To grasp a better understanding of Live TV and why it is still as popular and relevant as it is today, I wanted to further my research into the topics I did not know as much about.
Live TV will never have the same production value as a high budget TV show or a Film, but at the same time, live TV does draw in some of the biggest numbers over a week. Take BT Sport 2. A channel that mixes between Live TV and Recorded Shows. From 19th-25th June 2017 - All of its top 10 shows from the week are live shows. Now to make sure this is not misleading information, BT Sport is known for its Live sports coverage and that is what people tune in for. It is obvious when you look at a channel like BBC 1 from that same week that Live TV dominating the viewing is not the case.From that same week, you can see all but two (Country File & The 10 o'clock news) of the Top 10 shows from that week is Live. (Illustrations from BARB, 2018)
This shows me that certain channels are suited to Live TV and some use Live TV as a way of telling a story in the easiest way, with the best chance of getting authentic reactions (ie. The News). BBC, for example, is not known for it's Daily live sports shows, but it does have a News show multiple times a day which is live and has very high viewing figures. In essence, the news does not need to be live most of the time, but on occasions, the reality of being live is great for the viewer. If a large event is happening it is the best way to keep up to date with the subject through an authentic source. This is why Live TV still has it's place on TV. It is the best way of addressing news and sports especially. Being Live gives the viewer the best sense of authenticity and for the sport being Live is vital to make sure the viewer knows all of the facts as soon as they happen.
What impact does Live TV Have on the viewer?
As previously mentioned, Live TV has changed the way many of us watch television. Before Live TV was a thing, if you wanted to watch a football match live, for example, you would have to do. Some don't want to, some physically cannot and some cannot afford to. Live TV has opened up the opportunity for people to get involved in a sport they would never be able to watch, especially live without it.
For the viewer of a live show, it does have an impact, however. When you watch a TV show which is live you will notice the drop in production quality as the edits are being made at the time of recording, not after recording and being edited for hours. However, for myself and many others who I talk to, Live TV has been one of the greatest things to be invented. As a motorsport fan, I was not really ever able to attend races live as a kid as I could not make my way there. With the evolution of Live TV it has meant I can watch all of these events around the world. Live TV has opened up the opportunity for sports to grow and personalities (both presenters and sportsmen) to be born.
"Watching television isn’t what it used to be. It used to mean sitting in front of a TV, passively watching live broadcasts and arguing over the remote control. Viewing habits have changed because the ways of receiving programmes have changed. The sequence of the live broadcasts has always been governed by the television schedule (linear television). But the future of the schedule is up for debate because this is no longer the only option." (BFI,2017)Being live means that in a social media age, as viewers we can message these TV Companies and maybe get our opinion on Live TV in front of millions of people. How crazy is that? Therefore, being live gives the viewer an extra incentive to tune in, the live reaction and interaction that you can simply not get from a pre-recorded show. With the option to be involved directly with what we are seeing, it means that viewers build up a relationship with the channel they watch this service on. Over time these people will inherently see what else the channel has to give. So by building up the interaction and trust between the company and the viewer, the company should see growth in other areas other than that of the live show.
What is the added Value of being Live?
Live TV has evolved over the past few years and is now very important to a lot of people, especially sports fans on weekends. I found a blog that explained three good reasons for Live TV having extra value over a pre-recorded show. They may be seen from the media companies point of view in this instance but it works both ways - the viewers will enjoy certain shows live for a similar reason.
"1) Content control: Recently, an Allen Media Strategies client did a pre-recorded appearance on ABC TV’s “Good Morning America”. While the publicity was fantastic, the final piece that aired edited out one of the key points our client felt was really important, even though the show booker had promised that it would be included.Being live gives the person who is on TV the best opportunity to have authentic, REAL opinions. A lot of pre-recorded shows will go over a piece multiple times and iron out parts they dislike. This may be to fit an agenda or to save time - but being live gives a lot of viewers the chance to see someone at their realist. Saying that it gives the person on screen the chance to say what they really feel on a subject that is brought up. However, this can swing both ways as if something like a slip of the tongue or swearing appears on Live TV, it brings down the show and makes it seem much less professional.
2) Better chance to steer: An pre-taped interview can be easily edited to eliminate references to your website, any product or service you’re plugging, etc. That’s nearly impossible to do in a live interview setting.
3) Less likely to be bumped: Taped packages are often bumped from airing until weeks or months later (and sometimes, not at all). If you’re live, you KNOW it’s going on the air! (allenmediastrategies, 2011)
The Practical Issues of being live
As previously mentioned, if you produce live TV there are many issues that are present in comparison to recording a TV and then editing it down. Not to repeat myself in this segment, the last point of the added value segment is also present here. Swearing and messing up lines are big problems people encounter on Live TV which would be easily edited if the show was to be recorded and then screened.
A big issue on Live TV is the chance of equipment being faulty on breaking on air.
“That’s the problem, is single points of failure with a lot of these things,” Rayburn says. “When a backup doesn’t kick in, or you don’t have it, or you haven’t planned for it, or you don’t want to spend the money for it, well, your live event’s going to go down.” (Fast Company, 2016)Sometimes you can plan for days, weeks or even months for a live show and something will break on the day. In reality, you cannot do anything apart from think of every scenario before it happens and hope you can find the answer. A lot of the times on Live TV you will notice strange cuts to angles you may not have expected. This will be because the camera operator could have notified the director and the vision mixer that he would have had a problem and not to cut to his shot. This would be in the lucky scenario that the camera operator knew he had a problem. A lot of times that is not the case.
In this funny example, during a weather report, the camera suddenly pans down towards the floor. This would have been a problem with the camera tripod head not being locked out correctly or if it was an electronically powered device it may have run out of power.
Thankfully the broadcaster realises the funny side of the mistake, but simple mistakes like these can cost companies a reputation if it happens repeatedly. Luckily this presenter managed to make a laugh out of the situation but that is more down to the presenter than the company saving a bad situation!
Lastly, going out to a location to film is also hard on the crew as they are taking the kit to locations and often times I expect there is not too much time to recce the locations and understand the possible issues. The clip above also shows clear examples of news crews not thinking about changes in weather as well as possible problems with nature of filming in a certain location.
With live TV you are always balancing the viewers live interaction with the subject with the unknowns of what could happen through getting that show. As equipment and knowledge has got better it has meant that Live TV is much more polished than when it was first introduced. But as with anything live, you will always inevitably experience problems that you may not with a pre-recorded show.
Why do Live TV Shows Get Large Audiences
We have talked about all the main reasons why people tune into live TV, so now it is time to understand why they get such large audiences. Through my research, I saw a lot of conflicting opinions to as if Live TV was dying.
"Watching live sports, of course, will still be very important for some people, he conceded, and big events like the World Cup, Super Bowl, and March Madness, as well as event programming like the premiere of the new season of "Game of Thrones" will continue to draw huge viewership. But with everything ever created available for us to watch anytime, the portion of what needs to be watched live versus what doesn't falls more and more all of the time" (businessinsider, 2015)Live Sport seems to be the large reason why people want to keep Live TV being a "thing". I personally see no reason why you would cut the chance to show everything live. It may cut costs to remove that portion of television but in reality, we have seen that if you want large figures. Show it live instead of showing a highlights package or delayed coverage.
For some figures to back up the statement, I am going to talk about Formula One's coverage on Channel 4. Channel 4 is strange as it gets to show half the races live and half the races as a highlight package. This will give us a good indication of what a Grand Prix live ratings are vs it's highlight package viewership is.
Channel 4 Live F1 Coverage: 2.30 Million average audience
Channel 4 Highlight Package F1 Coverage: 1.88 Million average Audience
(f1 broadcasting, 2018)
It may not seem like a massive difference but 500,000 people for one country and a relatively niche sport - that is a substantial difference. From personal experience, the reason why I would only ever want to watch a Live F1 Race is that I want to know I am seeing all the drama as it happens. In a social media world, we have so many opportunities to accidentally stumble across an f1 result or football score and that ruins the experience as a fan. Therefore, to make sure you do not spoil it for yourself, you have to watch it live. So like we have mentioned already in this blog post, the reason why Live TV gets the large audience is that it makes us as viewers feel involved and when we feel involved we react to the show differently.
"For me, nothing trumps watching the game. Nothing. I follow my teams because I love watching them play. I love everything about it. I love the rush, the ebbs and flows, the subtle sequences that aren’t flashy enough for SportsCenter." (Huffington Post, 2016)When a show is live, especially a sport, you can jump up in joy or hold your head in your hands as you know this is happening right as you watch it. If you watch a highlights show or a pre-recorded sport shows you can not elicit those same reactions. That is why for me at least watch Live sport especially is a no-brainer. As good as you can make a show through editing techniques and flashy graphics, nothing quite gets me in the same way as when I see an overtake in F1 or a goal in Football.
To conclude
I saw a lot of people saying Live TV was not needed in a world of streaming apps and YouTube, but I will always disagree. There will always be a place for watching something (most likely sports) live on TV. There is an experience of watching it live on a TV which makes it so different to watching it on a laptop or a phone. But the main reason why Myself and many others love Live TV is that feeling of being apart of something. When it's live you react differently and you perceive what is happening in a different way. Live TV may have been hurt by the ride of the internet and the services that come with it. but live TV will never die, it has that raw uncut feeling which many people see as more genuine and relatable than highly edited pre-recorded content.
References
BFI, 2017
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/television-interactive-age-changingtimes
Accessed on 1st April 2018
allenmediastrategies, 2011
http://www.allenmediastrategies.com/live-or-pre-recorded/
Accessed on 1st April 2018
Fast Company, 2016
https://www.fastcompany.com/3058268/march-madness-live-stream
Accessed on 1st April 2018
business insider, 2015
http://uk.businessinsider.com/live-tv-is-falling-in-importance-2015-7?r=US&IR=T
Accessed on 1st April 2018
f1 broadcasting, 2018
https://f1broadcasting.co/tag/ratings/
Accessed on 16th April 2018
Huffington Post, 2016
Accessed on 1st April 2018
YouTube Clips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnEHMAhqUZM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1dQz5pY-oM
Accessed on 1st April 2018
BARB, 2018
http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-10/
No comments:
Post a Comment