ATF: Nickelodeon’s ‘The Viral Factory’ Gets Thai Version as Viacom Boosts Asian Formats
By Naman Ramachandran
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – GMM Grammy Thailand will adapt and produce Nickelodeon’s social influencer format “The Viral Factory,” it was announced on Tuesday, ahead of Singapore’s Asian TV Forum & Market.
The Dutch format originally aired in The Netherlands in 2018 under the title “De Viral Fabriek.” The Thai adaptation will feature local talent and will premiere in 2020.
At the ATF, Viacom International Studios (VIS) will also represent two Hindi-language formats developed by Viacom’s Indian joint venture Viacom18 for MTV India. Now in its fourth season, “Love School” is a light-hearted competitive reality format in which young couples in crisis try and improve or save their relationships. In its 16th season, “Roadies” puts teams through the adventure challenge grind while travelling across India. Viacom18’s distribution arm IndiaCast will sell finished series of both titles.
In addition, VIS is representing new studio-based talent competition format, “America’s Most Musical Family” that was launched in the U.S. Nov. 1, simultaneously across Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, MTV2, Nicktoons, Paramount Network, TeenNick, TV Land and VH1. The series features 30 families who compete in front of three celebrity judges and a host in the hope of winning a recording contract and a $250,000 cash prize.
“Our recent agreements in Asia demonstrate the continued strength of our content and relevance to local audiences around the world. I’m really looking forward to seeing ‘The Viral Factory’ being brought to life in a brand-new language and to a whole new audience,” said, Laura Burrell, head of formats at VIS. “We are committed to sourcing and representing top quality formats from around the world, and are delighted to be partnering with Viacom18 for the first time on their originally developed hit series “Roadies” and “Love School”.”
“Indian original content is increasingly being accepted and applauded across the world – be it on television or cinema. This poses a great opportunity for Indian content creators to explore format partnerships and put India as an original content destination,” said Anuj Gandhi, Group CEO of IndiaCast.
