''Popstars'' is an international

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...

'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl group

TrueBliss TrueBliss were a New Zealand pop girl group formed in April 1999. The band were formed on the popular television show ''Popstars'', which aired on TVNZ's TV2 channel for nine weeks in the search for a new girl group. TrueBliss were the first e ...

. Despite all shows in the ''Popstars'' franchise having been off air in recent years, it remains one of the most successful TV show formats of all time with the format being sold to more than 50 countries and producing groups such as

Girls Aloud Girls Aloud are a British-Irish pop music, pop girl group that was created through the ITV (TV network), ITV talent show ''Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The line up consisted of members Cheryl (singer), Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, N ...

that had success on the UK charts for the next ten years after winning. The show was the inspiration for

Simon Fuller Simon Robert Fuller (born 17 May 1960) is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer. He is the creator of the Idols (franchise), ''Idols'' TV format, including the British series ''Pop Idol'' and the American ser ...

's ''Idol'' franchise.

History

The series originated in New Zealand, broadcast on TV2 in 1999, where producer Jonathan Dowling formed the five member all-girl group

. Dowling then licensed the concept to production company

Screentime Screentime is an Australian television production company, which develops and produces scripted and unscripted television programs in Australia and New Zealand. The company has produced numerous popular series including '' Popstars'', the '' Un ...

in Australia, who then on sold it to TresorTV in Germany before taking it worldwide. Despite all versions now being cancelled, ''Popstars'' remains very successful, with the format being sold to over 50 countries. The show was the inspiration for

's ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'' franchise which would dominate reality TV, (along with '' Big Brother'' and ''

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...

'') for the next few years. Although ''Popstars'' started successfully in most countries during the early 2000s, the shows gradually began to fail and were dropped by many broadcasters due to poor ratings. The last country where ''Popstars'' was still popular and successful – besides other casting shows such as ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' and ''

Got Talent ''Got Talent'' is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment. It has spawned spin-offs in over 60 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Frema ...

'', as well as ''Idol'' – was Germany. This is where

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

produced the ninth season in 2010 because of the show's massive success in the ratings, but in 2012, ''Popstars'' was finally cancelled due to the short success of the groups formed throughout the episodes. In 2007, the show returned to France on M6 for one season. A new version of ''Popstars'' started in 2008 in the Netherlands and ran for three seasons. Germany's version returned for an eleventh season in 2015, but would later get cancelled following poor ratings. In 2021, a revamped version of the original New Zealand series returned to

TVNZ Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...

. The new series focuses on individual artists and songwriting development and does not involve putting together a pop group.

''Popstars'' around the world

Legend: Franchise has ceased production Franchise awaiting debut or renewal

Number one singles

''The following is a list of singles that reached #1 in the respective nations of the Popstars artists''

References

External links

Official ''Popstars'' (Germany)''Popstars'' (Australia)
at the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

{{Music industry Reality television series franchises Singing talent shows Banijay franchises