MBN's Music Game Show 'Lotto Singer' To Hit American Televisions Soon

Nov 26, 2020 | by RD Revez

It is indeed true that the unique feature of Korean music game shows in which the whole family can watch and play together is fast becoming a trend in the global market. Now, the new music game show of MBN titled Lotto Singer will be having an American version as it is optioned by Fox Alternative Entertainment.

The Lotto Singer's concept is about 45 singers of various genres, including songs, classical music, and musicals, appearing on multiple stages. They will compete and see if viewers can correctly guess the six contestants who will get the highest scores from the audience judges.

The viewers win a significant prize if they can guess correctly. The music game show is created by singers and viewers who can earn prize money by hitting six winners.

Lotto Singer To Hit American Television

FormatEast, on November 25, signed a contract with a subsidiary of the American broadcast network Fox, Fox Alternative Entertainment (FAE). FormatEast is in charge of global format distribution for Lotto Singer and is also an SBS subsidiary company.

SBS established FormatEast in December 2018 to research and develop new TV show formats in South Korea. Lotto Singer was created in 2019 in this lab by collaborating with Park Won Woo, a writer on The King of Mask Singer, and FormatEast. Produced for MBN, the show began airing in October 2020, and it is currently planning for a midseason finale in January 2021.

As indicated in the contract, FAE will produce and distribute versions of Lotto Singer on the United States and Europe's public broadcast and cable channels.

The in-charge of the remake of Lotto Singer is Rob Wade. He is the variety department head at Fox and has produced hit music shows like The X Factor, Dancing With the Stars, and America's Got Talent.

The Growing Influence Of Korean Game Shows In The Global Market

Fox was the first major American network that saw success with optioning formats of Korean music variety shows. One of the notable examples of this is MBC's The King of Mask Singer, which has now run for four seasons in the United States. Simultaneously, I Can See Your Voice of CJ ENM was also optioned for a remake.

According to the director of FormatEast, the Fox Group's option for Korean variety shows is a testament to their growth that it did not even take two years between the format being first developed on paper to being sold to the American market.