The Return of the Talent Show?

Talent shows are poised for resurgence after government restrictions and the Beijing Olympics kept them largely off air in 2008. Leading provincial broadcasters such as Hunan Satellite TV, Shanghai Media Group and Zhejiang Satellite TV have announced plans to launch new talent shows next year, in a bid to gain viewers and a bigger slice of the advertising pie.

The talent show format was one of the most popular on mainland television in 2006 and 2007. American Idol-style singing competitions such as Super Girls and its successor Super Boys captured the popular imagination with their premise that anyone could be a star. Then the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) introduced tough new regulations that booted talent shows off prime time programming schedules from October 2007 (see China Media Monitor Vol 11, Issue 8, Oct 17, 2007).

Not only did the new laws ban talent shows from airing between 7:30pm and 10:30pm every night, they also limited terrestrial provincial channels to one talent show per year. Talent shows could not run for more than two months or consist of more than 10 rounds, with each round no more than 90 minutes long. Making it impossible to build a national profile, provincial satellite stations could only broadcast the final round of the competition.

SARFT also laid down the law on the content of talent shows. Organizers were urged to ensure that their participants' clothes, hairstyles, manners and speech did not "deviate from the aesthetic ideas of the masses". They were not allowed to allow anyone "vulgar or inferior" on their talent shows. At least 75% of the songs featured in singing competitions had to be Chinese. All forms of remote voting - including telephone, mobile or Internet - was outlawed. In-program advertising was limited to 20% of total airtime.

Just in case these strictures were not sufficient to deter talent show fans, the regulations also required all broadcasters to seek approval to organize a talent show three months before starting production.

For a while, it looked like SARFT had tolled the death knell for talent shows in China. Few talent shows made it to the air in 2008 for a series for reasons. First, there were the new regulations. Then talent shows were banned from the airtimes during the period of national mourning after the Sichuan earthquake disaster in May. By the time SARFT lifted the ban in July, broadcasters were focusing on the Beijing Olympics.

Now a change is in the air as the New Year approaches. SARFT has not relaxed the regulations, but that hasn't stopped broadcasters from announcing plans to bring the genre back big time in 2009.

Leading provincial broadcaster Hunan Satellite TV unveiled plans to launch no less than five talent shows next year, including the next series of former hit singing competition Super Boys. The station failed to secure SARFT approval to produce Super Boys in 2008, but advertising slots for the show are still amongst the most expensive slots on Hunan TV's line up. Li Hao, spokesperson for Hunan Satellite TV, told the Shanghai press that the station had prepared well to ensure the show would meet with SARFT’s approval this year.

"SARFT has placed a lot of restrictions on talent shows, such as banning voting via text message, fixed line telephone and online voting, but we will develop a new interactive way for audiences to vote for the winner," he said.

Hunan Satellite TV has already had to delay the launch of one talent show for reasons that have nothing to do with the SARFT regulations. Karaoke-style Challenge the Microphone! did not launch in November as scheduled after it was accused of plagiarizing hit ITV format Who Dares Sings! (see related story under Television).

Meanwhile, Jiangsu Satellite TV has unveiled its plans to purchase the rights to a local version of Who Dares Sings!, along with four other talent shows (see story under Television). Rival Zhejiang Satellite TV has already aired the first round of Love to Sing and Win, based on the Deal or No Deal format, ahead of the pack on November 15. Shanghai Media Group's Dragon TV will launch three new talent shows, as well as new seasons of the popular Let’s Shake It and My Show.

Production companies have also joined the trend back towards talent shows. For example, Enlight Media is currently in negotiations with provincial broadcasters over its new RMB150 million (US$21.96 million) budget talent show Lady’s Talk.

Despite the ongoing SARFT restrictions, the industry appears to be planning a talent show resurgence in 2009. 

One reason is, that in the absence of programming catering to the Olympics, there is a programming vacuum that needs to be filled. On the drama side, very little in the way pf production was happening in mid to late 2008, as production equipment, talent and permits were locked up for the Olympics.

However, the major reason for the resurgence in talent shows is that China's broadcasters are turning back to the only genre they know that actively brings in the cash. And China's broadcasters desperately need cash.

Despite the 14% year-on-year increase in total television ad revenue claimed by October 2008 (see story under Advertising), the fact of the matter is that the increase, as well as a substantial part of the rest of the ad pie, went to CCTV. Although no figures exist, anecdotally a number of provincial broadcasters have told CMM-I that their ad revenue for 2008 actually dropped versus 2007, and looks likely to drop again this year. Reality and talent shows are more or less cheaper to produce than dramas and, if successful, can bring in much larger piles of revenue. So despite SARFT protestations, look forward to a lot more reality shows in 2009.