Avalon and Vertical Networks are taking their hit unscripted comedy format, Ghost Hunt, to U.S. Networks following the show’s successful launch on Snapchat.
Ghost Hunt, produced exclusively for Snapchat’s Discover page, debuted November 2017. The premiere secured 5.35 million unique viewers and subsequent episodes retained its audience of over 5 million unique viewers per episode, making it one of Snapchat’s top performing Shows at the time of air.
Following the series’ success, Avalon and co-production partner Vertical Networks, will be taking the format to linear networks in the U.S. as a long-form unscripted format.
David Martin, CEO of Avalon USA, said: “Ghost Hunt has proved to be incredibly popular with a young demographic and is the perfect format for linear networks looking to cater to that hard-to-reach audience. With the show exploring the highly topical phenomenon of online dating – in all its dramatic, funny and entertaining guises – it has the potential to appeal to mass audiences.”
Tom Wright, CEO of Vertical Networks, added: “We have seen huge audiences for Ghost Hunt on Snap and fans are asking if we can create a longer version of the show for television. Watch this space”.
Ghost Hunt takes aim at the modern dating phenomenon of “ghosting”. In each episode, comedian Matteo Lane helps someone track down a past romantic partner who “ghosted” them, ultimately bringing the two parties together for some “ball-busting and closure”.
Ghost Hunt is the first co-production partnership between mobile-first content studio Vertical Networks (creators of Brother, an original Publisher Story on Snapchat Discover) and USA and UK production house Avalon (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Catastrophe, Workaholics). The original series was produced by Chloe Pisello at Avalon and Matt Harper at Vertical Networks.