In the pilot of “Suits,” the briefcase that springs open during a job interview is full of marijuana, and it stays that way in the show’s Korean and Mongolian remakes. In Japan, the drugs became money, because drugs can’t be shown on Japanese TV, according to Linfield Ng, VP of format sales and production, Asia at NBCUniversal Formats, which licenses the show.
Ng gave the example at Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) in Taipei, where he shared a stage with Fukaya Shunsuke, head of new format sales, Europe at TBS Television, for a session on how formats get adapted market by market. Emily Chang, who heads the financial news team at Taiwan’s Videoland and produces “Shark Tank Taiwan,” moderated.
“But the concept is the same. Again, that did not change the DNA of the show,” Ng said.
The same thinking applied to “SNL Korea,” which dropped the musical segment because Korea already has a glut of music and countdown shows. Producers there also asked to soften or skip the U.S. show’s politically pointed cold open at sensitive moments, replacing it with topical material. “We just make slight changes to adapt to the local sensitivity and the local landscape,” Ng said. On “Suits,” every legal case is localized while the core story of the man with no law degree stays intact.
NBCUniversal has made more than 25 versions of “Top Chef,” and runs a “Top Chef” summit that brings producers from different countries together to trade notes on challenges, shooting styles and what works where. Ng, who joined the company in 2011 after senior stints at BBC Worldwide, Endemol Asia and Warner Bros. Pictures, said his Singapore-based team holds pre-production calls with local partners weeks or months ahead, goes on set with a producer during the shoot and reviews early episodes before they air. Asian versions often add celebrity panels and more behind-the-scenes drama, which he said is agreed well in advance. “So there will never be any surprises where it comes to us, it goes on air, and go like, ‘What is that?’” Ng said.
Fukaya, who joined TBS in 2009 and spent 12 years in production before moving into format sales, pointed to “Sasuke,” known internationally as “Ninja Warrior,” TBS’s biggest format hit with local versions in 25 countries.
“‘Ninja Warrior’ has a truly universal theme – a human versus giant obstacles – that you can express in one line, and anyone can understand it regardless of country or culture,” Fukaya said.
TBS keeps a brand guide for the show, separate from the production bible, that defines it as an Olympics for unknown athletes built on serious sportsmanship. Local changes are measured against that concept. When the U.S. and the U.K. wanted a head-to-head version, TBS built a derivative race format, and Fukaya said every new variation gives the company more ways to sell the brand. Host-driven talk shows, by contrast, rarely work as formats, since what TBS licenses is the framework, rules and game, and the banter between particular hosts can’t be reproduced abroad.
Co-development has been a growing part of TBS’s push since the broadcaster declared two years ago that it was starting its first global year. Fukaya made two such shows with U.K. distributor All3Media International, “Lovers or Liars?” in 2024 and “Tono” a year later, serving as business and creative producer on both. In “Lovers or Liars?” four couples take the stage, only one of them genuine, and a panel tries to spot the real pair from clues such as watching them sing or dance together.
When the U.K. side proposed ballroom dancing, Fukaya found himself stuck between the two teams, since couples dancing that way isn’t part of Japanese culture. He asked the British creators why they wanted it. The answer was body contact, which helps reveal which couple is real, so the team settled on choreography with plenty of touching.
“When cultures clash, I think it’s best for the person standing in the middle to confirm what the creative intent is, and find the point of contact there,” Fukaya said. Asked by Chang whether he ballroom dances himself, he laughed and said he couldn’t.
TBS typically airs its co-developed pilots in late-night slots, and Fukaya said ratings in that window matter less than the fact that a show has been produced and broadcast on a terrestrial network rather than pitched on paper. Some of those late-night pilots are now starting to sell well overseas. “I can’t share the details yet, but I think there will be news soon,” he said.
Ng said Japan always tests its pilots at midnight. “So how much of a rating you can get at midnight timeslot is actually very challenging,” he said.
On the buying side, Ng’s third-party pickups include Korea’s “Hidden Singer” and “Drive Thru-Oke” and Spain’s “Crush.” In 2026 alone, NBCUniversal Formats added three Asian formats: Korea’s “Unboxing the Flavours,” a cooking show that started life on YouTube; TBS’s “Action Arena,” which Ng likened to a studio-based arcade game; and Chukyo TV’s “Save Money” from Japan. He looks for a clear structure, scalability across budgets, a distinct selling point, and formats that are budget- and sponsor-friendly. “Because in the U.S., many a times, it is all funded by the networks, but in Asia, it’s always sponsors first,” Ng said.
NBCUniversal Formats has sold more than 40 format brands across Asia, and in 2025 alone had 39 seasons across 17 territories. Ng said rights deals are often split by region: the company may take Asian rights while an owner such as TBS keeps Europe.
Some formats don’t cross over at all. NBCUniversal acquired MBC’s “Dad! Where Are We Going?” and loved it, Ng said, but found it couldn’t work in Europe, where celebrities won’t put their children on TV for privacy and security reasons. Entertainment and game shows account for about 59% of the formats that sell well globally, according to a 2026 K7 report Ng cited, compared with about 40% in Asia. But game shows don’t work in Korea, so his team never pitches them there. Mongolia, meanwhile, buys only what suits its market rather than the biggest U.S. or Asian hits.
Ng’s advice to Asian creators was to do their research first and know what sets their show apart. “You’ve got to grab them within the first one to two minutes,” he said. Asked by Chang which elevator offers a one-minute pitch with him, Ng said, “You just got to find the right elevator.”
Chang put two Taiwanese shows to him. Of Videoland’s night-market competition format, Ng said he enjoyed it but questioned how many countries have a street-food culture big enough to support a local version. He pointed instead to TVBS’s beauty show “Nu Ren Wo Zui Da,” which has been adapted. “Which woman around the whole world doesn’t want to look better?” Ng said.
Chang also traced the origins of her own show: “Shark Tank,” licensed by Videoland from Sony Pictures Television, began as Nippon TV’s “Money Tigers” in 2001 before becoming “Dragons’ Den” in the U.K. and “Shark Tank” in the U.S., and has since landed in more than 50 countries. The Taiwan version had to persuade its U.S. and U.K. partners, with polling and market data, that local viewers needed on-screen captions the original’s clean look doesn’t use.
Fukaya, who joined the advisory board of the Format Recognition and Protection Association (FRAPA) in 2026, said the group sets criteria for where a format’s protected idea begins and ends, since proving copying in legal terms is difficult. Building an exact replica of “Ninja Warrior’s” Warped Wall would be a clear violation, he said.
Ng said buying an IP means learning from the owner’s mistakes, and that NBCUniversal would never again partner with a company that copies. “No one wants to buy a copy version,” he said.
TBS’s “Action! No Reaction” is now under option in over 10 territories across Europe, and Fukaya said buyers are asking TBS above all for comedy game shows, driven by the success of “Documental,” “LOL,” “Freeze” and TBS’s own “Takeshi’s Castle.”
“You just have to know your market, and you just have to basically think globally and act locally,” Ng said.
Source: variety.com
