SINGAPORE, TOKYO, LONDON – December 4, 2019 – Nippon TV, Japan’s multi-platform entertainment powerhouse and The Story Lab, global investor, creator and distributor, have announced plans to enter into a co-development partnership. These two key industry players will work closely together to create and develop non-scripted formats for international sales.
The partnership will focus on generating new entertainment formats with fresh creative perspectives, that are scalable and returnable across multiple territories, with the distribution being managed by both Nippon TV and The Story Lab internationally.
Nippon TV has seen several format successes of late, from its rating blockbuster gameshow BLOCK OUT in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, to its hit scripted series roll-out of Mother, and Woman – My Life for My Children.
Such strategic, global creative collaborations is a key area of focus for The Story Lab, as it continues to go from strength to strength in building a versatile slate of original entertainment properties, on the back of other co-development deals, producing shows, such as social experiment reality series You Are Not A Loan and dating series Undercover Twins.
The first project arising from the partnership will be announced shortly.
Ms. Shigeko Cindy Chino, Associate Managing Director, International Business Development for Nippon TV, said: “Matching up with The Story Lab was meant to be. Our shared vision of blending our values to create formats with global appeal has been a mutual agenda for a long time. With their support and expertise, we anticipate an explosive chemistry between The Story Lab’s global reach and Nippon TVs time-proven creativity.”
Ms. Fotini Paraskakis, EVP of Entertainment for Story Lab, said: “We are delighted with this collaboration. Nippon TV is a great partner for The Story Lab, as we continue to focus on expanding our content pipeline offering, with forward-thinking creative and commercial partners from across the world”
ABOUT NIPPON TV
Nippon TV is Japan's viewer ratings champion, topping all timeslot categories for five consecutive years and garnering the largest profits in the country's broadcasting industry. One of the biggest successes for the nation's finest producer of all genres of programming is Dragons' Den, a globally successful business show format that has more than 35 versions in territories across all continents of the world. The Emmy Award-winning version, Shark Tank, airs in the US. Following closely are the successes of scripted formats Mother and Woman -My Life for My Children-, whose Turkish versions have become mega-hits that have gone on to sell in nearly 40 territories around the world. As formats, Mother has also been sold to South Korea, Ukraine, and France, while Woman has likewise been acquired in France. With well-established businesses that span VOD / live-streaming engineering, animation, movies, events, fitness clubs, eSports, android creation, and digital mixed reality, Nippon TV is leveraging its coveted platform to revolutionize digital media in an ever-changing industry. Launching a channel in Southeast Asia named GEM through a joint venture with Sony Pictures Television Networks and leading the Japanese digital content market through its subsidiary Hulu Japan, Nippon TV is steadily solidifying its presence and brand as a global media powerhouse.
ABOUT THE STORY LAB
The Story Lab is a global investor, creator, producer and distributor of premium entertainment content, headquartered in London with offices in 25 markets, including Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Singapore, Paris, Moscow, Hamburg, Madrid, Sydney and Mumbai.
Since 2015, The Story Lab has been distributing successful prime time TV shows and films, whilst also delivering strategic content production, partnership and monetization solutions to advertisers, platforms and global partners. The strategy has already yielded results, with shows including Ninja Warrior, Game of Clones and No Sleep No Fomo among the catalogue that The Story Lab has co-created and owns the rights to, with several scripted and non-scripted projects in development in a number of markets.
The Story Lab is part of the Dentsu Aegis Network and it currently consists of 300 entertainment, marketing and investment professionals across the world. http://storylab.com/
