Television channels in China have been exploring new show formats to boost viewership, but many do not know their target audience.
One of the latest trends is comic reality shows. The final installment of Zhejiang TV's China trilogy, The Comic Genius of China will start its three-month run in the lead-up to the Spring Festival. The first two programs in the trilogy are The V oice of China and Dream Show.
The Comic Genius requires contestants to impress judges with funny content within 100 seconds, through mini-drama, stand-up comedy or music. Judges include stand-up comedian Cao Yunjin and Taiwan actor Lee Lichun.
After another two rounds of competition, one of the finalists will be crowned China's Comic King.
Zhejiang TV is not the only channel demonstrating ambition. According to Media & Entertainment Industry Reporter, a Beijing-based newspaper, at least 10 comic shows are waiting to be released next year, a couple of which have the word "king" in their title.
Since its release in November, Anhui TV's Super Comic Star, the first comic show to spark the trend, has dominated Thursday nights.
Over the past year, 12 singing shows have hit Chinese TV screens. The dramatic spike in this format resulted in the State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television to issue a policy in July prohibiting TV stations from producing singing talent shows for a period of time, but the administration did not specify the end date.
Thus, TV stations had to look for other types of programs and because comic shows incorporate a variety of performing arts, they're the crowd-pleasing safe choice, says Peng Kan from Legend Media.
Hunan TV has made some bold choices. Its target audience are mainly youngsters, which means it can take greater risks because young viewers prefer different types of edgy and innovative programs, says Kim Gordon with Imaginement China.
Other channels do not have specific audiences. In other words, they do not have good knowledge of what their viewers want to watch.
British companies like BBC and Channel 4 have large audience research departments with a huge budget to research viewer behavior, says Gordon. In China, however, without research, TV producers don't know their local audience.
"They are not trained to inquire, nor have time. Advertisers in China who have a major influence on the content probably don't know their audiences either. They may have their target audience, but they don't know what cultural questions they're thinking," he says.
Not understanding the viewers means the possibility of losing them, especially today when the Internet is already luring away the educated youth with content specifically catering to their interests, namely American TV series, Taiwan entertainment shows and tailor-made original creations. This fact doesn't seem to worry Chinese TV stations very much, Gordon says. He says concern about these issues is greater in Britain because TV stations take a long-term approach.
Peng from Legend Media believes that in China TV stations will try out new content using new media. In the future, he says, TV and Internet may blend into a new form of content provider.
"It doesn't mean TV will be dead. The key is the content. It doesn't matter through which platform you watch it," he says.
But the danger is that big websites might end up being hostages of TV stations, Gordon warns, if they don't create their own programs.
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