Star Gazing

Stars have become more open to participating in celebrity-based TV shows, which provide strong marketing potential and prospects for ancillary revenues.

When thinking about pop-culture figures such as Britney Spears, Donald Trump and Jennifer Lopez, television might not be the first career highlight that jumps into your mind. However, TV has become an increasingly large part of all of their media empires. Numerous celebrities have been harnessing the power of the small screen to further their other interests, whether it’s singing, cooking, athletics or something else.

Broadcasters and viewers have been quite welcoming toward stars’ openness to participating in TV shows. Distributors of celebrity-based programs—with everything from observational documentaries to competition series to biography-focused specials—have been reaping the benefits as well.

But it hasn’t always been so easy to secure a famous face to front your show, declares Jeff Tahler, the senior VP of global content at FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME). “Reality television is still a relatively young genre in the grand scheme of TV programming,” he says. “When it first started going toward celebrity, stars looked at it and said, ‘Is this good for me?’ For a while, celebrities’ managers and agents didn’t fully know whether [reality TV] was a good move or not. At some point, though, celebrities began to realize, ‘If I do a good job, if I put myself out there and I’m likable, whatever it is I do in my everyday life is going to benefit from the exposure.’”

Tahler admits that it’s not right for every celebrity, “but there is a large swath of working actors, actresses, athletes, singers, musicians, that it makes real sense for. It has shown to be an incredible platform for those people to be able to be out there and in front of an audience.”

He cites as examples Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, whose music careers kicked back into high gear after appearing as judges on seasons 10 and 11 of American Idol. He also points to the judging panel at America’s Got Talent, which features, among others, radio shock-jock Howard Stern and comedian Howie Mandel. “Whether it’s Howard getting exposure for his SiriusXM radio show or Howie for his stand-up career, it helps!” Tahler says.

Alongside America’s Got Talent and American Idol, FME’s catalogue includes celeb-centric titles such as The Celebrity Apprentice, The X Factor and Project Runway. These shows are given a boost by being led by the already famous, but, interestingly enough, many of them are also dedicated to helping launch the careers of ordinary people in search of stardom.

FME also has a wealth of titles whose leads have become famous perhaps directly due to their TV exposure, Tahler explains. “There are celebrities that are created because of the [exposure] these shows [provide], the Anthony Bourdains and Jamie Olivers of the world. Jamie didn’t start off as a celebrity, but it would be hard to argue right now that Jamie is not a huge celebrity; same thing with Bourdain.”

STAR SEARCH
The programming mix is similar at Shine International. The catalogue includes series like The Choice, which places stars from all spectrums in the contestant’s seat, and The Shire, a show for Australia’s Network Ten whose cast is quickly becoming nationwide celebrities in their own right. There’s also the MasterChef franchise, with international iterations that boast such well-known names as Gordon Ramsay. Shine also has My Secret Past, a show for Channel 5 in the U.K. in which celebrities share true-life stories about serious subjects that have affected them in their lives.

Indeed, viewers are always eager to get a glimpse into stars’ personal lives and love hearing the backstories straight from the celebrities themselves. This is one reason that reality and bio­graphical shows have been so popular within the celebrity genre, says Sally Miles, the CEO of Passion Distribution. “The Mortified Sessions demonstrates this nicely, as each episode presents a celebrity’s life and personality through their past,” she explains. “The celebrity shares childhood items, from their first love letter to old school reports. I believe this clever format reveals far more about a celebrity than a standard interview-style show.”

Miles admits that for securing international sales it is critical that the celebrity have a global profile. However, she has also seen instances whereby introducing a show into a certain territory has increased the celebrity’s profile throughout that region. “RuPaul is a perfect example of this,” Miles says. “With sales of his Drag Race series going into over 70 territories, Passion has played a big part in making him into the international star that he is. We are now hoping to emulate this success with Travis Wall from All the Right Moves. The So You Think You Can Dance finalist has progressively worked his way up within the industry and is now choreographing for a number of A-listers. Such unique factors play a key role in pushing and selling a personality into a territory.”

Munia Kanna-Konsek, the head of sales at Beyond Distribution, agrees that scoring international slots comes down to more than just star power. “If a program has known celebrities then absolutely practically every territory would go for it,” she says. “If they are unknown then there has to be something that would attract a buyer and the audience. Chuck’s Week Off is a good example for any territory that may not be familiar with Chuck Hughes himself, as he is not a film star or a rock star (although he does rock!). What will engage them is Chuck’s personality and, just as importantly, where he travels to and what he does—you just can’t help but be drawn to him.”

Kanna-Konsek has noticed that celebrity-based programming has a large female following. “Definitely these programs lean towards females, but we are very aware of trying to cultivate programs that are actually geared to co-viewing; women watching but it’s engaging enough for their boyfriend or husband to view as well,” she says.

HOLLYWOOD HEIGHTS
Over at Breakthrough Entertainment, there are series and specials for both genders, according to Nat Abraham, the company’s president of distribution. “Hollywood’s 10 Best and Filmography are more female-skewed; however, Hollywood’s Greatest Mysteries: Movies That Kill and Big Screen Top Ten generally appeal to our broadcasters’ male audiences. Books into Film, which was recently licensed to HBO Central Europe, on the other hand, caters to both women and men.”

Abraham says that Breakthrough’s Hollywood shows tend to appeal to buyers of movies and scripted series, pointing to deals with HBO, Canal+ in Poland and SinemaTV in Turkey. “The films and stars featured in their own programming slates are complemented by our celebrity and Hollywood countdown series.”

Abraham says that it has been a sales advantage to have celebrity-based series that can act as complementary programming around movies and series that feature certain actors. “For example, if a broadcaster is airing a movie featuring Johnny Depp they may choose to air ‘Johnny Depp Performances’ from our series Hollywood’s 10 Best as a preview or prelude to the feature.”

In addition, he has noticed that this type of show attracts the attention of broadcasters from a wide range of territories. While the overall appetite for celebrity programs is strong globally, there are certain territories where the demand is stronger.

“The Italians love celebrity-driven content, but this has to be with top A-listers, mostly American or Italian,” notes Passion’s Miles. “This is also the case in most Spanish-speaking territories, with only world-famous celebrities or people within their own region being of interest. Germany and Norway also tend to be big consumers of celebrity content. Australia likes to embrace celebrity as a brand and build that association with their network.”

Miles says that in many cases celebrity shows offer broadcasters the advantage of attaining higher ratings. “Very often a high-profile celebrity equals a powerful brand that will draw an audience,” she notes. “Celebrities have always ignited public interest and viewers have always been intrigued by their personal lives. This style of show is highly promotable, providing great marketing and publicity opportunities.” 

The brand-building power of a celebrity is unparalleled, giving a network great marketing opportunities and also paving the way for additional revenue streams through product extensions. An example of this is the success of Gordon Ramsay, the star of MasterChef in the U.S. He has a worldwide network of hotels, restaurants, books and products, including pots and pans. There’s a big business around him, with consumer products that bring in millions at retail. 

BRAND MATTERS
FME’s Tahler says he’s seeing large-scale brand-building efforts happening more and more around this type of programming. “When you talk about celebrity, you can’t help but think about the business that they’ve created outside of their television show. There are consumer products and other ancillary pieces; there are digital platforms that can be built off of shows or individuals that we work with. More and more we’re going to be working with these people to do multiplatform development.”

Passion’s Miles agrees that digital platforms have become a key driver for promoting a show and the celebrity at its center. “Dynamo [the star of Dynamo: Magician Impossible] is a perfect example of this with regards to social-media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, which help increase awareness. Sites such as YouTube have also played a massive part in raising his profile.”

Given the wide-scale exploitation of celebrities—from the TV shows to social media to consumer products and more—one begins to wonder whether the audience will soon tire of seeing certain stars. Is there such a thing as celebrity overload?

“I think certain formats have hit a level of saturation, but we will never saturate the audience’s appetite for celebrity, just like the magazines week in and week out on the shelves,” says Miles. “The style of a show and the perspective it provides are key to keeping the interest flowing.”