Institutions & Audiences Reality TV

Cartoon © Benrik Pitch

How popular is reality TV?

Annette Hill: media theorist and expert in the rise of reality tv

‘Reality TV is so popular across the public in Britain that sometimes more than half the population are watching one reality TV show.’

A Week in Reality TV – an overview

In a single week in January 2011: – 41 different reality titles were broadcast

on Freeview channels alone – at least 12 of these programmes were

screened daily – a number were repeated in different time

slots throughout the day.

Key Questions

Who watches what? How do they watch? How do producers/broadcasters target

them? Why do audiences watch reality TV? Why do TV institutions make/broadcast

reality TV shows?

Producers, Technologies and Audiences – a Complex RelationshipWhat producers do to generate audiences for reality TV 1. Broadcasters, commissioners and producers always

have particular audiences in mind. They identify and target their audiences in terms of:

demographics: age, gender, social class, region, ethnicity

psychographics: lifestyles, personality types, values and beliefs, based on specially commissioned profiling, industry case studies

market research: what genres/shows are successful, opportunities for more of the same, gaps in the market for particular groups

media technologies: creating and exploiting new media platforms to reach and draw in their targeted audiences.

2. Targeting the AudienceScheduling finding the right time-slot for the target audience's needs; ‘stripping’ a programme at the same time daily over a week running repeats, extras, special events personalising with online and on-demand downloads

Interactivity (the latest buzzword – what every producer wants to achieve) phone-ins, votes, competitions, web-based forums, chat-rooms, social

network groups, text-message updates etc.

Synergy keeping you interested through cross-media promotions – merchandising,

websites, presenters/participants on TV and radio talk-shows, photo-opportunities and PR stories in the press, lifestyle and celeb magazines and so on.

Which methods work for you?

3. Satisfying Our Needs The ‘Four Needs’ (or ‘Uses and Gratifications’) theory by

Blumler and Katz suggests that audiences use the media in four different ways.

1. Entertainment and diversion: to find personal pleasure and enjoyment; emotional release from everyday life and its problems.

2. Surveillance and information: to learn about the world, new experiences, other people; to satisfy curiosity; acquire new knowledge.

3. Personal relationships: to enhance and explore relationships with other people, find companionship or substitute friendships on screen.

4. Personal identity: to find support and reinforcement for one’s values and beliefs; to help understand oneself; to help explore one’s own identity.

How far might these explain the popularity of reality TV with audiences?

Added value for the Broadcasters relatively cheap to produce, no paid actors, no sets or just one set long-running – occupies many hours of air-time, including spin-

offs audience loyalty as the series builds to climax endlessly recyclable format, which can be copyrighted and

franchised globally huge audiences, national profile, can generate massive tabloid

promotion generates a massive income for the channel via:

sales of advertising space to major brands at prime-time sponsorship from advertisers revenue from voting process

Summary of benefits to the industry

Reality TV: a sub genre

Britain’s Got Talent

1. Reality Talent

Format:Competition – auditions, tension, conflict, skills developmentA format – recognisable, familiar, same but differentTalent (or not)Celebrity judges, real-life personal stories or journeysAnyone can enterA long-term process building to a mega-eventA vote and a winner

The Family

2. Docusoap

Reality TV: a sub genre

a hybrid of observational documentary and soap opera

Format and Examples:

Vets in Practice: narratives around vets, suffering pets, and their owners and the drama, highs and lows of the daily life of a veterinary practice.

Traffic Cops: motorway stories, seen from the point of view of the daily work of traffic police.

The Family: 28-camera set-up records the minutiae of everyday family life over 8 months. Massively edited into a highly constructed narrative. Series 1 observational with voiceover, focusing on small moments of family conflict set entirely within the home; Series 2 incorporates talking heads, interview and more continuing story strands, with external footage. Click for The Family (clip 1); Click for The Family (clip 2).

Reality TV: reasons for successReality Talent and The Docusoap

In what ways would this reality sub-genre appeal to the TV institutions (producers and broadcasters)?

Who might watch this kind of show? (age, gender, social class, ethnicity, interest groups, etc)

What uses and gratifications might this show provide for its audience?

Does this tell us anything about the rise of the genre and its increase in popularity over time?