The Rise and Fall of Interactive Audiences

             America’s Got Talent, Albanians Got Talent, Britain’s Got Talent, The X Factor, American Idol, Canadian Idol, and The Voice…what do all these shows have in common? Interactive audiences. Gawlinski (2003) defines interactive television as, “anything that lets the television viewer or viewers and the people making the television channel, programme or service engage in a dialogue. More specifically, it can be defined as a dialogue that takes the viewers beyond the passive experience of watching and lets them make choices and take actions” (p. 5). On each of the shows mentioned, audience members are able to cast their votes and determine the fate of different contestants. Interactive televisions hands a lot of power to the people watching the show; allowing the audience members to direct the course of the show. No longer can simply watching other people, the judges, determine who wins satisfy the audience; people want to say they had a hand in the success of their favorite contestant.

It is not just TV shows that have become more interactive. Commercials on Pandora and YouTube offer their audiences a chance to interact with a commercial to either make the commercial go faster or enjoy advertisement free listening after interacting. This type of interaction is different from the ones seen during a TV show. Here, businesses are hoping that consumers will stop and look at their advertisement even if that means not being able to advertise to them through the rest of their Pandora listening session. The hope is that a consumer will actually pay attention to the advertisement if there is an incentive to stop the advertisements instead of simply tuning them out.

          In a study done by Sperring and Strandvall (2008), they researched how the interactive aspect of TV affects a game show called Enigma. They found that when a show has the ability to let the audience interact or have a part in determining where the show goes; audience members have more enjoyment and excitement for the show. This finding was especially prevalent among young adults. Sperring and Strandvall (2008) write, “the integrated interactivity in the game show Enigma adds value to the viewing experience in general among young adults” (p. 233). More and more shows are adding the interactive aspect because audience members enjoy being a part of the show or at least feeling as though they have the option to voice their opinion. But, how long will these interactive shows last?

          American Idol is airing its’ final season this coming January. The show started in 2002 and had a large following for many years. Recently, however, audiences have lost interest and American Idol will have the curtain coming down on it. So, what happened? This show was one of the first extremely popular interactive audience shows to hit the screen and it seemed like people enjoy cheering and voting for their favorite contestant. When did the show lose its enjoyment? Perhaps it was the fact that so many other shows came onto the scene that was just like American Idol. Personally, I lost interest in the show after about two seasons because it was so repetitive. It was the same drama between the coaches, the same bad auditions, and the same stories over and over again. I also got tired of rooting for someone to win, watching them win, and then watching as they did nothing with their career. With the exception of a few singers from American Idol (Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, ect), not many of the contestants on the show actually amount to anything in the music industry. There is also the aspect of wanting to watch TV to just relax. When a person gets home from work, sometimes they just want to mindlessly watch a TV program. They do not want to worry about casting a vote to make sure their favorite contestant remains on the show. In order to keep viewers interested, producers are coming up with a new spin on the typical show interactive show. The Voice has become a huge hit and has quickly moved past its competition American Idol. On The Voice, the judges are not allowed to see the person that is singing the song. This type of blind audition is to make sure the judges cannot pick based off of appearance. Another newer aspect of The Voice is the way the judges have to try and convince the singer to be on their team. These small changes are enough to separate The Voice from other shows, but for how long?

Gawlinski, M. (2003). Interactive television production. Oxford, England: Focal Press.

Sperring, S., & Strandvall, T. (2008). Viewers' experiences of a TV quiz show with integrated interactivity. International Journal Of Human-Computer Interaction, 24(2), 214-235. doi:10.1080/10447310701821590