OUR STORY
SMART IS THE NEW REALITY
The team at Smart Dog Media love television, plain and simple. We love it so much we’ve devoted our lives to it – watching it, talking it, making it. Television is the canvas where we paint imaginative stories unlike anything ever seen before. Whether it’s a game show that turns everyday objects into the keys that can win a million dollars, or a reality competition featuring giant fighting robots, we’re always striving to push the medium forward into the future… and beyond.
Founded by television veteran Craig Plestis, Smart Dog Media has been one of the entertainment industry’s leading broadcast and cable network production companies.
Smart Dog Media is the production company behind Fox's hit series, The Masked Singer, The Masked Dancer, Celebrity Show Off on TBS & Unicorn Hunters for Amazon Prime. Plestis also executive produces the musical game show, I Can See Your Voice, for FOX. Smart Dog Media has an exciting lineup of scripted and unscripted shows on the way.
With critically acclaimed shows like the long-running series Minute to Win It, hosted by Guy Fieri, which was the winner of the International FRAPA Award for Best Studio-Based Game Show, Smart Dog Media continued to expand its successes including NBC’s The Winner Is and Who’s Still Standing, Syfy’s Robot Combat League and Exit, Food Network’s Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell and Extreme Chef, syndicated programming Unsealed: Alien Files and Unsealed: Conspiracy Files, and more.
It’s time for a new breed of television.
Welcome to Smart Dog Media.
OUR WORK
From masked celebrities singing your favorite songs, to 8-foot tall robots battling in an epic arena, to chefs avoiding the chopping block and round-after-round of minute long challenges, our latest work brings buzzworthy excitement, larger-than-life stakes and organic conflict to the table.
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An American
Phenomenon
In January 2019 The Masked Singer took America by storm, with its original concept and outlandish costumes. Since its inception The Masked Singer has had seven wildly successful seasons, and it is loved by audiences and critics alike. The Masked Singer has been awarded and nominated a host of times throughout its seven seasons, including awards for Outstanding Costume Design (Creative Arts Emmy, 2020), Best Competition Series (Real TV Awards, 2019 and 2021), and Best Talent and Studio Based Competition (Real Screen Awards, 2020).
Praised for its originality the show is giving a fresh twist to the singing competition genre. Season three premiered after the Super Bowl and received skyrocketing high ratings. Compared to the previous years post Super Bowl show The Masked Singer was up seven percent in ratings, with 23.7 million viewers.
Inspiring two spin off series in the United States, After The Masked debuted in 2020 following episodes of The Masked Singer, hosted by Nick Cannon discussing the biggest moments from the episode. As well as The Masked Dancer (coming soon to Fox.), where the panel and viewers are challenged to guess which celebrity is under the mask by their dancing skills. The Masked Singer has become a global phenomenon, resulting in spin off series around the world in Mexico, Germany, Australia, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Netherlands, Myanmar, Peru, Italy, Hungary, France, Finland, Estonia and Bulgaria.
The Masked Singer was re-imagined by Craig Plestis, an innovator in American television, and one of the top producers for re-designing Korean formats for American audiences.
A GLOBAL PHENOMENON
In 2010, Minute To Win It premiered on NBC to rave reviews and tons of fans wanting to be a part of the action. It quickly became one of the biggest global formats in recent history, with over 50 versions produced worldwide! Minute to Win It received a FRAPA Award as the Best Studio-Based game Show in 2010, and continues to be a hit amongst families with it’s new iteration on GSN.
Minute to Win It has become so popular that its life off screen is just as successful. Card games, board games, lotteries, fast food toys, and video games have all been made to take the fun from the stage and into your home. From Pinterest to YouTube, it is clear that the MTWI hype isn’t going anywhere soon, as it quickly transitioned from format to viral cultural phenomenon.
MEET CRAIG PLESTIS
Craig Plestis knows reality programming. He’s an innovator and visionary who has been at the forefront of the genre since its inception. He is behind the #1 New Show in America, The Masked Singer, for Fox, which had the highest-rated unscripted launch in 8 years. In addition, it is the network’s most streamed unscripted show ever. The Masked Singer, now in its ninth season. The hit franchise is making way for The Masked Dancer, created and executive produced by Plestis, which aired in 2020. He also executive produces I Can See Your Voice for FOX and CashPad for CNBC.
As the former head of Reality at NBC, he helped create and launch hits such as America's Got Talent; Deal or No Deal; The Biggest Loser; The Apprentice; The Singing Bee; 1 vs 100; Last Comic Standing; Nashville Star; The Chopping Block with Marco Pierre White; Dog Eat Dog; Fear Factor; The Contender; Grease, You’re The One That I Want; Thank God You’re Here; Three Wishes; and Treasure Hunters. He took chances on controversial and socially important shows such as Baby Borrowers. In addition, he was in charge of the perennially popular Golden Globe Awards.
As head of Smart Dog Media, Craig was the executive producer of the NBC singing game show The Winner Is, hosted by Nick Lachey, in partnership with Talpa Media, producers of The Voice for NBC. He was also the executive producer of more than 70 episodes of the NBC hit game show Minute to Win It, hosted by Guy Fieri, which was the winner of the International FRAPA Award for Best Studio-Based Game Show. In addition, Craig executive-produced NBC’s Who’s Still Standing? a game show that featured contestants falling through trap doors after answering trivia questions incorrectly. In 2013, Smart Dog Media launched Robot Combat League for the Syfy Channel, the world’s first giant fighting robot competition series. Craig also served as the executive producer of Syfy’s diabolical game show Exit, based on a popular Japanese format. Continuing his relationship with Syfy, he brought them Opposite Worlds, the English-language version of the popular Chilean format, Mundos Opuestos. Craig has also worked extensively with The Food Network, producing three series in the last few years. Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell recently wrapped its third season on the network. The series initially launched as Chef Hunter before being rebranded as a vehicle for the very popular TV chef, Anne Burrell. In addition, he created and produced Extreme Chef , which took seven of America's most fearless chefs out of their kitchens and dropped them into extreme locations. Additionally, Craig was the executive producer on two half-hour syndicated series for Tribune: Unsealed: Alien Files and Unsealed: Conspiracy Files, which are currently being rebroadcast on Destination America and streaming on Netflix.
SMART DOG MEDIA
Here is just a small sampling of the exciting work we've done.
Social Media Impact
We have a unique approach for connecting with our audiences, and take engagement beyond the screen and on to social media, where we seek out our audiences. For the Masked Singer we engage with our audience across all platforms from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit and YouTube. We follow fan created accounts and re-post fan art and reactions. Our goal is to build a fan community surrounding each of our shows, and strive to create meaningful dialogue about our content. With each of our series we make sure to listen to fan feedback and take their opinions into account when developing future seasons, spin offs and new shows.
