How Celebrity Traitors Reverse TV’s Most Disturbing Trend | Social media

There’s not a lot of plaudits left for The Celebrity Traitors, a tense, inept crowd-pleaser and the most famous fart in television history.

However, for all of the show’s accomplishments, one accomplishment in particular—one that TV executives around the world were desperate to accomplish—may stand out as the most impressive: it got Generation Z to watch live TV.

There has long been concern that viewers under 25 are turning away from the once-dominant linear TV viewing, losing out to the algorithmic overhaul of digital platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. However, the Borg’s betrayal seems to have brought them back to television.

The Celebrity Traitors overnight ratings – which measure how many people watch live or later that evening on iPlayer – reveal that more than half of 16-24 year olds who watched the show during that time period watched every episode of The Celebrity Traitors as it aired.

The show’s finale broke records. The show averaged over 11 million overnight viewers, the largest of the year and the largest since the Gavin & Stacey special on Christmas Day. It was watched by 81% of viewers ages 16-24 who were watching linear TV in that time period, according to Digital i.

“At a time when younger audiences are increasingly turning away from live linear TV, The Traitors has evolved to include appointment viewing for 16-24 year olds in the UK,” said Matt Ross, chief analytics officer at Digital i. “The latest iteration has been a big draw for younger viewers.”

The race is now on to dissect that success and see what lessons can be drawn from the show — or whether its mass appeal and ability to reach younger viewers is just an increasingly rare anomaly.

Katie Fox, executive producer at Studio Lambert, which makes the show, told the BBC: “The idea of ​​the whole family stopping what they’re doing and sitting around the TV to take part in a really positive, upbeat show is exactly what you hope for as producers.

“The best thing about the 16-24 year olds who are loyal to Traitors is the sheer amount of energy and creativity they bring to the fandom — from memes to videos to Halloween costumes and everything in between — it’s amazing.”

The show’s success comes at an opportune time for the BBC after concerns were raised about its long-term appeal to Generation Z. Just this week, Jordan Schwarzenberger, director of the successful YouTube collective Sidemen, said the company risked becoming culturally irrelevant to younger audiences.

Industry insiders say there are plenty of lessons to be learned from celebrity cheaters. They point to its “always-on” appeal, with the live show behaving almost like a live sporting event, with an official podcast, numerous cut moments and an embrace of memes and fan-made content meaning there’s always Traitor-related material to consume during the week.

Kate Phillips, the BBC’s chief content officer who first commissioned the programme, said her initial interest in the show arose out of the pandemic, when she felt the need to find shows that brought people together. Since then, she says the programme, which began with a Dutch format, has grown rapidly through word of mouth across generations – a key measure for the BBC, which is tasked with delivering content that resonates with audiences.

“What I want are shows that have 3G at their heart,” she said. “By that I mean shows that three generations of people watch together. One thing I’ve taken away is that young people really like to watch with their parents and grandparents. People really appreciate that.”

As for why the program reached younger viewers, she pointed to the partnerships with TikTok, and linking the platform directly with iPlayer. She also says the series’ social strategy was “developed with people under 35 in mind, especially people under 24.” The show was cut to infinity, while the BBC was also relaxed about fans jumping in and creating their own content that went viral.

For all the talk of linear TV’s declining importance, “Celebrity Traitors” also showed how the medium can play a crucial role as a “shop window” for the best content, Phillips said.

“Celebrity Traitors can appear on linear TV, but it evolves into a cross-platform experience that feels very modern, very fun and completely unfiltered,” she said. “The memes and the comments – it’s like a second entertainment show running alongside the main show.”

John Willers, a media consultant who has been thinking about how to reach Generation Z, said the show’s success indicated a need for the industry to reinvent and reshape itself for the social media age. “It’s one of those few shows that connects two different worlds,” he said. “There’s the digital world, which is more youth-oriented and more about social networking than watching traditional TV. Then there’s the traditional world, which is about watching what’s on at 9 p.m.

“There are very few instances right now where a show can break through those two places. There have to be more shows that have that vision and that ambition. It shows that people aren’t necessarily leaving television. They’re leaving television that doesn’t really speak to them.”

“We’ve all been very silent up to this point. TV producers make TV shows. Social creators make social media content. Broadcasters are basically the publishers and help with marketing. TV producers are now trying to be more cross-platform.”

In fact, Celebrity Traitors isn’t the only show that has had great success finding a Gen Z audience, as traditional broadcasters are trying to adapt to the different ways they find and analyze their chosen shows.

A prime example is Dancing with the Stars, the American version of Strictly Come Dancing. It was once on par with other reality formats, but now finds itself as the dominant title in the genre. She did this by embracing online culture with viral songs, bringing in dancers with a large social media presence and expanding the cast.

“Dancing with the Stars has leaned too heavily into the creator ecosystem, positioning creators as competitors,” said Evan Shapiro, a Hollywood producer turned lead analyst on the creator economy. “It has clearly paid off,” he added.

“Celebrity Traitors has put together a really great slice of UK entertainment culture, then leaned hard into the spirit of its creators – cutting the show ad nauseam, and encouraging user-generated content.”

He said this was proof that major broadcasters and satellite channels could adapt to changing consumption. “Mindset for successful IP crossover [from TV to social media] It is “the width is the segment and the segment is the width – and they are the width together.” This is all evidence that when big publishers act like innovators, they can become dominant innovators themselves.

For The Celebrity Traitors, its makers say the casting was crucial and included the likes of Nico Omelana, who has more than 8 million subscribers on YouTube, although he left the game early on.

“We’ve always believed that The Traitors is a format that can appeal to every generation, and we’ve always tried to reflect that in our selection,” Fox said. “Having a cast of celebrities from a wide range of ages and personalities meant we were confident that young viewers would identify with cast members they already know… and perhaps even recognize national treasures they don’t know! We’re thrilled with the results.”

For others in the industry, the debate over how to keep younger audiences informed complicates a simple equation. In show business, the golden rule still stands: it’s all about the hits.

“The most powerful form of marketing will always be word of mouth,” said Peter Fincham, co-CEO of production company Acceptation and co-host of Insiders TV. “It happens in conversation at home, at work, and at school.”

“When that happens, you get young people watching. Perhaps the most unusual thing about modern times is what we might call an old-fashioned mainstream hit that gets everyone talking.

“I’m very wary of trend analysis. This is the simplest thing in the world. Be a hit and a lot of people of all ages will watch it. This was true 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago.”