Reality TV: Has it Become a Form of Gambling

Reality TV shows have become a fact of life. If you watch any TV, you will have at least one favorite reality show. They range from man versus man (or woman) in physical contests, to skill contests, to job skills to weight loss. The current crop of reality shows - including the high-dollar game shows that are put on during prime-time, such as like Deal or No Deal, 1 vs. 100, Set for Life and the singing shows - have a very similar theme. How do we as a network get you the viewer to pay for our show so that we get to keep all the advertising dollars?

I first began to wonder about these shows when reading the play at home games that many of them have, such as Deal or No Deal where you can text in a guess on your cell phone for a fee of 99 cents and have a chance at the lottery drawing at the end of the show. I may not be the brightest light in the lamp but if they have 50,000 people or more text in this has got to be a money maker. The text underlying company just made $50,000 in less than an hour. The show has to be sharing in this profit and 50,000 participants is probably pretty low.

This type of game has the appeal of the lottery. When taken to the next level those numbers become great for marketing the very products to these same people. So these people who text the show become a valuable mailing list for the company to sell and use.
Shows like Top Chef and Top Design, may not have the same following but the people who text into these shows are ripe to be marketed to by these companies. The demographics are very precise.