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Why are Reality shows pushed to 90 minutes?

In the end, everything comes back to money....

With the return of stripped Reality shows, some readers have been asking why 60 minute shows are being pushed to 90 minutes.

It’s a habit that’s been happening a lot in the Australian market, and certainly isn’t unique to Holey Moley and The Amazing Race Australia.

But the answer comes back to money. The costs to set up two shows is far greater than wringing more content out of one.

Andrew Backwell, Head of Production at Seven tells TV Tonight, “As things have become more expensive you have to try and stretch your big tentpoles to later.

“Not many networks are investing heavily in 8:30 or 9:00 shows. We just don’t have the money to do it.

“In an environment where the opposition is running 90 minutes, it’s very hard not to hit a junction. So you start the show at 7:30 and finishes at 9. If we finish at 8:30 anyone that’s watching the opposition can’t switch the channel.”

The Amazing Race Australia originally ran in a weekly format when it debuted on Seven in 2011. Last week viewers were asked to commit to three consecutive nights, all at 90 minutes each. Tomorrow the show is trimmed back to 60 minutes to make room for Hughesy We Have a Problem.

“So these days if everyone is doing 90, you kind of have to, unless you have a very dominant show,” Backwell suggests.

“Also in terms of advertising costs, it’s much cheaper to do a 90 than just 60, when you’re investing so much money.”

But he is also confident Holey Moley is worth the time investment.

“I think it holds up well because it (whittles) down to a winner,” he insists.

“But it’s a very good point, because we really want kids to watch this, and not to abandon the last half hour.

37 Responses

  1. Its really all about attempting the viewers to not change channel and sneak the show into the next timeslot for ratings. With catchup services on all networks you can always have your cake an eat it too and with less adds.

  2. The simple answer is that the networks real business is selling advertising slots to agencies, regular big budget advertisers will be offered most of the high rating slots.
    After the money invested in Holey Moley (for example) Nine would want to recoup that investment before it makes any profits.

  3. On a similar theme with this strategy virtually killing original drama on the commercial networks in a weekly format at least could stripped short-run drama off the back of them be a way to make them work again? Here ITV are commissioning and airing more and more dramas to air nightly for usually 4 nights rather than weekly for 6-8 weeks and it is generally paying off with ratings higher than we’ve seen for some time.

    I just can’t really see a weekly drama working on any of the commercial networks at the moment, but short run series airing nightly alongside the first week of the likes of MAFS or The Block could be a strategy that might pay off.

  4. This type of ‘thinking’ will eventually see everything slowly blow out to 2 hours. Even the cricket final on Saturday started too late and my kids went to bed before it was over. It’s sad, but the networks are killing TV. The future is bleak.

  5. This is one of the things killing the FTA market in Australia imo, plus the fact that they flog the ads to death so much that fatigue has already set in before the show begins. I can’t even name five things I watch on FTA anymore.

  6. I think the first show that tried to do this by extending the 1 hour format was Big Brother when the eviction night was on Sunday night (when channel 10 had it) when the boardcast ran overtime so the Sunday Night movie afterwards then wouldn’t start until between 8:40-8:50 so if you wanted to watch a movie on another network you would miss out on the opening chunk. This also occurred when Australian Idol rocked up a year or 2 later and by around late 2004/05 channel 9 stopped the commitment to the Sunday night movie for new eps of CSI in the timeslot.
    Also remember when The Great Outdoors on a Monday night extended to 70 minutes so Desperate Housewives started at a 8:40 timeslot when the latter was one of the biggest show in in the country at the time in the mid 2000’s.

      1. The pathetic thing being this one-up manship has pretty much left networks exactly where they started, but half an hour later with a far weaker slate of shows following their 7.30 broadcast.

        I just don’t get why they were allowed to get away with it – I bet if you added together all the minutes American Idol “over ran” throughout it’s history you’d probably have a total less than a supposed overrun of a single episode of the Australian equivalent.

  7. Another point as to why the ‘stretch out’ has occurred is that the 8.30 content the networks used to rely on just doesn’t rate like it once did-imported or local dramas and sitcoms either aren’t shown at all or are relegated to late night.

  8. This started with the networks extending contest shows, which people still watch live, by 10 or 15 minutes, fitting in an extra ad break or two, before delivering a lead-in to the next show. Because you have passed the junction viewers wouldn’t switch to a rival network because they were landing in the middle of show. They would skip or timeshift the rival show. It also means that viewers are less likely to switch to your station to watch the 2nd show because it 10-15 they have to kill first. You can hold peoples attention and fit in 50% more advertising if you make it 90m. And even the ABC is starting shows at the 9pm junction now. In the UK and US the junctions remain because of contractual agreements and the fact the most TV is made with one eye on global standards for OS sales.

    The downside is that less people are watching the next show. The Good Doctor premiere got 440k…

    1. I do believe though Good Doctor is losing its edge. Look how they killed off one of the main characters, not even a proper send off. That is probably partly to blame for the lower ratings. But the late start doesn’t help.

  9. I wonder what the first show was to do this? I remember the biggest loser was on at 7 to 7.30 then it moved to the bigger eps, but can’t quite remember the one that kicked it all off. Wonder if international broadcasters edit it down. I mean the constant recaps after a break is the most stupidest thing ever, and then a contestant retelling the rules again and again

  10. Some shows do alright with 90 min. Last year I quite enjoyed Masterchef even if the episodes were long. It felt like they had the content to fill the time but with TAR one of the appeals is the speed of the show, the urgency makes it more exciting so when you pad it out to 90 min it loses that speed and the excitment that goes with it.

  11. I am a massive reality TV fan – but I tend to not watch much Australian reality tv because every show is dragged out until it’s no longer fun.
    I’ve been complaining about this since the biggest loser premiered, a fabulous show in the USA that ran for 60 minutes a week was stretched out to 3+ hours of boring content in Aus.
    It makes these shows unwatchable

    1. I agree with many of the comments on this post, but yours really resonated with me. You made me realise I too tend to watch overseas reality shows and not Australian versions. The simple reason is I find the Australian versions are too drawn out and I just can’t get settled into the show.

      You make a good point about the biggest loser, the Australian version was stretched out way too far. I much preferred the US format. These days the same can be said for Survivor. The US version has always been short, sharp and once a week. I really look forward to each episode. The Australian version goes for 90 minutes or longer and there can be up to 4 episodes in a week. I never make it past the first week and yet I’d say the Australian version is of a higher quality. Just far too drawn out for me to enjoy it.

      I believe Australian producers would be better off with the following…

  12. I tend to agree but there a certain shows that can pull off long/multiple episodes. Having 90 minute Australian Survivor episodes is great (wish there is more). Also if you watch any FTA show on catch up it cuts out half the commercial times so it becomes a 70 minute episode.

  13. Also who forgets the days of Hey Hey its Saturday, that always use to run longer than the allotted time. It was a 2 hour show and always use to run close to 3 hours some nights a week. But that was live tv thats what you get sometimes.

  14. I would have thought the idea was to build a night of programming to keep viewers, not just drag out your tentpole show.

    These days no one builds programming. It’s just slapped together in the hopes of winning a week and claiming #1. And the offering of tired stripped reality is driving more viewers from FTA to streaming.

  15. I totally get this logic (thanks for the feature explaining it, David) but as much as I am loving both Amazing Race and Holy Moly, both are going on too long in that format. Watching both shows means committing three hours to television per day and that’s not including ABC News or whatever else I want to catch up on.

  16. Coming back after an add break to summarise what happened just before the add break doesn’t help just to drag out extra time. Must think viewers have a 3 minute short memory span.

  17. I think having a 90 minute TV show increases viewer fatigue. A couple of days ago, I watched HM and the amount of ads was too much. Last year when I watched Ninja Warrior it was a 90 minute show, although the show extended by about 3 minutes due to ads. THis was reflected in the ratings slump of S4 of Ninja Warrior.

  18. At what point, though, does “we have to do more, longer episodes to justify the cost” become sheer contempt for the audience? Because huge chunks of the audience feels like we’ve already reached it.

    1. Agreed. I don’t and have never watched any of this so-called reality rubbish. If the networks have come down to relying on 90 minute tomeslots for their ‘tentpole’ programming they may as well play the national anthem at 9pm and closedown for the night or start running infomercials early. How sad the networks don’t program outside 5pm to 9pm (and or breakfast for 7/9) anymore. The end of linear broadcast TV can’t be far off at this rate of decline.

  19. I hope the decline in ratings of HM over the 3 nights is a sign this is a poor strategy for viewers. There’s just too much choice to commit for 90 minutes on 3 consecutive nights. I sampled HM on night one and my 11 year old was enjoying it, but had to go to bed at 8.30pm. Because she missed the outcome she wasn’t interested in returning the following night, and that’ll be us done with that show I think. When you’ve got some seriously good dramas available right now, we just don’t have time for 90 min stripped reality.

  20. Padding a show out, to me, increases viewer fatigue. MKR was a victum of not only long episodes but lengthening the series. Viewer commitment is very different today with so many viewing platforms available.

    1. The last paragraph seems to state the obvious ,we don’t want kids to abandon the last half hour ,it now seems that the last half hour will be to the detriment of the show and it’s ratings.

  21. This is partly why I don’t watch reality shows apart from TAR. It’s just filled with ads and so drawn out I end up doing other things around the house or on the iPad. Even the Australian TAR I only stuck with as I knew it was moving to 60min after 4 episodes. If it hadn’t been I’d be gone as a viewer as it was not a tightly produced version like the American version is.

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