That TV risks less and less is evident. The networks, in a time of television fragmentation and more divided consumption, play it safe and usually get it right. The audience prefers what is known and does not give many opportunities to what is new. Perhaps that is the explanation why the most followed programs today are the usual ones. Formats that we know how to work. Even with those presenters who are already almost faces of the family. It is, in short, seeing what we are used to following.
«Production companies are experiencing a crisis of creativity. Their R&D departments cannot find new formats that catch on with the audience and that is why they resort to traditional programs, which they already know have worked on other channels or other countries,” explains the strategy director of the consultancy Dos30', Álex. Corner. «They do not want to invest in something new that they are not sure will give them success and, therefore, profitability. “They are on a winning horse,” he adds.
This is the case of 'The Island of Temptations', which ends its seventh season on Telecinco tonight (10:50 p.m.) as one of the most competitive programs on general television. The one from Mediaset was going through a sour moment with respect to the audiences, dropping to third position in the monthly classification, behind La 1. But the 'reality show' presented by Sandra Barneda reconnected with the public, improving its brands with respect to the previous season: the couples' final bonfires were followed a week ago by more than 1.4 million viewers (17.8% share). Something similar happened with the new 'Survivors'. The return of Jorge Javier Vázquez catapulted the network's numbers to 21.7% share and 1.6 million followers.
On Antena 3, the leading television, they continue to win with formats from past decades, such as 'Pasapalabra', 'El hormiguero' or 'La roulette de laluck'. 'The challenge' also beats the competition on Friday nights, while waiting for 'Your face sounds familiar', another of the most veteran and competitive spaces on television.
On the contrary, other more recent newly created bets on television have not had the expected support. 'Dance as you can', the original TVE dance competition produced by Zeppelin, premiered with a 7.1% share and just over half a million viewers. In its second installment, the public channel's space collapsed to 5.5% audience and just 402,000 viewers. 'The Best Ever' didn't work on Friday night either. Its minimum share was 3.3%, behind La 2, which forced TVE to relegate it to late night.
The future of television
However, the expert does not believe that this phenomenon and the absence of original programs will affect television in the future. «It is not bad for TV because these programs have an audience. People demand them. Tomorrow, when this crisis of creativity passes and new formats emerge, the grids will be revitalized again and we will have new wisdom,” he explains.
The truth is that, despite the doomsayers, linear TV is still alive and without signs of exhaustion. 84.2% of viewers' audiovisual consumption belongs to linear television (78.4% follows it free-to-air and 5.8% on pay channels), while the rest, 15.8%, is from the platforms on-demand content, where Netflix dominates (4.8%), followed by YouTube (4.1%) and Prime Video (2.3%), according to a report by Dos30' based on official data from Kantar media.
“The lack of creativity is not going to affect the health of free-to-air TV, far from it,” insists Álex Rincón, who also extends this phenomenon to OTT, with formats such as 'Operación Triumph', 'Sálvese que puede' or 'Peking Express', programs known to the general public and which pose less risk when launching products.
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