A+E Networks format alone: Australia is the most watched original series in SBS History

A+E Networks today announced that Alone: Australia, the first iteration of the company’s global hit format produced in the region, is now the most watched SBS-commissioned series in the network’s history, averaging over 1 million viewers per episode on linear TV and On Demand.

This unprecedented ratings success was announced by A+E Networks’ Director of International Format Production and Acquisitions Crispin Clover, and highlights A+E’s recent success creating regionally replicable, award-winning formats that perform across multiple languages and territories.

Produced locally by ITV Australia, Alone, the self-shot, ultimate survival competition format that finds contestants dropped into the remote wilderness, where each must survive entirely alone, has been a critical and ratings hit in every territory where it airs. Alone: Australia premiered as SBS’s highest-rated program of 2023 to date, with the premiere episode more than tripling its audience via OnDemand and catch-up viewing in just two weeks.

By the end of its 12-episode run, Alone was the number one show across all Australian Broadcaster VOD platforms​, rivaling long-running formats on competitor commercial networks, and more than quadrupling the SBS prime average among total viewers. Since its launch, a quarter of all new accounts on SBS On Demand have watched the series.

‘A+E Networks is incredibly pleased that viewers were so riveted by Alone: Australia, especially since we were able to partner with SBS and ITV Australia to create a true phenomenon that rapidly became water-cooler TV’, said Clover.

SBS’ is only the latest success for Alone, which has become a ratings hit over seven seasons in Denmark, winning the TV Prisen Awards for Best Reality Programme in 2020, and boasts successful franchises in Norway and Sweden. Channel 4 also ordered a UK iteration of the format earlier in 2022, to be produced by The Garden and released later this year. Alone first premiered on The HISTORY Channel in the US in 2015, and has since become a domestic and global phenomenon, with a tenth season premiering June 2023.

A+E Networks also announced multiple recent commissions from other hit shows on its growing global formats roster, all for brand new hours of returning series including The Rap Game, The UnXplained, and Top Dog.

‘It is through deep collaboration with our treasured partners that we’ve been able to garner a fantastic track record in finding formats that transcend cultures and borders and truly tap into the zeitgeist of the moment, as evidenced by the latest commissions from our industry-leading partners’, continued Clover. ‘Each of these formats has continued to attract strong audiences in vastly different territories worldwide, and those audiences continue to grow season after season’.

TOP DOG GERMANY

Top Dog, a heartwarming competition format that finds expertly trained dogs competing with their owners in a series of rounds that test speed, agility, and communication, all on a supersized, Ninja Warrior-style obstacle course, has been renewed for a third season by RTL in Germany. Top Dog Germany (locally titled Der beste Hund Deutschlands) has regularly ranked as the number one show in its time slot across all German TV in multiple demos, including ages 14-49. The first series performed so well that RTL produced a Celebrity Special that drew in 1.98 million viewers.

Top Dog has also found success over three seasons to date in the US as America’s Top Dog, hosted by actor David Koechner and sportscaster Curt Menefee, and was nominated for Best Competition Reality Format at the C21 International Formats Awards.

THE RAP GAME ITALY

The Rap Game, a cutting-edge, multiple award-winning competition format, has been picked up for a fifth season by BBC Three. Produced by Naked Television, The Rap Game UK finds exceptional local MCs from around the country, pairs them with celebrity mentors who train them and give them a crash course in the music business, then has them compete in epic MC showdowns in front of a panel of judges.

The Rap Game first premiered on the A+E Networks US channel Lifetime in 2016 and  was soon commissioned by BBC Three for a version produced by Naked Television. The UK version of the format has been honored with multiple prestigious award nominations, including a BAFTA, a Rose D’or, a Grierson Award, a C21 International Format Award, an RTS Award, and multiple Broadcast Digital and Edinburgh TV Awards, winning Best Entertainment Programme at the Broadcast Digital Awards in 2020 and Best Entertainment Series at the Edinburgh TV Awards that same year.

Late in 2022, A+E announced that the first-ever non-English language version of The Rap Game format had been ordered by RaiPlay and Yam112003 in Italy.

THE UNXPLAINED LATIN AMERICA

The UnXplained, a factual format that breaks down the truth behind the most bizarre and mysterious events ever reported and is hosted and Executive Produced by William Shatner in the US, has been renewed for a third Spanish-language season by HISTORY Channel LATAM, to air across all of its territories in the region. 

Locally titled Inexplicable Latinoamérica, and produced by Del Volga Productions, the LATAM iteration of The UnXplained finds superstar Leguizamo utilizing top scientists and individual accounts to unearth shocking new insights into phenomena ranging from UFO encounters to evil possessions. The series has found great success all over Latin America, ranking #1 on HISTORY in prime time among adults 25+ in Brazil, in the top five shows among males 18+ in Colombia, and in the top ten with male viewers spanning multiple demographics in Mexico and Argentina.

 

LC