Rapid-fire romance

Bauer sucht Frau (best translated to Farmer Wants a Wife) has steadily become one of Austria’s best-loved dating reality TV series. Produced in part by ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4 – ‘a daughter company of the German group ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE’, according to head of creation Martin Härtlein – Bauer sucht Frau has been airing on ATV, one of the group’s stations, since 2005.

Now in its 21st season, the show has led to ‘32 engagements, 15 weddings and 17 babies’ so far, shares Härtlein. And it streams on JOYN – ‘as we call it, the SuperStreamer’ – for German, Austrian and Swiss audiences on demand.

The show blends Austrian tradition with a modern perspective, as Tim Conrad, ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4’s creative concepter explains, “It’s a mixture between 2024 and – as we say sometimes – 1900. We have gay farmers and lesbian farmers, but it gives you these warm-hearted feelings of family values and Austrian customs.”

With an average market share of around 14% last season, the show is ‘one of the most important we have,’ adds Conrad. One of ATV’s leading programmes, it sees high viewership on JOYN, making it successful as both a live broadcast and VOD.

“Camera to cloud makes post faster – they can start editing from day one.”

Time-saving technology

ATV’s marketing and creation team manage Bauer sucht Frau’s advertising campaigns. As well as creating the opening sequence, they develop promotional videos with each farmer, not only to advertise the series itself, but find Austrians who would like to meet the farmers. To do this well, the team need high-end production values with rapid turnaround times.

Filmed annually in mid-April, Bauer sucht Frau sees 15 farmers seeking romance over a ten-day schedule. “After ten days, you have tons of material,” explains Härtlein. “The time between when we are shooting and when the campaign starts is pretty tight, so we don’t have much time for post. To start this process right away, we decided to use Camera to Cloud,” he asserts. “Atomos was the game changer. We had both the Ninja Ultra and Shogun on the tour. They were connected to the internet via a mobile router with 5G, enabling the Camera to Cloud workflow,” he continues. “We then used Adobe’s Frame.io software, but camera proxies came from the Atomos device directly into the ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4 headquarters in Vienna.”

For the majority of the series, Bauer sucht Frau is shot in secluded locations around the Alps. Before using Atomos’ technology, Conrad sent dailies via physical hard drives. “It took a lot of time, the editors in the station didn’t know what to expect and couldn’t give feedback,” he describes. “Now, they get files immediately when our camera operator pushes record. They’re much more involved in the process, can give feedback and I can alter things while still on the farm,” he continues. “It also makes post-production much faster; they can start editing from day one.”

More practically, Camera to Cloud technology affords Conrad extra time. If the weather is bad, he can’t delay production. “I have to shoot what I can,” he says. “Next year, we can start production later, meaning the weather will likely be better. ‘The sun always shines on TV’ is our motto.”

Overall, the 21st season was the least stressful so far. “Usually, this time of year, it’s all high tension,” Conrad says. Thanks to Atomos and Camera to Cloud, “it was far more relaxed, but the quality stayed high.”

Originally published in FEED magazine.