RTÉ takes songwriter format The Hit to series

RTÉ has ordered a full 6x52mins season of The Hit, the songwriting competition format that was part of the Irish public broadcaster’s Formats Farm project.

Formats Farm sees pilots of new shows broadcast on RTÉ Two and The Hit was one of these and went out last September.

The show sees hundreds of songs submitted for consideration by a professional producer, with a few songwriters progressing to a live show.

The singers then perform their tunes to a pair of established music stars, who then fight to secure their two favourites. These are then honed into completed songs, with each star performing just one chosen track at the live finale. The two songs are released and made available for download to decide which is the bigger hit.

Warner Bros. International TV Production has a first-look deal with the show’s Irish indie producer VIP and will be launching the format internationally at MIPTV.

Dermot Horan, director of broadcast and acquisitions at RTÉ said: “The Hit has the possibility of being the next big music entertainment show, and the fact that it has come from RTÉ’s Format Farm initiative demonstrates clearly that Ireland is becoming a destination for international formats”.