NIPPON TV'S GAMESHOW FORMAT
"MAN OR MANNEQUIN?" OPTIONED TO CASTA DIVA FOR THE ITALIAN MARKET
 

TOKYO/MILAN- 7th April 2025 - "Man or Mannequin?", the competitive gameshow format produced by Japan's leading multiplatform entertainment powerhouse Nippon TV, has been optioned for adaption in the Italian market by Italian production company Casta Diva.

The announcement was made today by Sayako Aoki, Head of International Sales at Nippon TV, and Massimo Righini and Fabio Nesi, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer, respectively, at Casta Diva Pictures.

"Man or Mannequin?", which launched globally at MIPCOM 2024, is a high-stakes, team-based game show where celebrity contestants race against time to find mannequins cleverly hidden throughout the city. Contestants might find a mannequin baby in a stroller at a shopping arcade or realize that a woman sitting cozily with a partner on a park bench is actually a mannequin. Each mannequin found brings the team closer to victory, but hidden among them are fake mannequins and humans pretending to be mannequins trying to fool the contestants. As the game progresses, expanding into new locations with even more cunning and witty disguises, the challenge intensifies. Former teammates might become rivals, using their knowledge of each other's strategies to outwit and outplay as they try determining what is real or fake.
https://www.ntv.co.jp/english/pc/2024/09/man-or-mannequin.html


Quote from Sayako Aoki, Head of International Sales at Nippon TV:
"Since the launch of "Man or Mannequin?" last October, we have been receiving positive feedback towards this format from around the world for its light-hearted, hilarious content which can provide viewers with a little break from their busy everyday life. We are excited to work with Casta Diva Pictures towards its first international version and looking forward to seeing what their creativity brings to this format."

Quote from Massimo Righini, Chief Operating Officer at Casta Diva Pictures:
"Being able to option this format while other global companies had also been showing interest is a great honor. We immediately understood that "Man or Mannequin?" has a very high entertainment potential that comes from a simple but brilliant idea that only the Nippon TV team could create. We can't wait to propose it to an Italian broadcaster. We are sure that an idea like this has never been proposed."

Quote from Fabio Nesi, Chief Executive Officer at Casta Diva Pictures:
"We are proud to have been chosen by an entertainment giant like Nippon TV to bring an innovative format to the Italian audience. This decision highlights our ability to look beyond national borders to seize the best international opportunities and bring innovation to the Italian market. Leveraging our extensive experience in producing high-quality content, coupled with our deep knowledge of the international market, we will be able to create an Italian edition of "Man or Mannequin?" that reflects the tastes and expectations of the local audience, while maintaining the originality and charm of the original format."

ABOUT NIPPON TV
Nippon TV is Japan's leading multiplatform entertainment powerhouse, as well as owner of streaming giant Hulu in Japan. Nearly 90% of its content IP is fully owned by Nippon TV and the company has been active in bringing its content to the international market in the form of anime, ready-made programs, formats, and through co-production partnerships.

One of the biggest successes for the nation's finest producer of all genres of programming is the Emmy Award-winning Dragons' Den/Shark Tank, a globally successful business show format that has 52 versions in more than 186 countries across all continents of the world. Additionally, their hit drama series Mother has also achieved global success as the most exported scripted format out of Asia, with its format sales to South Korea, Turkey, Ukraine, France, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Spain, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, The Philippines, and more.

The company is also known for its viewer-engaging show Old Enough!, streaming on Netflix in over 190 countries and recently adapted in Mongolia and Canada, BLOCK OUT, an action-packed game show format that has been adapted in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Spain, and the Netherlands, the award-winning unscripted format Sokkuri Sweets, produced as Eye Candy for The Roku Channel in the US, UK, Canada and the Netherlands for NPO1.

Nippon TV has also been producing anime series since the 1950s and acquired Studio Ghibli in 2023, making the Academy Award-winning studio its subsidiary. As evident by the company's success, Nippon TV is leveraging its coveted platform to revolutionize digital media in an ever-changing industry to solidify its presence and brand as a global media leader.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/nippon-tv/

ABOUT CASTA DIVA PICTURES
Casta Diva Pictures is a production company part of the Casta Diva Group, which deals with videos, commercials, branded content and television production. Over the years, it has produced more than a thousand videos for a hundred major brands, including Bulgari, Chevrolet, Citroen, Gillette, Intesa Sanpaolo, L'Oréal, McDonald's, Nestlé, Nivea, Panerai, P&G, and has won numerous awards at major commercials and events festivals both in Italy and abroad, including four Lions at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In 2022, the original reality show 'Come una volta - Un amore da favola', conceived and produced by Casta Diva Pictures, was listed as one of the 10 best formats worldwide at MIP TV in Cannes. The company was born with a strong international connotation, and its Milan headquarters are joined by offices in Rome, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Genoa, Istanbul, Los Angeles, Modena, Montevideo, Prague, Riyadh, and Shanghai. Since the beginning of 2021 it has a unit dedicated to TV, created with the aim of producing new original formats: with a lean, modern structure shared with the various foreign offices, the new line of activity completes the Creative Content Production Business Unit.
www.castadivapictures.com