By OBEN BUDAK*
In Oben Budak’s interview with İzzet Pinto, the founder and CEO of Global Agency, one of the well-established giants of the industry, topics such as MIPCOM plans, Another Love and the next period were discussed.
We share parts of the interview in Episode Dergi’s MIPCOM international issue.
In the interview published before the fair, Pinto says the following about the projects they plan to highlight at MIPCOM 2023:
İzzet Pinto: We will launch our new hit drama Another Love. It will be our first launch party after five years.
We believe it will be the hit of the new season. It tells the powerful story of a TV presenter and a prosecutor, drawn into an affair filled with passion and tension as they both seek to reveal the dark truth about a mysterious serial killer.
The producer of the drama is Tims&B Productions, which is one of the leading production houses in Türkiye and has produced series that became hits in many countries across the world. This latest series is produced by Timur Savcı and Burak Sağyaşar and it stars Hande Erçel and Burak Deniz.
We are also highlighting Match The Family and Rolling Kitchen. Our Japanese format Rolling Kitchen has been aired in Brazil, produced by Endemol Brazil. They made two successful seasons with the famous actor, comedian and host Paulo Vieira.
The cooking show format undergoes a genuine revolution in the Rolling Kitchen, where two couples compete to see which team can create the best dish on a stage which rotates 180 degrees every 10 minutes.
Match The Family will be one of our hits which is a fun and fascinating contest challenging two teams of three players to use their intelligence and quick wits to identify family members of a person in the studio in a thrilling battle for big cash prizes.
Can you evaluate MIPCOM and the fairs you attended in general?
We reached a record level in the number of fairs we took part in this year. We participated in 18 expos and fairs throughout the year. Before the pandemic, it was around 12-14 fairs per year. We have already reached 18 for 2023. We might end up attending as many as 20 of such events in the future.
We care a lot about the marketing part of the business and we invest well.
We participate in these expos with prestigious booths. We use outdoor and indoor and digital advertisements.
Global Agency also sells formats. Which formats were the most popular/watched in the highest number of countries?
We are one of the world’s leading TV content distributors, offer a broad portfolio of powerful dramas and innovative formats. The format that attracted the most attention so far is the Shopping Monsters.
It has been broadcast in more than 20 countries. We have reached 2,500 episodes in Germany and 2,000 episodes in France, and still counting.
Apart from this, we have more than ten formats which are created within our own organization.
Global Agency was initially founded as a format distribution company 17 years ago and then started exporting TV series. Therefore, the format business is always close to hearth for Global Agency. We highly value the global exposure of ideas originating from Türkiye.
That’s why we come together with format creators every year and shoot pilot episodes.
If we talk about the last few years, which content formats are the most successful in the world?
The TV industry reshapes itself over the years with various genres of content, and viewer preferences change. However, certain genres always remain relevant. In recent years, singing shows have been popular in prime-time, and cooking formats have garnered attention in the daytime slot. Currently, our catalog includes 75 different formats from various genres.
