Cash cow? Nah... this is a cash HERD

"I'm not watching that", I remarked, and walked off to do something I deemed more-productive.

Couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. It was just a TV show. So what if it was reality TV... don't people get enough reality in their own lives they need to watch other people's "reality?"

Got to thinking. This show had to be big for a reason. There had to be some magic to a show that drove people to talk about it a work. To talk about it with total strangers. To form fan clubs for the "contestants."

So for this past week I have been watching - and learning. What drives people to watch this show and what are the show's profit centers.

And boy. This show is milking it for everything.

The show is called Big Brother. And for those who watch it... yes, this is the first time I have ever scene it. Oh, I had heard about it but refused to watch on principle.

For those who have never scene it, its premise is this: A bunch of people live in a house with a yard (compound). They aren't allowed to leave the compound. Cameras film everything they do. The footage is edited to fit a half hour show and released to the public on a daily basis. The House Mates (HMs) nominate each other to be evicted from the house and the TV viewers vote on which of the nominees is evicted for that week. Last person left gets $250,000.

The show appears to work for several reasons:

1. The drama of real people (not actors) interacting and living in close proximity with people they normally wouldn't have anything to do with. Snobs being forced to live with down-to-earth people. Hetrosexual men being forced to live with homosexual men. And so on.

2. Viewers get to decide who stays and who goes. This "interaction" draws the viewer closer to the show. The viewer doesn't just sit and watch footage... they have the POWER to decide what goes on.

3. Everyone knows they are only in the house for a certain length of time - 12 weeks I believe (maybe a regular watcher will correct me if I am wrong). And that drives everything they do. If they are "bad" they will get nominated and then there is a possibility they will be voted out. Coupled with the quarter million dollar reward, it can be interesting.

4. Other shows about it help drive the Big Brother frenzy. There are other TV shows which exist to make comments on the Big Brother TV show. One such show called "Big Brother Insider" has the most recent evictee on the "panel" to provide the inside gossip.

In line with the partcipation aspect... the show has a "look alike" contest. Viewers who look like HMs are asked to send in photos. Winner gets a prize.

There are HM items up for auction on eBay.

People from the same town/suburb of a HM form fan clubs. Other people just support their favorite HM - like the tow truck driver who has items related to his fav HM plastered all over his truck; the store that named a cookie after their fav HM; and so on.

To aid in the "what's going on" nature of the show, they also have a website. That website allows you to find out stuff about the HMs. To vote (more interaction) and to read a constantly updated diary of what's going on in the house - updated every fifteen minutes or so. For those who are interested the website for the Australian show is: http://bigbrother.optus.com.au/

And here is the diary for June 14: http://bigbrother.optus.com.au/diary.asp?show_date=14-Jun-2003 (scroll to the bottom to read from the start of the day)

The show keeps viewers watching with extensive use of interaction and tension/drama. This in turn means: more money for ads while the show runs, more money as people vote using the phone to call a 1900 number or send a text message - 55 cents per vote, more money as the voting goes on all week - allowing people to vote many times, more viewers to the "insider" show which talks about the show, and so on.

Eviction night is made a big deal of and advertised extensively.

There is Big Brother Uncut.

And Big Brother Live - so you do get to see "live" action very late at night (not that the HMs know what time it is as there are no clocks in the house).

Word-of-mouth gets people watching. As people talk about the show to each other while at work, and to total strangers if they somehow discover the stranger has watched the show (no more need to talk about the weather :o))

Money from voting. Money from ads - TV and website. Money from people paying to sit in the audience on eviction night. Money in related BB products like cell phone logos. Everywhere you turn this show is making money.

Without the interaction of the viewing public this show would not be as BIG as it is.

If you have never watched it, switch it on to see how the show generates interest and turns a buck. Don't watch it for the appeal of the "reality" of the show. Watch to learn and see the master manipulators and marketers in action.

Funny thing is... a while back Gordon wrote about a trick of the masters being Interaction. This is interaction taken as far as it will go. (They must have read Gordon's post :o))

Michael Ross


Other ways to turn a few bucks