SBS just gave Aussie TV networks a lesson
The SBS broadcast of Eurovision: Australia Decides used a game-changing device. If Australian commercial networks don’t follow, they’ll be dead in the water, writes Cameron Adams.
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Something incredible happened on television on Saturday night.
It wasn’t just the fact that ten Australian musicians performed ten original songs live on TV and hundreds of thousands of people were watching (Saturday night is a TV ratings wasteland) and engaging positively on social media.
Although, that was pretty damn good, especially considering commercial TV think Australians only want to see karaoke covers in prime time.
No it was the fact that Eurovision: Australia Decides was a live TV program with a live phone voting component and the winner was decided and announced ON THE SAME NIGHT.
Remarkable. Not a week later. Not a day later. On the same bloody night as the show started.
It’s almost as if we have the technology to let people watch a performance, pick up their phone, text in a vote, and then there’s like some new fandangled whizbang computer program that can instantly tally that vote and — in real time — those votes can be counted and the results can be worked out without having to wait a week.
RELATED: Eurovision: Australia Decides results
Remember those ridiculous time-lags on shows like Dancing With the Stars? Someone would dance, you’d vote, but then that vote would carry over to the next week’s show, and the judges would vote on the performance from that night and mix it all up. An absolute dog’s dinner.
More than ever, TV needs to be instant and in the moment. We want the results now. There’s too many other mediums competing for our attention.
With Australia Decides we got to watch the ten finalists (only Eurovision diehards had gone on line to watch the songs in advance, even though they could do that and vote for 24 hours ahead of when the show aired on TV) live on Saturday night and then found out Kate Miller-Heidke was going to Tel Aviv that night. There was no waiting around for a week while votes were counted. This is not a federal election.
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It’s the way UK reality shows work. The British version of Dancing With the Stars, Strictly Come Dancing, takes a 30 minute break after the performance show (another program airs) and it comes back with a results show.
Australian reality TV likes to dragggggg things out but we’re now in a Netflix world where we’re able to even skip opening credits of TV shows because we get bored sitting through 30 seconds.
So don’t make us wait a week to tell us the results of a phone vote you’ve just charged us 55 cents to make. Australia Decides has demonstrated that it can be done and dusted on the night.
Imagine how much more exciting live TV shows like I’m a Celebrity or the rebooted Dancing With the Stars will be with a live public vote — text in now and you’ll see the result shortly (once you sit through these tedious Clive Palmer ads) not tomorrow or next week.
SBS have changed the game when it comes to live phone voting.
Now, we just need someone to tell us *exactly* how much of those phone votes go to the celebrity’s chosen charity on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here......
Cameron Adams is a News Corp national music writer.
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