Audience Consumption of Documentaries - 28th November

With advances in the internet and the introduction of web 2.0, the means for people to interact with the internet, it has become possible for audience’s to both view documentaries and any other film online as well as upload their own productions. This has made way for all manner of amateur documentaries to be broadcast online where everyone can view them for free. Operating the same principle many broadcasters such as Channel 4 and the BBC have developed an online database of television programs to be watched at the leisure of audiences. The BBC iplayer and Channel 4’s on demand service enable viewers to access an online database of programs from the previous week. This grants documentaries alongside other genres a wider audience as viewers who may have missed a program in the week can view it online for free.

This alongside the more traditional ways of consuming visual broadcast media such as films and television via the television, in cinema’s or on DVD and VHS has given all genres including documentaries a much a wider reception from audiences whether they seek a hand held camera view of life in Ethiopia or whether they have missed the latest Panorama.

Despite all the advances in online viewing of media, television is still the most accessible and therefore popular method for audiences to consume documentaries. The rise in free view, sky and other providers of digital television has increased the number of specialist channels for reality TV, Historical documentaries, nature programs and most other genres. This has inevitably increased the number of documentaries being produced and consumed.

Below I have taken a typical weekday in a programs listings magazine (the Radio Times) and have highlighted when documentaries are broadcast both on terrestrial television and on digital channels to investigate whether there are any patterns in when and on what channels documentaries and more specifically investigative documentaries are broadcast.



Page 107

As we can see from the morning schedules for terrestrial television, documentaries feature very little with two traditional documentaries and a number of reality and home improvement programs. This is due to the audience of day time TV predominantly being mothers looking after kids at home as with the stereotypical family it is often the man who is out at work at this time. Therefore broadcasters aim their programs more toward an audience of women and children at this time.



Pages 108 and 109

The evening gives way to more documentaries with the majority of investigative more educated documentaries such as Andrew Marr’s The Making of Modern Britain. Over all five channels documentaries are featured, however as we can see it is predominantly the BBC that broadcast more investigative, educated pieces.



Pages 110 and 111

As we move onto the digital channels we can immediately see an increase in the number of documentaries even on the general digital channels as opposed to the more specialist channels on the next page. Once again the BBC channels feature more documentaries with BBC4 featuring three educated and investigative documentaries for more mature audiences, as BBC3is aimed mainly at teenagers. More 4 also feature a number of documental programs but are less investigative for example Grand Designs.



112 and 113

Once again as we move onto the more specialist digital channels we can see the rapid increase in the amount of documentaries broadcast. As these channels are split into categories, i.e. the History channel or the Natural geographic channel, it is self evident which channels will broadcast which type of documentary. However only a few investigative documentaries are featured in these channels as they predominantly broadcast programs specific to their genre.

Having analysed the days listings I have become aware of the patterns in the broadcasting of documentaries. They are predominately featured in an evening on digital television as terrestrial channels broadcast a variety of programs more appealing to the majority of people. In the digital channels documentaries are split between channels that showcase pieces of that specific genre i.e. Good Food featuring food based documentaries. BBC4 however broadcasts a number of investigative pieces aimed at a more mature and educated audience and it is for this channel that I shall create my piece.

I chose BBC4 as it is also linked to the BBC online database, iplayer, unlike most of the other digital channels increasing my perspective audience numbers.

I will now go on to watch and analyse a number of extracts from existing documentaries to gain further understanding on how the conventions I have researched are applied to professional pieces of all scales of production.