The Masked Singer keeps its crown as world’s best-selling format

For the third year in a row, The Masked Singer has earned itself the title of world’s best-selling format, according to K7 Media’s annual report on the top 100 travelling unscripted TV formats, Tracking The Giants, and reported by TBI Vision. 

The format originated in South Korea and has since spread globally. In 2021, distributors MBC & Fremantle secured 12 new adaptations, including with Amazon in Japan, TV4 in Denmark, and TVN in Poland.

The Masked Singer also currently has the most active adaptations around the globe of any format, with 41 versions currently running. In second place is The Voice with 38 and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with 35.

The success hasn’t just stopped with The Masked Singer, however. The report shows that challenge-based game shows – including The Masked Singer and fellow South Korean export I Can See Your Voice – replaced quiz shows as the best-selling format sub-genre in 2021. 

As for why this might be the case, a representative from K7 said: “A popular theory for this suggests that during lockdown, viewers had enough of ‘real-life’ in their everyday lives and looked for more relaxing entertainment to unwind to on TV.”

Tracking The Giants report author Douglas Wood, said: “We should pause to celebrate the resilience and ongoing success of the unscripted global format market.

“With many scripted series experiencing production disruptions over the past year, non-scripted content has seen a revival in its fortunes, and we have witnessed an increased demand for reliable formats that can be turned around in a relatively short period of time.”

In the 2021 season of The Masked Singer Australia, 771,000 were watching as Anastacia was revealed to be under the Vampire costume and crowned the winner in the Grand Finale. The episode had an average of 648,000 viewers.

The American singer-songwriter took out the coveted title ahead of singers Em Rusciano (aka Dolly) and Axle Whitehead (aka Mullet).