UK: ITV and Keshet inks new deal for Rising Star

With this deal, ITV has secured the rights to bring Keshet’s Rising Star to UK audiences. The format will be co-produced by ITV Studios and Keshet International UK. The format has already been sold in Hungary (TV2), Italy (Toro), France (M6 Group), Russia (Rossiya1), Germany (RTL) and the Nordics (Nordisk) and most recently ABC for the U.S. market.

‘ITV's track record in launching globally successful music and talent shows makes it the natural UK home for the groundbreaking Rising Star. The UK's leading commercial network joins a large cast of leading broadcasters to come on board, and we look forward to working with its brilliant team to bring this interactive live experience to British audiences’, said Alon Shtruzman, Managing Director, Keshet International.

Elaine Bedell, ITV’s director of Entertainment and Comedy, said: ‘It's rare that you find a genuinely innovative new entertainment format, but Keshet have come up with one and I'm very pleased that it will now be on ITV.  The bold real-time voting element means that viewers’ votes control every twist and turn of the live programme - and that makes for an incredibly dramatic, emotional and exciting show’. 

Produced by Tedy Productions for Keshet Broadcasting, Rising Star is an interactive talent format that hails a new era in home entertainment. Its launch marks the first real-time voting by viewers via an innovative free app ‘TV app to you’ that is fully integrated into the show.

If the performer secures 70% of the viewers and the judges votes, the screen rises in the studio and the new star is revealed. From the very first minute of the very first episode, viewers will continue to play an integral role in every decision made on the show throughout the entire season.

Over 9 million votes have been tallied through the app, which has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times. Rising Star has outperformed all second screen data ever recorded in Israel, with a participation rate 10 times higher than previous shows, and is maintaining high ratings and conversion rates of over 30%. Last Tuesday night's episode scored 49%, 35.9% rating.