First of all, let’s define “reality television”. As Wikipedia explaines, “Reality television is a genre of television programming in which the fortunes of "real life" people (as opposed to fictional characters played by actors) are followed”. However, given that producers can control the format of the show, as well as manipulate the outcome of some of them, it is questionable how "real" reality television actually is.
Anyway, gaining popularity year by year, these programs became a staple of the network's schedule in the 1990s.According to the report prepared by Canadian Media Research Inc. n May 2003 in prime time drama has remained the largest and most important program category in Europe, Australia and the U. S. In the previous 5-6 years, reality shows have had little effect on the amount of drama scheduled by European or Australian broadcasters.
In the United States, a substantial percentage of the comedy genre has been replaced by reality/game shows but there has been no effect on other drama. In the period 1996 to 2001, European and U. S. broadcasting networks significantly increased the number of reality/game shows in their schedules and these programs have had major audience successes, especially in their first run.For example, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? is the most successful of the genre and has run in some 80 countries and met with huge audience success. So the program schedules of the broadcasters in many countries absorbed a lot of new reality/game shows, however, the effects on traditional drama programming appear to have been minimal.
Every country reports that prime time reality/game shows became an important part of prime time schedules, especially on private channels. In virtually every case, these were not imports but program concepts adapted for the local market, in the language and customs of the local audience.The new reality/game shows seem to have replaced other entertainment programming in Europe. In the United States, reality/game shows increased fourfold in the period 1996 to 2001. Let’s try to figure out why: is it only economic consideration or does it have a base in a viewer-driven trend? Of course, as any other product a reality show should bring in a revenue to its producers.
The price of it is determined by its popularity among the viewers. "If it's a hit, the price goes up.At the same time, if there is evidence of failure or of less popularity, prices don't go up”, says Bob Igiel, president of The Media Edge's broadcast division. Taking into consideration the main features of a reality show we can see: with no writers to pay, no actors demanding more money, reality shows were at first seen as a cheap alternative to scripted programming. As the series become more technically complex with expensive stunts and as the locations become more exotic, the cost to produce these series is skyrocketing.
"What makes reality appealing is the cost benefit," says Jordan Levin, the WB's co-president of entertainment.But as the reality world has become more competitive and the costs have gone up, I think there's a danger that these shows are going to price themselves out of being viable, for the very reason that most reality shows don't have as great a repeatability, if any, as scripted programs. " Indeed, from a network perspective, they're aired only once and never get repeated, because when reruns have been tried, the ratings have been low.Sandy Grushow, president of Fox Television Entertainment Group, said a first-year reality show is still cheaper than a first-year drama (about $800,000 to $1 million for each episode of a reality show vs.
1. 1 million to $1. 5 million for a scripted drama), but those other factors are making them less enticing than they once were. Non-scripted shows may cost less to produce than scripted shows, but they also command lower prices in the advertising marketplace. That can only spell trouble for the networks, which are already under pressure to grow profit and revenue thanks to their conglomerate owners. And even though non-scripted producers are calling for rate hikes commensurate with the genre's success, so far it's only happening on a case-by-case basis.
As any average man knows that the rule in entertainment is that a certain amount of shock, conflict, gossiping or fighting draws attention of the viewer—and advertisers. The shows are relatively cheap to produce and, like an accident on the highway, they predictably draw a regular audience. That certainly promises profits. Programs and the daily program schedule are being constantly evaluated and changed, to improve and to compete for viewers. Around the world, billions of dollars are spent annually on the research and development of programs, accompanied by billions more on production, distribution and promotion.So we may conclude that the broadcasters’ main target is to draw and keep the viewers’ attention.
How do they do that? As it was already mentioned that any type of conflict gets people’s attention. In most cases concerning Survivor and Temptation Island, there is a lot of conflict between contestants to get the prize. Viewers automatically want to know what happened and who was involved. The audience gets caught up in viewing the next person to be voted off and arguing between contestants.
As the audience watches more shows, they become more in tune with the struggles that occur each week.After watching the shows for a while, viewers feel a connection with the contestants and if an argument happens with a favorite player, viewer involvement becomes stronger. Viewers begin to see the competition within the program between the contestants. One gets the impression the networks are competing to see who can be the lowest, the meanest, the most cynical purveyor of venality. Only occasionally are their ideas so offensive as to be stopped cold. Once CBS tried to produce something called "The Real Beverly Hillbillies," in which a family of real-life hicks would move into a California mansion to provide yuks for the cultured classes.
Rural folks protested; CBS backed off. So viewers can also influence the programming but not passively percieve what they are offered. People also watch reality television because it offers a chance to experience a many emotions that change with each episode. On one hand, we want to see people fail, but we can also acknowledge someone for rising above and beyond particular expectations.
Being thrown into a whole new environment with new people and the idea of the unknown can be very stressful, but viewers grow to respect how the contestants handle these issues.One more reason for reality’s popularity is active participation in the show. People are tired of just watching their TV set passively. They are playing interactive games today. They are on the Internet interacting.
They want to be part of their TV set. I think that’s the great lure. By voting viewers can decide who is to go and who is to stay. They influence the outcome of the game which is very exciting.
Thus many people watch reality based programming because of the reoccurring conflicts.People can identify with one or more characters, so they become attached to the people they watch every week and decide their fate. We forgot to mention people’s desire to participate in the game. Today’s shows offer huge sums of money to people who do not necessarily possess the career skills that would make them a productive enough member of society to amass such wealth through honest work.
. Simplified, dumb people get lots of cash. The promise of money and the vicarious joy at someone winning lots of money, or more commonly spectacularly losing money, is what draws millions of viewers.What about the instant fame? Reality television takes ordinary people, sets them up in extraordinary situations on a world stage with other similarly commonplace individuals, and makes them the focus of a nation’s attention on, for example, an hour every Tuesday. Obviously the majority of the population has no chance of ever being picked as a participant for the show itself, but again the concept of vicarious living kicks in and the audience is hooked.
The members of the show are satisfactorily every-day individuals for fans to willfully suspend their disbelief.That’s what keeps 35,000 twenty year olds auditioning every year for a chance to participate in MTV’s The Real World, which offers no monetary reward save the endorsements from being an instant celebrity. To sum it up, unscripted programming has become so successful, so fast broadcasters search for the next big reality hit. Broadcasters develop important planning, promotional and fulfilling commitments on these programming genre. And it is not only because of economic reasons, but because viewers dictate their wishes.
And at present they wish to watch reality television. And to satisfy viewers’ wishes means revenue for broadcasters.
