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What's Your Story Idea? July 23, 2009, 9:00PM EST

Reality TV Reruns: Don't Vote Them Off

The genre's potential in reruns is better than many might expect. But the top reality TV shows aren't the biggest winners the second time around

By Rebecca Reisner

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The idea for "Reality TV Reruns: Don't Vote Them Off" came from BusinessWeek reader Kyle Conner, who lives in Wilmington, Delaware, and works for the Delaware Department of Labor.

In the decade since Survivor set off a TV revolution leading to the birth of Boy Meets Boy, Scott Baio Is 45 and Single, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and some 400 other reality shows, the genre has operated on a straightforward business model: Make shows with production costs low enough to compensate for their lack of earning potential in reruns. Producing a reality show costs about one-third of what a successful scripted show costs.

Nonetheless, the aftermarket value of reality TV shows is not to be dismissed entirely. Viewing patterns suggest that a secondary business model is developing within the reality TV genre in which cheap-to-make cable shows—especially those with complete plot lines within single episodes—have greater rerun potential than expensive sagas from the big networks.

American Idol Redux: Cut to the Chase

For example, the Fox Reality Channel (NWS), which airs a mix of original and acquired reality programs 24 hours a day, does not offer repeats of Survivor, even though the contest show has enjoyed 18 highly rated seasons on CBS (CBS) and recently was named the best reality show of all time by Entertainment Weekly (TWX). "For some of the shows like Survivor that have done extremely well in first runs on network TV, the distributors want a premium on them for reruns, but they have not justified that premium," says David Lyle, president of Los Angeles-based Fox Reality.

Even Fox's American Idol franchise, the most profitable and successful of any scripted or reality show now on TV, may face limitations in the aftermarket. "People are not going to have that much interest in watching an entire season of American Idol for the second time," says Pat McDonough, senior vice-president for insights and analysis at the Nielsen Co., which measures TV ratings.

That's not to say there's no market in Idol reruns. TV Guide Network's Idol Rewind, a show that features clips from old seasons of American Idol along with present-day interviews with past contestants who reminisce about the competition, is faring well. Nielsen data from the first half of 2009 shows that the number of households tuned into Idol Rewind on TVGN was nearly double the number who watched American Idol on Fox Reality Channel. And folks who missed entire seasons or even single episodes of American Idol may be interested in the reruns.

Small Bites for Video Snackers

"Because of 'video snacking,' we have to look at old shows in a different way," says Jack Myers, a media economist at Myers Publishing, an economic consulting firm in New York. In other words, if a three-minute video of Adam Lambert singing Whole Lotta Love catches the interest of a YouTube (GOOG) viewer who missed Season 8 of American Idol, he or she may very well feel compelled to watch the whole season once it's shown in reruns. Or might buy the DVDs.

The potential rerun-value weakness of shows like American Idol and Survivor lies in their lack of suspense, Thompson says. "The least 'rerun-able' reality shows tend to be season-long vote-out shows like Survivor and AI, because once the competition is over, it's over," Thompson says. Daniel Manu, director of the Web site Television Without Pity, which offers episode synopses and message boards for fans of dozens of TV series, agrees.

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