The Global Player: David Goldberg

President-CEO of Endemol USA

By Josef Adalian

Fittingly for a genre that was jump-started by international show concepts—“Survivor” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” began overseas—international conglomerates control a big chunk of the American reality TV marketplace. As president and CEO of Endemol USA, the decidedly unflashy Mr. Goldberg created and built a powerful American outpost for his international giant, which has a presence on five continents.

Endemol has key players on most of the major broadcast networks: “Deal or No Deal” on NBC, “Big Brother” on CBS and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on ABC. This summer, it added what appears to be another big hit to its arsenal with the ABC stunt competition series “Wipeout.” And earlier this year, it acquired prolific production outlet 51 Minds, the company behind cable hits “Flavor of Love,” “I Love New York” and “Rock of Love.” It also still makes money from “Fear Factor,” one of Mr. Goldberg’s first successes after launching Endemol USA.

There are several strong international players in the U.S., including FremantleMedia, RDF, Granada and BBC Worldwide. While the others are all key to the U.S. marketplace, Mr. Goldberg’s tenure and tenacity in building Endemol USA has arguably made it the most successful and influential global power player.

Dream collaboration: “If the Coen brothers want to make a reality show, tell me where to sign.”