005). It was aptly chosen. Throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century, formatted shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Idols and America’s Next Top Model, developed in one market and sold internationally for local adaptation, proved highly popular with audiences across Europe as well as globally. By the end of the 1990s, formats had come to constitute large parts of the prime-time schedules of private broadcasters. Moreover, they fiercely permeated national top-10/top-20 programme lists compiled on the basis of audience ratings.
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© 2013 Andrea Esser
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Esser, A. (2013). Format is King”: Television Formats and Commercialisation. In: Donders, K., Pauwels, C., Loisen, J. (eds) Private Television in Western Europe. Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137017550_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137017550_11
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