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Street audience of 8.65 million). But ratings aside, what these channels offer advertisers (the lifeblood of commercial television) is their desired demographic on a plate. For example satellite channel Bravo targets the 16-34-year- old C2/D and E male demographic – a perfect arena for advertising razors, beer, mobile phones, sportswear, lads’ mags... In terms of narrowcasting and audiences, the
‘youth’ market, generously referred to as the 16-34 demographic, is seen by broadcasters as both the most desirable – and most elusive. Commercially the youth market is seen as the most desirable to advertisers because they have a high disposable income and are the earliest adopters of new technology (you are far more likely to have an iPhone than your parents). In terms of PSB (Public Service Broadcasting) channels such as BBC3, they are not trying to sell products but rather their whole brand to an audience who will one day be licence fee payers. In an effort to connect with this audience BBC3
has developed a very distinctive documentary style which they have designed with their young (16-34) demographic in mind.
The BBC3 approach Blood Sweat and Takeaways is the follow-
up to the highly successful Blood Sweat and T Shirts series which attracted both popular and critical acclaim, securing a BAFTA nomination in 2008; sending a group of six young people to investigate the true cost of cheap clothing and the impact of globalisation on the developing world. Similarly, Takeaways follows six young Brits to South East Asia to live and work amongst families who work in the food industry. Again the emphasis is on issues of globalisation, exploitation and the human cost of mass food production. Borrowing from the hybrid documentary
form of reality TV, the participants are clearly selected with contrasting backgrounds and attitudes because, like scripted drama,
documentary needs opposing characters, tension and a strong sense of narrative. Manos, a 20-year-old ‘fast food junkie’, establishes his credentials at the outset of the programme by declaring: I don’t know how they produce it, where they produce it, I don’t care. Stacey is introduced as a ‘concerned consumer’
and Jess will ‘only eat meat in the form of a sausage or a burger’. Olu, Josh and Lauren complete the line up. The young Brits are soon stripped of their
highly polished nails and sent to work in one of the leading tuna-producing factories for around 40p an hour. But the pressure of working in the factory soon proves too much and after just 10 minutes Lauren collapses, and Olu pushes Manos through a glass window pane. The dramatic exchanges between them owes as much to Big Brother as it does to traditional documentary modes of representation. The voiceover is a key documentary device
english and media centre | December 2009 | MediaMagazine 11
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