A couple flirts and laughs around a checkered tablecloth. We are not in a pizzeria, but on the street in Manhattan. More precisely in Washington Square Park. Between the two lovebirds, a host, Tiffany Baira, wearing a cowboy hat, questions them, armed with a microphone.
In fact, the two speakers do not know each other: it is a speed dating filmed for “Street Hearts”, a program whose duration does not exceed one minute and a half. It is calibrated to match TikTok standards. Some videos are seen by millions of users of young people’s favorite social network. Welcome to the world of Generation Z-style talk shows (people born after the year 2000).
The participants, straight and gay, are stylish. They are selected after a wild casting call. If they like each other, they are encouraged to meet again after filming, away from the cameras. To vary the pleasures, sometimes, couples or friends are invited. They must then prove that they know each other perfectly. There were even celebrities. Last April, singers Jason Derulo and Michael Bublé appeared on the talk show to promote their song “Spicy Margarita.”
“Street Hearts” has existed since March 2023. The show is in its second season and even has a variation, “Love Train”, filmed in a New York subway train. Flirting revolves around four intimate questions. Each is placed between two stations. If the charm doesn’t work, you’re free to go to the next stop. The success is ensured by the funny concept, the choice of guests and the slaughter of Tiffany Baira. Aged 27, the presenter from New Orleans has mastered the codes of buzz on TikTok. Previously, she worked for “Cosmopolitan”: she gave flirting advice to readers.
“Street Hearts” and “Love Train” are creations by Fallen Media, a production company founded in 2020 in New York. She specializes in this format of ultra-short shows broadcast on TikTok and Instagram. A three-minute “long” version is available on YouTube.
Currently, Fallen Media produces nine shows with more or less light content that adapt TV clichés. For example, in “Bite Me”, Olivia Tiedemann invites a celebrity into her kitchen to cook “the best meal of her life”. In “Thrift Wars,” Adrienne Reau faces a guest in a clothing store to determine who can create the best look in ten minutes.
On its site, the start-up indicates that it collaborates with brands like Coca-Cola, Meta, L’Oréal, Tinder, McDonald’s, Nike and BMW to name just a few. Proof of the interest represented by this growing market, last July, the content director of Fallen Media, Michael Vito Valentino, was poached by NowThis. The American company founded in 2012 also specializes in the creation of short videos. Originally, it mainly targeted millennials (people born between 1980 and 2000). From now on, it must also conquer generation Z.
