Case: Elämä Pelissä – The Internationalization of a Finnish Format

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to conduct a mixed-method survey consisting of a qualitative and a quantitative part to analyze television formats as products and to find out whether formats favor a product strategy of adaptation or standardization as a mode for internationalization. In addition to these goals the aim is to analyze why Finnish formats succeed poorly in international markets and based on these findings, attempt to find out what strategy would fit the emerging television format Project Life the best.

The theoretical part starts with an overview of products and how formats can be seen viewed as products and follows up to the theory behind the product strategies of adaptation and standardization, the strategies are illustrated as three different cases. The empirical part of the study consisted of a survey sent to international television format industry professionals and the interview of two Finnish top executives of the industry.

The results show that for formats choosing the strategy is extremely case-sensitive and requires a deep understanding of what is being internationalized. Finnish formats don’t in most cases think of international success during the production and don’t hold it in high regard.