As 2016 comes to a close, Playback has its sights set on the year ahead. To help make predictions for the biggest trends in unscripted, Playback spoke with experts to hear their thoughts on what will be hot in 2017 – and what will fall out of fashion. Here, Amos Neumann, COO of Armoza Formats (the company behind factual series as Still Standing); Jim Berger, CEO of High Noon Entertainment (Cake Boss); Rob Lee, president non-scripted programming, Keshet International (Rising Star); and Harry Gamsu, VP format acquisitions and sales, Red Arrow International (Married at First Sight) make predictions for what will be big in property.

Jim Berger

Property Brothers or Mike Holmes fans might not be surprised to hear it, but High Noon’s Berger says talent will continue to be the driver of  home shows for the forseeable future. “In the property space, you’ve seen this movement within the last 18 months toward more talent-centric versus formats only. Many years ago it was tell me what the format is and we’ll find someone, [then it was] bring me someone and we’ll figure it out,” he said. “Now it’s bring me some great talent and a format and maybe we can take it to a pilot.”

Amos Neumann

The challenge is to find new forms of storytelling in an exhausted genre, said Neumann. “It’s a matter of a new language or a new way of storytelling or a new approach, because with home shows, so much has been tested. It will be even harder than anywhere else to find a unique and clear new voice,” he said.

One tip: look for talent who live and work in places audiences haven’t seen before, said Berger. The next stars could be an engaging couple or family living in the Northwest Territories or the Sunshine Coast – so long as they’re telling an authentic story.

Berger added that the renovation space is also expanding beyond “fix and flips” to “studs up”: shows that demolish a property and rebuild from the ground up. These should appeal to the growing affinity for startup culture taking hold – the mentality of “entrepreneurs who want to tackle big jobs,” he said.

Another important, if obvious, tip: try to engage with millennials. Neumann suggests looking to other genres for inspiration. While it might be an oldie, Neumann said the best example of finding a young audience in an unlikely place was MTV’s Pimp My Ride. The show was about renovating cars – a topic that may not immediately appeal to younger generations. But the team behind the series made it cool, he said, with a recognizable young host who took an old beat-up car and transformed it by shows end into something flashy.

Harry Gamsu

The challenge of connecting with a younger audience in this space, said Red Arrow’s Gamsu, is that, increasingly, young people aren’t buying homes. “It’s becoming less the norm that people do own a home. If they do own a home, it tends to be smaller square footage or an apartment. So shows that play with that in an interesting way, which may not be home renovation but take place in the home. For example, I’ve seen some interesting ideas around finding a new flatmate,” he said.

We’re running down the hot trends in unscripted. Check back tomorrow for lifestyle trends, or check out all the trends here.