Factors Affecting Attitude Towards Reality Television Essay.

In this study various research questions are explored in order to fulfill a number of marketing research objectives.

What are the consumer attitudes towards reality television?

What are the characteristics of reality television that are far reaching to consumers?

Is there a relationship between having a interrelation with members on reality TV shows and enjoying watching reality TV shows?

Is there a difference in enjoyment of watching reality TV shows between males and females?

What is the relationship between age and the preferred TV reality show?

Is there a relationship between enjoyment of reality TV shows and portrayal real life situations in reality TV shows?

What is the value of having physically appealing members on reality shows against depicting real life situations?

What is the value of having physically appealing members in a reality show between people who are under 18, 18-25, 26-35, and 36+ years old?

What are the consumer attitudes towards reality television?

Often, the basic structure of reality television is almost shaky, in that, it cannot be really defined, i.e. a single definition would limit the many frames that the image of reality television shows could fit. To reinforce the statement, imagine defining a factor that explores a myriad of subjects such as:

1. Music
2. Sports

• Parenthood/ family

1. Education, etcetera

Each subject draws new definition, hence reality television is best left to be explored alongside the chosen subject.

Nabi et al. (2006),  in relation to the essence of reality TV shows notes that, “more concerns are being brought up about the viability of various traditional approaches to reality T.V” such questions as a result lead to different views as well as opinions towards the latest and one of the most popular genres of the 21^st century. The creator of “The Survivor series” which is among the most viewed “reality” television shows Charlie Parson defines reality TV shows as, shows “containing producer related ‘producer created environments that control contestants’ behavior.” Why would a producer who says that he creates reality TV content confess that they are really “Producer create environments? And even better “where contestants are controlled? This begs the question whether really the “reality” TV shows are reality TV shows. Bryant et al.( 2008) argues that preconceived attitudes most often influence the audience’ perception and interpretation of the onscreen messages. Engel, Olson & Patrick (2002) in their paper on how reality TV became so popular, points out factors that lead to one watching television to be:

1. Arousal
2. Habit

• Relaxation

1. Pastime
2. Companionship
3. Escapism

The aim of this study is to explore different factors that influence the attitude of audience towards reality TV shows and provide recommendations to the manager of NBN television Production Company.  

• Expectation from reality TV shows i.e. the impact or effect it has on the audience  
• Attitude towards Originality

Most of the members watch reality television shows for various reasons as demonstrated from the discussion; on top of it they hold different opinions regarding the same subject matter. In order to

Generally, according to the online participation transcript, at least each respondent has a reason that motivates them to watch a ‘reality’ show. Some of the reasons are entertainment and others for ideas on how to handle different life situations. Despite having prior expectations on the shows that are watched,   it is evident that not all shows can equally satisfy a viewer’s expectation. For instance someone watching “Survivor series” may have different expectation which may not be fulfilled by watching “Big Brother”. Therefore, it can be inference that expectations plays an far reaching role in the audience’ intent to watch or develop interest in a television reality show

Characteristics of reality television that are far reaching to consumers

Another general theme that crops up from the transcript is the concern of authenticity. Generally, the television reality shows whose “realness” nature is doubted are opinioned as being scripted, acted, the members carefully picked to fit into a “puppeteer” plan, i.e. the producers. For instance, the shows mostly include good looking members with some kind of charisma even, the kind of scenery that is not always true for a given “real” society, (Oliver, 2002). The choice of “pretty faces” opinion and the conclusion that after all is said and done, the members are still acting is an indicator that most people do not acknowledge that the reality shows are meant to present real life people dealing with real life problems, or rather in as much as they are not fully scripted, they follow a certain line of protocol and subject matter which may include education, children, family life etcetera.

The study follows two data analysis methods so as to explore facts and draw conclusions on a set of five hypotheses which will aid in answering the study questions. One of the methods is qualitative data analysis and the other is Quantitative data analysis. The data for the study is obtained from involving 300 respondents who watch various Reality television shows using a set of questionnaire questions.

The hypothesis used in answering the research questions are:

Null Hypothesis: Having a interrelation with members on reality TV shows affects one’s enjoyment of the show

Alternative hypothesis: Having a interrelation with members on reality TV shows does not in any way influence enjoyment of the shows

Null hypothesis: There is no difference in the enjoyment of reality TV shows between male and females

Alternative Hypothesis: There is a difference in the enjoyment of reality TV shows between males and females

 Null hypothesis: Age of audience influence their favoring of a reality TV show

Alternative Hypothesis: Age of audience does not influence the audience’ favoring of a reality TV show

Null hypothesis: Portrayal of real life leads to enjoyment of a reality TV show

Alternative hypothesis: Portrayal of real life in reality TV shows does not influence the enjoyment of reality TV shows

Null hypothesis: Having physically appealing members in a reality TV show is more far reaching than depicting real life in the show

Alternative Hypothesis: Having physically appealing members is no different in value than depicting real life.

Null hypothesis: The view of the value of physically appealing members on reality show is different among different age groups

Relationship between interrelation with members on reality TV shows and enjoying watching reality TV shows

Alternative Hypothesis: There is no difference in the view of value of physically appealing members among the different age groups

 The software used for the research data analysis is SPSS

From table 1 to 14 above, there were 89 male and 211female members in the study sample. The age distribution is in: those of the age bracket 18-25 make up 38.3% of the total sample, i.e. n=115 those of age bracket 26-35 are second with a 29.3% of total sample population i.e. n=86, those are under 18 and above 36 make up 21.3% and 11% that is n= 88 and n=33 respectively. Elsewhere, the most watched reality show is “Survivor” which has a fan base of 42.3% (n=103) while Big brother is second with a fan base of 34.3% (n=103) with Jerry Springer comes last with a fan base of 23.3% (n=70).

It is realized that factors such as authenticity come into perspective when considering the view of the populace. Most audience do not believe that the TV shows are authentic; they argue that ideas are copied and the “real acts” seem to be acted and scripted since the members either over react to simple stuff i.e. “real life situations” and even the acts seem to follow a specific recurring pattern, which is for all honesty not in line with real life occurrences of a normal viewer.

The R-squared statistic is 0.370 which means that the regression model can explain 37.9% of the variance. In testing for multicollinearity, the VIF should be less than 10, i.e. the tolerance level, in the output it is 1.0, thus there is no multicollinearity. Using the Pearson correlation test, the P-value at a confidence interval of 95% is 0.000 which is clearly less than 0.05. As a result, we deny the null hypothesis and conclude that enjoying watching reality television shows is in no way influenced by having a interrelation with members on TV. Hence there is no relationship between interrelation with members and enjoying reality TV shows.

The errors are normally distributed as seen from the histogram of residuals where the normal curve has a bell shape.

Mann-Whitney Test

In testing the difference between the two groups, a Mann-Whitney Test is used. The mean rank between male and females is 83.43 and 178.79 indicating that the females enjoy reality television shows more than males. At a confidence level of 0.05, we do reject the null hypothesis with a P-value of 0.000 and conclude that there is a difference in the enjoyment of reality TV show between males and females.

Difference in enjoyment of watching reality TV shows between males and females

According to an article by Wayne (2016), in testing the hypothesis of zero difference between groups, the Chi-square test is often adopted

At a significance level of 0.05, the P-value is 0.000 hence less than 0.05 while the Chi-square value is 48.720. We as a result reject the null hypothesis of no relationship and conclude that there exists a relationship between age and choice of reality TV show.

In testing a non-distribution test between ordinal (age) and nominal (Enjoyment) scale variables, the use of Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficient is used. The Spearman’s coefficient is 0.019, indicating a week relationship since it is 0.01<0.019<0.2. Additionally, we do not reject the null hypothesis at 95% confidence interval since the P-value is 0.739 which is greater than 0.05 and conclude that portrayal of real life behaviors leads to enjoyment of the reality TV shows.

From the tables above, the mean ranks of value of reality shows depicting real life is 127.15 while that of having physically appealing members is 60.15. As a result we can conclude that depicting real life behaviors is more far reaching than having physically appealing members on the shows. In addition, in testing the Null hypothesis, the P-value is 0.000 at a 0.05 level of significance; we as a result reject the null hypothesis and conclude that depicting real life behaviors in the shows is more far reaching than having physically appealing members in the reality shows.

Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test

From the Wilcoxon signed ranks test, the P-value is 0.000 hence less than 0.05 at 95% confidence interval. We reject the null hypothesis and conclude that different age groups have different opinions about the value of physically appealing members on the reality shows.

Discussion and Conclusion

From the results of analysis, the research questions can consequently be answered in that, for instance, having a interrelation with members of a reality show does not necessarily lead to enjoyment of a particular show. Additionally, it seen that there is a difference between the enjoyment of reality shows between male and female where females enjoy reality shows more than females. It is also realized that age is a determining factor in choosing a particular reality show, whereby different age groups tend to have specific preference different from each other. Elsewhere, portrayal of real life behaviors is equally far reaching in the enjoyment of the reality TV shows, Lisa and Elizabeth (2010) attributed it to probably be due to the fact that, “the audience put themselves in various situations as depicted in the shows” and as hence vital that they feel it is almost real if not real. Thus it is not so surprising to find out that portrayal of real life situations is more far reaching to audience than having physically appealing members, this puts into play various aspects such as the thought of realness of the shows. As a result it is crucial to how the audience feel than how they think. In conclusion, various factors are far reaching in consideration of the attitude and integration of reality TV shows to the target audience. Such factors as age, portrayal of real life behaviors and members come into consideration depending on the context i.e. target audience.

According to the findings of the study, audience feel that reality TV shows are not entirely “real”, despite that view however, authenticity is not really effectual in determination of the consumer attitudes towards reality television shows. In order to ensure that incase the executive considers introduction of a new TV show that it is a success and remains relevant, factors such as target audience i.e. age and gender, the members and the setting of the new reality show should be thoroughly considered due to the role this factors play in the enjoyment of Reality TV shows. So, in any case the current programs are short of the factors that lead to enjoyment and are far reaching to the audience, the company should in the end introduce a new show

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