Reality TV

The appeal of reality TV isn’t altogether clear. Whether the contestants are wannabe warblers, world-famous models or ex-royal butlers, the heart of the concept is built on the premise that we enjoy watching how other people live in artificial and frequently abject situations. Rather perversely, we seem to glean satisfaction from seeing people fail, and fail in the most public manner possible.

Still, even the most steadfast critics have to admit they’ve indulged in at least one edited day/audition/jungle moment in a style of programme that has spawned a dozen copies in this country and hundreds worldwide. Anyone who didn’t rub their hands together in child-like glee when ‘Nasty’ Nick Bateman displayed his true colours and was subsequently ousted from Big Brother in 2000 must either have been making a cuppa or must be the man himself (hello, Nick, if you’re reading this).

The figures speak for themselves. 15.7 million viewers tuned in to see Kerry McFadden crowned Queen of the Jungle in the third series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! early last year. To put that into perspective, that’s 62% of the television viewing population. Don’t you lot have anything better to do? In last year’s X-Factor, an incredible 22 million votes were cast via text message, making Simon Cowell that little bit more smug.

It seems that wherever we turn, we’re either being strictly told to come dancing, milk pigs on a farm or become an idol of popular music. It’s no surprise, then, that the bookies have cast a beady, big brotherly eye on this national obsession. Since 2000, the rise of betting on reality TV has, in the words of spokesman Simon Clare at Coral, been ‘astronomic’. Indeed, the key players in the bookmaking world have reported as much as a ten-fold increase in revenue in five years.

So is betting on reality TV a temporary teenage kick that will quickly fade or an Orwellian-inspired death knell for traditional sports betting?

Brotherly love

Paul Petrie, spokesman at Totesport, is among the charge of bookmakers who believes it’s crucial to capitalise on the reality TV market. He says: ‘9.5 million people watched X-Factor and 10.2 million people watched Strictly Come Dancing. Compare that with Arsenal versus Manchester United, which will have about two million viewers, and you can see the possibilities.’ Petrie’s words aren’t just clever PR spin, either. The rise in turnovers for Totesport for I’m a Celebrity… and Celebrity Big Brother in 2003 and 2004 were 8% and 20% respectively. No wonder he’s chasing the new market.

Big Brother 6 hits our screens this summer and even sport-focused specialists such as Total Bet will be getting in on the act.

‘Most of our focus has been on racing and football, so reality TV betting hasn’t been a priority for us,’ admits David Annett, managing director of Total Bet’s online content. ‘But now I look at the profile of casino and poker players and we should probably be broadening out. It’s something that we need to do more of.’

One firm clearly backing the reality TV boom is Blue Square. As well as creating odds on a range of markets, it was one of the first companies, bookies or otherwise, to sponsor such shows. Before acting as X-Factor’s official betting partner, it sponsored Miss World on television back in 2001.

Ed Pownall, Blue Square’s resident PR sage, is adamant that partnerships between reality TV shows and bookmakers will become commonplace. ‘Every show that comes up now is looking for a bookmaker’s content and a betting partner. By that token, the shows are becoming more directed towards betting as well and that can only mean that both of us see it as a genuine growth area,’ he says.

Big Bother

‘Genuine’ growth is all well and good, but doesn’t the unpredictable nature of such shows and the propensity for the producers to change the rules halfway through put off some bookies? It sure does – take Celebrity Big Brother back in January as a case in point. The sudden announcement of a double eviction and the introduction of a new character may have caught the viewers’ attention, but in the betting world, it resulted in markets closing and bets being voided.

Unless the bookies sign deals with the programme makers guaranteeing the format, it’s difficult to see how bookies can truly price up a market. Rupert Adams, spokesman for William Hill, admits his firm has taken some hits. ‘I think the whole concept is susceptible to a bit of inside knowledge. If people are privy to some fairly sensitive information and they understand that bookmakers are taking bets on it, I would like to think they would respect that such information needs to be kept under wraps,’ he says.

Rob Hartnett, outgoing managing director of Betdaq, says uncertainty over the rules undermines the betting. ‘Both traders and punters are a little more cautious than they would otherwise be. Both sides have less confidence and less aggression – and betting is all about confidence and aggression.’

However, the twists and turns of the show can work in your favour, as Simon Clare at Coral points out. ‘From a punting point of view, reality TV is a perfect betting event. I mean, look at Nadia – who would have ever guessed that she would win Big Brother? When you watched the first week of that programme, she was the most irritating, annoying person on it. You would have said, "That woman can’t win, she’s a 33/1 shot." And yet, eight weeks later, she won.

‘You can’t have a better betting event than that. It’s like looking at the start of the football season and saying you’d love Charlton Athletic to win the Premiership. Of course, they won’t; you know it’s going to be one of the Big Three. With these reality TV shows, though, so often it has completely turned around by the time of the final.’

Girls just wanna have fun

Right, so there’s a question mark above reality TV’s head as to whether it can ever operate as a serious betting medium. However, there’s a unanimous vote of confidence in its ability to reach out to new markets, particularly the female clientele. This is notoriously one of the most difficult markets for bookies to reach – after all, how many women fancy spending their Saturday afternoon down the bookie’s, having a tenner on a nag while surrounded by old men with fags in their mouths and crumpled betting slips all over the floor? Okay, we know not all betting shops are like that [and, hey, some women might love that kind of atmosphere anyway – Ed], but you get the picture.

Betting PR adviser Nigel Seeley reckons an influx of women are voting on reality TV shows for two reasons: first, they watch these shows in their millions; and second, they love to vote, which means betting is just one step further to take. Seeley said: ‘It has taken a bit of the ‘old man’ stigma away from betting. We’ve found a lot of women are getting involved, as they’re the main viewers, and we certainly see it as a way of developing that market.’

As a result, more and more women are frequenting the novelty sections of bookie websites and, yes, one or two are even venturing into shops. The run of results in a show such as Big Brother reflects women’s taste – they like blokes to win. Out of the three Celebrity Big Brothers and five Big Brothers that have taken place, how many female winners have there been? One. Okay, two – but does Nadia count?

Bookies such as Blue Square are also aware they need to take advantage of reality TV’s ability as a ‘recruiter’. Pownall explains: ‘Once people have opened a new account to place a bet on X-Factor or I’m a Celebrity… they see they can play poker, casino games and even pick who’s going to die in the next Harry Potter book.’

Spread the love

Even the notoriously niche spread-betting firms are getting a piece of the action. Wally Pyrah of Sporting Index says: ‘We continue to do good business on reality shows, with Big Brother remaining the powerhouse. Obviously, the number of bets are related to the TV ratings. We did great business on Johnny Rotten and John McCririck in I’m A Celebrity and Celebrity Big Brother, and Andy Fordham in Celebrity Fat Club. Only Sporting Index can bet in-running on these shows, such as days until evictions, or until some female flashes her "assets".’ Graham Cowdrey admits Cantor Sport and spread-betting exchange site Spreadfair will also be competing for new clients.

‘Two years ago, for Big Brother 4 we had two clients. Literally. Last year’s series saw us take just under a thousand bets. Still pretty pathetic. ‘However, some of the big boys are putting out some pretty amazing figures on what they’ve taken on Celebrity Big Brother, so punters will have the ability to trade on an exchange when we open a market on Spreadfair. We’re hoping it will be good business this year.’

It looks like reality TV might be a good bet for all bookies for years to come.