Programmes, formats and audiences

The essentials

Television offers many programme formats, each with its own structure and purpose. Channels design programmes for particular audiences and schedule them at times when those audiences are most likely to watch.

Key points

• News and current affairs: bulletins, debates and discussions.
• Talk shows and interviews: conversation with guests in front of an audience or camera.
• Soap operas and serials: continuing stories over many episodes, often family dramas.
• Reality shows: unscripted or partly scripted shows with ordinary people or celebrities, including talent contests.
• Game and quiz shows: contestants compete for prizes.
• Documentaries: factual programmes on real people, places or issues.
• Children's, educational and religious programmes, music shows, sports coverage, cookery and travel shows.
• Prime time is the evening period when the largest number of people watch television.
• Niche channels target special interest groups such as children, sports fans or a language community.
• Audience measurement uses ratings to estimate how many people watch a programme; ratings strongly influence what channels produce and what advertisers pay.

Exam tips

Match an example to its format and identify the target audience. Questions may ask why a channel schedules a programme at a certain time.

Common mistakes

A documentary is factual and based on reality; a drama serial, even if inspired by real life, is fiction.