Page 40 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

PROCESS

Table 2.2
Average Prime-Time Viewers, Ages 18 to 49, 2002

Network, with and without Viewers, ages 18–49
top hour-long show (in millions)
NBC 5.5
Without ER 5.2
CBS 5.2
Without CSI 4.9
FOX 5.3
Without American Idol 4.8
ABC 4.4
Without The Bachelor 4.3
Source: Nielsen Media Research (p. C1). www.nielsenmedia.com

Thus, a key to the emergence of the reality genre on television is
its ability to attract a young audience. In 2002 American Idol (FOX)
reached 30 percent of the audience between the ages of eighteen and
forty-nine—the highest share ever for a Fox show with that group—and
did even better among those from eighteen to thirty-four, by posting a 35
share. During the last half-hour, the show reached almost half the female
teenage viewers in the country. 38
During the 2002 season, American Idol delivered its young audience
to the following sponsors: Coca-Cola; Ford Motor; DIRECTV; Domino’s
Pizza; Gap (Old Navy); Hershey Foods; Johnson & Johnson (Acuvue
contact lenses, Neutrogena); Levi Strauss; Procter & Gamble (Cover
Girl makeup); Sprint; T-Mobile, formerly VoiceStream; and Yum Brands,
formerly Tricon Global Restaurants (KFC).
Beyond the immediate sales pitch for its product, the latent function
of the Coca-Cola promotion was to develop a long-term relationship with
its young audience. During the 2002 season finale of American Idol, a
Coca-Cola commercial that ran before the winner was declared saluted
the two finalists with the words, “Good luck Kelly and Justin from your
friends at Coca-Cola.” 39
Because media programming is now directed at particular segments
of the audience, genres that target this audience can furnish a perspec-
tive into the issues of interest and concern to that group. To illustrate,
Gana la Verde (Win the Green), a hit reality show on Spanish-language
stations in the United States, is a commentary on the many indignities
that immigrants must endure to obtain a “green card” (the permit that

25