Advertising influence in Big Brother

Big Brother, by having the target demographic of 16-25 year olds, is a gold mine for marketing products. In the first season of Big Brother Australia, episodes were structured in a manner so that the maximum number of potential consumers could be achieved. The use of Advertisements and the structure of the first season is documented in the book, Big bother : why did that reality-TV show become such a phenomenon? Advertisements aired during the screening of the first season include, the X-Files (another Network Ten program), Joe Dirt (an upcoming film), McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Small Soldiers (upcoming film), ING with Billy Connolly, Dreamworld (location of the Big Brother compound) and Dawsons Creek (another Network Ten program). Advertisements, especially the cross promotion within the network, are associated youth products and or programs. It is obvious that if you place an advertisement for a youth orientated product within the screening of a popular television show, product sales will increase as the popularity of the program increases. Other than advertising in Big Brother the show also acts as social discussion. From this Big Brother works in two ways, people socially using the same catch phrases to join social groups and conversations or Big Brother can influence the wider public to revaluate themselves. Big Brother became a ready made conversational topic creating a sense of intimacy between the viewer and contestants.

Network Ten: Clever marketing or a cheap alternative??

Big Brother Australia was created by Network Ten. The program’s content and target demographic make the decision to exhibit the show on channel Ten the perfect choice. Big Brother, the program itself, is aimed at younger people. It is the characters that producers cast that appeal so much to audiences. Bad language, overt sexual behaviour and rebellious nature of characters shown in the program appeal to the target demographic. While some of the antics that housemates get up to may be interpreted as a conflict to social norms, the reality is that it is instead promoting not bad behaviour but stereotyping. The success of the reality format has a potential for global success, as the program’s structure is easily marketable. The Australian adaptation of the program was produced by Southern Star Endemol for Network Ten. After the introduction of Big Brother to the programming of the Network, Southern Star then moved into producing light entertainment programs instead of the traditional in house produced dramas. The production office and the location of Big Brother is on the Gold Coast, at Dreamworld a theme park. Dreamworld not only gains revenue from the live evictions and up-late programs but also through the increased amount of patrons entering the park. The program is structured for money making. The format of audience participation, through voting for eviction, sms updates and live streaming on the internet has converged multiple forms of media. Big Brother places ordinary people on the centre stage in a ‘popularity contest’. Each network now has a ‘personality’. Before the 1990s Network Ten did not gear programs to younger viewers. This changed mostly due to financial reasons and lost ratings. A new tactic used by network Ten CEO Peter Viner was to target a younger audience. The sitcom and light entertainment now consistently hold the largest commercial share of the 16-24 year old demographic, making channel Ten the ideal network for the reality show Big Brother. Within the Network itself, the show’s producers aired the programs straight after Neighbours, to gather the same style of fans. Generally reality programming is cheap to create because there are no script writers as such (although producers formulate situations for specific responses from housemates, characters), no actors fees or costumes. While the Australian version cost 20 million dollars to create, produce and exhibit, the rights for the show itself cost 13 million dollars.