Round-up: ITVS preps ‘The Chase: Sidemen Edition’; Chaiflicks expands docuseries; S4C & Little Dot extend YouTube push

The Chase: Sidemen Edition (Source: ITV Studios)

ITV Studios strikes Sidemen deal

ITV Studios quizshow The Chase is set to launch a special version on YouTube today following a pact with The Sidemen.

The show, which is created and produced by ITVS’s UK firm Potato, has joined forces with YouTube collective The Sidemen to blend traditional TV with digital content creation.

The Chase: Sidemen Edition premieres today on The Sidemen’s YouTube channel and features exclusive clips and behind-the-scenes footage, which will also be shared on The Chase’s official social media channels.

The show sees all seven members of The Sidemen participate in the show, with fellow YouTuber Stephen Tries stepping in as the host. Vikkstar123 joins as the new ‘Chaser’, as the The Sidemen split into teams of two in a bid to win the cash prize.

Graham Haigh, EVP of global digital partnerships at ITVS, said the partnership “opens up exciting opportunities” for its formats “to engage with new and different audiences, showcasing the adaptability and appeal of our shows in the ever-evolving digital era.”

Chaiflicks expands docuseries

ChaiFlicks, the US-based streamer focused on Jewish storytelling, has acquired docuseries Birth Of A Conflict.

The three-part show, which was acquired from Mediawan Rights, takes a deep dive into the inception of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with never-before-seen interviews and footage dating back to the 30-year British Mandate of Palestine.

The show has been written, directed and produced by Yaron Niski (Enslaved). It first aired on Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11, with the deal marking the first time it will be streamed outside of Israel on ChaiFlicks.

The streamer has been ramping up its factual acquisitions following similar deals for Pollard, the documentary series from Omri Assenheim about the controversial Israeli-US spy scandal.

S4C & Little Dot extend YouTube push

Welsh broadcaster S4C has partnered with All3Media-owned Little Dot Studios to bolster the public service media provider’s YouTube offering.

The deal comes after S4C received £7.5m ($10m) of additional funding from the UK Government’s Department of Culture, Media, and Sport to develop S4C’s presence on digital platforms.

The partnership will see some of S4C’s most popular brands and talent, including the sofa stars of Gogglebocs Cymru (Gogglebox Wales) and bilingual prison drama Bariau becoming available on the Google-owned service.

S4C will collaborate with Little Dot “to establish innovative ways of engaging wider audiences”, building on the success of its main YouTube channel which saw the number of hours of S4C content watched on YouTube almost doubling within a year.