MGM’s Unscripted Strengths Overlooked in Amazon-MGM Deal

[I wrote this article for VIP+ in March, but have been told it's not going to run as collectively we wrote a lot about MGM and Amazon at the time and it needs a news-cycle hook. Rather than let it go to waste, I wanted to share it here as it is about an aspect of MGM very few people have considered]

MGM Television, the TV studios for Amazon’s latest acquisition has a deep history in producing or co-producing massive unscripted TV hits like ‘The Voice’, ‘Survivor’ and ‘Shark Tank’. 

Yet based on media coverage of both Amazon’s initial bid for the famous studio, and now more recently as the acquisition has been greenlit, you’d be hard-pressed to know this. 

Whether it’s seduction by the bright lights of Hollywood and SVOD originals or a media-bias against the reality TV format that remains popular if considered by some to be lowbrow, much has been written about Amazon taking control of the Bond franchise—which isn’t strictly true considering the stake the Broccoli family maintains in the fate of 007—and the scripted hits that MGM makes for TV and streaming like ‘Fargo’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. 

MGM is an accomplished producer of reality TV (as noted by VIP+ in July 2021), with known hits across broadcast and cable. This is certainly not the only reason why Amazon purchased MGM, but it's disingenuous to omit this strength when discussing how MGM will fold into the wider Amazon organization. 

Amazon operates two streaming services, the SVOD Prime Video and AVOD/FAST service Freevee. Both of these include originals, with Freevee ramping up originals spend in 2021 and 2022, including courtroom reality show ‘Judy Justice’, competition special ‘Play Doh Squished’, and a number of docuseries.  

The number of unscripted shows being made for streaming keeps increasing. This was significantly boosted in 2021 with Discovery+ releasing close to 200 unscripted shows in its debut year, but the fact remains that unscripted content is a lot cheaper to produce than scripted. With content spend set to keep growing in the next few years, services will look to create more unscripted shows in order to widen their library of originals. 

Enter MGM. Amazon will surely be utilizing the vast unscripted skillset contained within the studio in order to both draw in viewers for ad-supported content on IMDb TV and possibly even create high-profile shows for Prime Video.  

Reality shows still regularly attract audiences of 5 million or more on network TV; they remain popular even in the age of diminished live viewing. Ignoring the abilities that MGM brings Amazon in this field is questionable especially when considering that their unscripted content is massively greater than scripted. I anticipate that this format will be the unsung hero of the Amazon-MGM acquisition even if it is currently going unobserved.