In recent years the television industry has been marked by constant revolution, especially with digital transmission increasing the number of channels and ultimately creating competition between the broadcasters.
Two important current issues within broadcasting are convergence and interactivity, which both form an essential part of Reality TV. Reality TV illustrates convergence and interactivity by involving the audience through live events, telephone and online voting. The internet is used as a main platform and helps reach Reality TV’s target audience.
The history of the sector is multi-faceted with the first Reality TV show, arguably Candid Camera, dating back to 1948. Today’s popular reality shows like Big Brother and Pop Idol can be viewed on UK’s terrestrial channels ITV and Channel 4. Zone Reality is the UK’s first and only channel devoted exclusively to Reality TV. Reality TV’s main target group is that of women aged 15 to 34 years of age. Audience figures show 12 % watching reality programmes on terrestrial channels and 16 % watching them on multi-channel pay TV.
Reality TV has high commercial value partly due to it being a key site for “advertainment” – the merging of advertising and entertainment programming.
Two of the most successful formats of Reality TV are Big Brother and Popstars/Pop Idol. Their massive success is demonstrated by their ratings and their market share. Furthermore, some reality shows not only generate money by advertising revenue but also by various other sources such as phone line, internet and sponsorship revenue.
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- Bachelor of Arts Verena Stickler (Autor), 2007, The Music and Media Industry, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/177836
