Story Lab,Dentsu acquire Ninja Warrior rights

Dentsu Aegis Network’s specialist content business, The Story Lab, today announces that with Dentsu Inc., it will manage all European format sales and brand partnerships for TBS’s leading sports entertainment programme, Sasuke, also known as Ninja Warrior, following the agreement by its parent company, Dentsu Inc. and TBS, to enter into a format rights agreement for two years.

Under the terms of the agreement Dentsu Inc. will acquire rights to the format in Europe (excluding Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland) with The Story Lab building on the popularity and momentum the format currently enjoys around the world.

Sasuke / Ninja Warrior is a highly successful sports entertainment programme that was first broadcast in 1997. In the programme, contestants, including Olympians and athletes from all works of life, challenge the world’s toughest obstacle course. To date more than 3,000 contestants have challenged the course and only three have successfully conquered all four stages.  The US version of Sasuke, known as American Ninja Warrior, is entering its seventh season on NBC this summer.

Sasuke has been broadcast in 157 countries and territories to date. Local versions of the programme have been produced in the US, Malaysia, Singapore, and Sweden; with production currently ongoing in Turkey and Vietnam.  The format has most recently been sold to the UK commercial broadcaster ITV and went on air last weekend.