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From Issue 1: Rating the Ratings Are audiences moving away from traditional drama series? By John Peek, TAPE Traditional methods of script analysis tend to use the same approach to assessing the viability of characters and plot, of structure and story. TAPE have approached the analysis of television drama and feature films from a rather different point of view, one that might pay dividends for writers, script editors and producers in a time of fragmenting audiences and stiff competition from game and jeopardy shows. The start of this new century has already signalled a level of unparalleled change and development within the television industry. The potential for viewer choice is increasing rapidly, with cable and satellite penetration in the UK up to 36%. Meanwhile, digital services are competing for subscriptions, the promise of ADSL bandwidth delivering real video on demand is beginning to become a reality, and new gadgets like the EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) and PVR, or Personal Video Recorder (built around a computer hard disk), promise to take the drudgery out of finding the programmes you want to watch, and automatically selecting and recording them for you. In a rapidly growing, and confusing, multi-channel environment, such tools will be a requirement rather than a luxury. At the same time, the kinds of programme available are also changing and adapting. The phenomena that was the docu-soap in the UK has moved on a generation to involve a challenge and an opportunity to win money (Big Brother, Jailbreak, Survivor etc.); series like Who Wants to be a Millionaire and The Weakest Link have reinvented the game show genre, while the peculiarity that is the U.K. ‘lifestyle’ show continues to draw big audiences (Changing Rooms, Ground Force and so on). Moreover, with the name of the game at present appearing to be the hybridising of hitherto different genres to come up with new "original" shows, there is much more to come. So what does this mean for the traditional scripted series? Are audiences actually moving away from the conventional forms of drama and comedy, or is this a trend that has evolved more as a result of the need to produce cheaper, but still distinctive programming? If the latter is the case, should scriptwriters be worried? CONT. in Issue 1. © John Peek 2001 TAPE Consultancy Ltd. provides audience analysis services.
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