Amazon greenlights four new Nordic versions of Banijay’s ‘The Bridge’ competition format

The Bridge

Amazon’s Prime Video streamer has commissioned four new local versions of Banijay’s reality format The Bridge for the Nordics.

Meter Television, Mastiff Norway, Metronome and Endemol Shine Finland will produce the local versions for Prime Video in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, respectively. All four versions will premiere on 4 November, with The Bridge becoming the first Nordic reality show for the streaming service and bringing the total adaptations of the Banijay format to ten countries.

The reality competition followers a group of strangers who meet in a harsh-but beautiful location where, using a few basic tools and their bare hands, they must build a 220-metre bridge to an island holding a life-changing cash prize.

Once there, a vote is held to decide who gets the prize, with the chosen participant deciding whether to share it. Each local Nordic version will consist of 6 x 40-minute episodes, with the first three instalments launching on the premiere date, and the remaining three airing weekly.

The format was originally created in Spain by Zeppelin, part of Banijay Iberia, and has previously been sold to countries indcluding the UK and Australia.

The deal is part Amazon’s strategy of using formats that can provide tentpole programming – and act as a common thread – across its global service. Last year, the media giant struck a similar deal with Banijay for its Hunted format, effectively taking a first-look at producing local versions of the show in countries across its footprint around the world.

Karoline Spodsberg, COO of Banijay Nordic, says: “We know local content is extremely important to Prime Video and this collaboration has enabled production of four unique adaptations of iconic Banijay format The Bridge. Strategically this mirrors our own strong belief in a bespoke country-by-country approach to creating premium content for the four Nordic countries.”