Fewer people are watching reality TV shows and streaming networks are removing all of their reality shows.
Nearly 20 years ago reality TV was everywhere in America. Many people said reality TV was going to ruin television as we know it. The reasons for this were pretty simple. Reality shows are very cheap to produce and very profitable. Why pay for a professional writer when you can get some one to improv their life story for a fraction of the price? Ultimately, this forced scripted TV show writers and executive producers to step up their game – which is a good thing.
According to reports, reality television is dying and it’s because of shows like ‘House of Cards,’ ‘Game of Thrones‘ and ‘Orange is the New Black‘. Why? Because, more cord cutters love to watch these type of shows more than reality TV shows.
“The kind of disposable nature of reality, basically doesn’t have much of a long shelf life,” Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at Netflix said at an investor conference this week. “It hasn’t been a great category for us.”
According to Bloomberg Business, Amazon.com Inc.’s subscription video service will end several Viacom Inc. shows, including “Teen Mom” and “Mob Wives” illustrating the decrease in demand for reality TV shows and reality stars.
Amazon Prime Instant Video will spend more on original programming and buy shows from other suppliers, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the matter. Viacom’s more popular shows, such as “Dora the Explorer,” will stay on the $99-a-year service, they said.
This is bad news for the Viacom network and TV networks that depend upon reality shows. So it looks like cord cutters are much happier with scripted TV shows with actual actors, rather than reality TV shows.
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