The Biggest TV Star Of Them All
Here's a trivia question for you: who appears in over half of all North American, English language television programs? Commercials don't count, so if you're thinking Beyonce or Peyton Manning, try again.
Give up? It's you, the viewer.
According to an analysis of 2007 TV Guide listings, 53% of programming on non-pay English language networks in North America consists of shows featuring viewers as participants.
Other findings of the study: In order of greatest audience share, the top three genres of viewer participation television are Talent Competitions, Game Shows and Reality TV.
The Home Décor genre, which includes interior design, interior decorating, landscaping, home renovation and real estate, is the genre with the most shows.
There are over 360 North American viewer participation programs in current production.
The genre with the most room for new entrants is Food, with Chef Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen and Canada's Restaurant Makeover revealing a massive audience for restaurant-themed programs.
For the purpose of the study, a distinction was made between shows within long established genres.
When most people think of viewers appearing on TV, they think of reality shows like Survivor or Big Brother, or talent competitions like American Idol.
But not every reality show or talent competition qualifies as viewer participation.
So You Think You Can Dance is a viewer participation talent competition.
Amazing Race is a viewer participation reality series.
Unless you're a celebrity or a felon, neither Dancing with the Stars nor Dog the Bounty Hunter is viewer participation TV.
The growth in viewer participation programming brings US television closer to the European model, where smaller markets have necessitated the development of less expensive program alternatives.
From Sweden's Survivor, the show that not only broke the mold but was the harbinger of a new one, to CW's 2008 premier of the British series Farmer Takes a Wife, European-style programming continues to provide North American broadcasters with solutions to the problem of audience fragmentation in the digital age.
Give up? It's you, the viewer.
According to an analysis of 2007 TV Guide listings, 53% of programming on non-pay English language networks in North America consists of shows featuring viewers as participants.
Other findings of the study: In order of greatest audience share, the top three genres of viewer participation television are Talent Competitions, Game Shows and Reality TV.
The Home Décor genre, which includes interior design, interior decorating, landscaping, home renovation and real estate, is the genre with the most shows.
There are over 360 North American viewer participation programs in current production.
The genre with the most room for new entrants is Food, with Chef Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen and Canada's Restaurant Makeover revealing a massive audience for restaurant-themed programs.
For the purpose of the study, a distinction was made between shows within long established genres.
When most people think of viewers appearing on TV, they think of reality shows like Survivor or Big Brother, or talent competitions like American Idol.
But not every reality show or talent competition qualifies as viewer participation.
So You Think You Can Dance is a viewer participation talent competition.
Amazing Race is a viewer participation reality series.
Unless you're a celebrity or a felon, neither Dancing with the Stars nor Dog the Bounty Hunter is viewer participation TV.
The growth in viewer participation programming brings US television closer to the European model, where smaller markets have necessitated the development of less expensive program alternatives.
From Sweden's Survivor, the show that not only broke the mold but was the harbinger of a new one, to CW's 2008 premier of the British series Farmer Takes a Wife, European-style programming continues to provide North American broadcasters with solutions to the problem of audience fragmentation in the digital age.
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