Madeline Gergen

Blog # 2         

            Almost all of the theories learned in Television studies can be used to describe a new talent television show called “The Voice”. The show is on ABC channel and is obviously networked by an extremely powerful base. The show, unlike well known American Idol, offers a different atmosphere, in that each contestant is only judged by their voice (not their appearance),it offers several different ways for the audience to interact with the show, but does not allow the viewers to vote.  This show, in my opinion practices the theories of affective economics, flexible microcasting, neoliberalism and cultural citizenship.

            Affective economics a term coined by Henry Jenkins is the “new scope of conditions in advertising strategies evolving as a result of the changes in the television industry.” Affective economics determines where a product is placed in a television event. “The Voice” is a talent show just like American Idol, but what is different about this show? “The voice” not only places the product in the show through the judges holding a Coca-Cola cup, but they are also signed with I-tunes, target and beats by Dre, a new headphone that offers the perfect sound.  As you can see a lot of products are being placed through out the show, but this show unlike any other, goes even further with their advertising. As a contestant auditions for the show, the audience whether at home or in the real audience, can download and buy the song that they just heard on I-tunes, After the talent is judged and the person who had auditioned made the “team”, their whole outfit that they were wearing is showed on the television, and the host tells the audience how much this outfit would cost at Target. Each contestant, after making a team, is given beats by Dre head phones. As you can see, through technology and television enhancements, the way that products are being advertised today has changed immensely. Not only does this show use affective economics but they also bite into what is called flexible microcasting.

            Flexible Microcasting, a term that was coined by parks, is “where computer and television technologies are combined to produce the effect of enhanced viewer choice in the form of a stream of programming, carefully tailored to the viewers preferences, tastes and desires.” This show, along with many others can be tailored to what people prefer and like. What I think is an impact for this show, is that people can rewind and fast forward through each audition they do not like or do not wish to hear. This flexible microcasting was not available when American Idol was big on the television. The audience had to sit through the bad auditions and were so tired of the bad ones, they didn’t want to watch the good auditions. Due to this flexible microcasting, the network behind “The Voice” came up with the idea to stream the auditions online at any time because the audience doesn’t have a say in the vote until the last episode. The idea of having a show with talent that doesn’t need the audience’s vote, was a smart one. Due to the enhancement in television technologies, people can watch the singers at any time, any where on their computer and may miss the “audience vote” time but it doesn’t matter. I think that the networks behind this show were able envision how they wanted their show to not be affected by these new technologies, therefor made it so the audience could not vote.  Each viewer of this show is not only participating by watching, but they are also interacting with each other, whether it be on the social networks  ‘twitter’ or ‘Facebook.’ With this use of a social network, individuals are also creating their own cultural spheres and participating within that sphere as the consequence of watching this show. The industries can use these ‘tweets’ or ‘posts’ to see when the audience is watching this show and for how long.

            This show also taps into “culture citizenship” and “neoliberalism.” Culture citizenship “promotes respect for cultural differences against homogenization.” This show, unlike any other talent show, allows people from countries all around the world to participate and audition. In my opinion, this brings in more viewers and definitely promotes respect for those who have different cultural backgrounds. One example of this practice is that one of the judges of the show was Shakira, a well known singer from Colombia. A plethora of contestants sing in Spanish or German, and bring in those audiences that have different cultures. This cultural citizenship is “measured by participation in cultured spheres,” meaning, individuals who do not even live in America are watching this show and participating in the buying of the music and the shopping of the outfits offered etc.

            All of these theories of televisions studies can be seen as being used by different networks. The obvious point of all of this is that ABC, like other networks is trying to build a conglomeration by offering advertisements and licensing through I tunes, target and Beats by Dre. The way we view television is always going to be changing, and the networks need to for-see these changes and make alterations, so that they are never losing profit. I believe that one day the audience will get around ads as a whole and advertisers and networks behind commercials will have to find a way to show ads. Maybe someone will come up with interactive commercials in the future and change the way television is viewed for good.