Initial Research Into Lifestyle TV

Lifestyle TV Case Study

Importance of a Presenter
Gok Wan's TVshows rely on his role as presenter to attract a TV audience. This is because he is exremely well known among generations which will attract people to watch his programmes- whether as critics or fans. His primary audience is mainly females which are young adults and older. This is because his programmes focus on transforming a female and restoring their confidence- which all females desire. Not only is Gok Wan adored by many fashionistas, he is also looked up to as an influence and a role model- which will attract a large TV audience. He is a representative of a male whom has suffered personal experiences involving obesity, racism and homophobia, which means people may relate to him and look up to him for support. Therefore they will faithfully watch his TV shows. This shows how a presenter who has a large influence over many different people attracts a TV audience. People may view the presenter of a show as their idol and stay faithful to watching each programme. If a presenter was someone that an audience couldn't relate to its likely that the viewing numbers would decrease.

Lifestyle TV Categories:

• Food
• Gardening
• Health
• Parenting
• Interior
• Travel
• Hobbies
• Nature

An audience for four of these categories may be:

• Food- Housewives and chefs because housewives may want inspiration for different meals and chefs will enjoy trying new creations which they have come across on a TV programme. Depending on the type of food programme a different audience will view it. For example 'Jamie's Money Saving Meals' may be watched bu univeristy students or families with less income (C and below demographic categories) because both want to save money and have a restricted budget.
• Gardening- A niche audience of gardners and those interested in the outside world. This is because the category is specifically tailored for the hobby of gardening and so those interested in gardening will watch programmes associated with it.
• Health- People in a medical profession or people suffering from health issues because a health related programme will offer knowledge and advice for them to practice.
• Parenting- Parents, mostly mothers. This is because mothers are more known to bring up the child and be more maternal than nales. Males traditionally, and stereotypically, work whilst the female looks after the child and so parenting programmes would be more commonly watched by females. In terms of the 'Uses and Gratifications' theory females would use parenting programmes as surveillance because they are learning useful information from the programme. Also females may use the programmes to help their personal identity by learning common values and beliefs that mothers share.

Channels
A lot of Lifestyle programmes are shown on Channel 4 and E4. This is because  they are less serious than institutions such as the BBC and ITV and so allow for more personal and relatable programmes- which Lifestyle is.

Magazine Shows
Lifestyle programmes are often called 'Magazine Shows'. This is because the address similar issues  the magazine address such as parenting and fashion. Also magazines are produced for niche audiences that enjoy a particular subject- as is Lifestlye TV.