Viceland tackles late night for first time

US cable channel Viceland has entered the late night programming space for the first time, ordered a series from rapper Tyler the Creator, and another from filmmaker Ondi Timoner.

The late night series will be Desus & Mero, which is based on a web show of the same name and a podcast from The Bodega Boys, and the commission comes on the six-month anniversary of the Vice Media millennial-skewed channel’s debut in the US.

Viceland said the series would offer “a fresh take on the day’s events… all through the eyes of two friends born and raised in the Bronx”.

Tyler the Creator’s series comes from Whalerock Industries and based on a show from the rapper’s Golf Media App, while Timoner, from Interloper Films, has created Jungletown.

Timoner’s programme will see the filmmaker embed herself within a group of idealistic young students and staff members, who commit to creating “the world’s greatest sustainable modern town” in Panama.

There are also second season commissions of Huang’s World and States of Undress headed for the channel.

Viceland is currently rolling out in 55 territories around the world. In the US, ratings have been low since launch, with Nielsen data from last week revealing it had an audience half the size of the channel it replaced, H2. It had 45,000 viewers in July.

However, it has aged down the EPG slot by 17 years, from 57 to 40, with primetime 18-49 audiences up on H2’s figures.

Shane Smith (pictured), CEO of Viceland parent Vice, ruffled feathers last week at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, where he accused British broadcasters of ignoring millennial audiences and making TV with no social purpose during his MacTaggart Memorial lecture.