Izzet Pinto, CEO of Global Agency and creator of Good Singers, spoke to ttvews about the idea behind the format, following its successful premiere on TF1.
On Friday, July 17, French commercial network TF1 premiered the show Good Singers, based on the Global Agency format Is That Really Your Voice? The results in terms of ratings were more than positive for the network, prompting negotiations with the Turkish distributor for the format.
To find out more about the idea, its international sales and its production, ttvnews spoke to Izzet Pinto, CEO of Global Agency and creator of Good Singers.
Good Singers has already become one of Global Agency’s standout shows for Mipcom. How would you describe the format?
First of all, Good Singers is a “feel good” family entertainment format. There is no losing celebrity team. There is a cash prize at stake, which will be donated to charity. If a team fails to identify a good singer, their money for that round is awarded to the opposing team. The charities never lose out in a show that’s more about having fun than winning. The most important part is to entertain and surprise the audience with good and bad voices, which do not match the singers’ looks.
How does the show work?
The show presents talented and untalented singers who try to impress celebrities without actually singing in the first place. Two teams, with three celebrities each, compete against each other and have to use all their powers of perception to succeed. In each episode, 12 contestants come onto the stage, each with a numbered label, and each of them pretends to be a good singer. While some of them may have great voices, others certainly won’t. The celebrities have one goal: to distinguish the fakes from the genuine singers among the candidates.
The winning team will be awarded a cash prize, which will be donated to a charity of their choice.
What feedback have you gotten since the show’s premiere in France?
The launch of the French adaptation has achieved huge success. We are very happy and proud of this success. The show got great ratings with broad leadership across all targets on France’s TF1 on Friday, July 17th. The premiere was followed by 3.2 million viewers, which represents a 40% leap from the level of 2.3 million viewers for the same slot on the channel a week earlier. Also the critics on Twitter were very positive. Usually critics on Twitter are negative but for this show they were great.
Which other territories have already shown interest in the format?
After the announcement of Good Singers in France, there has been huge interest in this format, even before the launch. Until now we have received interest from 10 territories. It looks like audiences around the world are showing interest in comedy formats these days. We believe that this show can be “the next big thing” in the next two years. It will be a perfect show for worldwide TV channels. It really has all the elements to succeed: entertainment, curiosity, amazing cast with brilliant voices and unbearable voices, great stage design, a successful host and talented jury members.
Do you think the show fits the current pandemic situation in terms of theme and production costs?
During these tough days, it would be very right to say that this format fits market conditions in terms of cost of production and also its theme as creating entertainment and big fun. Since the stage is crowded with contestants and jury, you don’t need a big crowd for the audience. This makes the format ideal for the time of coronavirus.
What inspired you to create the idea?
The idea for the show came from watching the singer Susan Boyle, who rose to fame on a talent show. That inspired me to create this format. Her voice did not match her look and created big surprising moments for the audience. This feeling led me to create this idea. Even the title is based on that reaction. Is That Really Your Voice? is the first known format which is based on guessing contestants’ singing talent by their appearance and hearing them talk, but without hearing their singing voice. So far I’ve created almost 10 formats and this one seems to be the most successful one.
