Why is Latin American Television Dominated by Entertainment Programmes - Essay Example

Why is Latin American television dominated by entertainment programmes? Discuss Table of Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 3 Conclusion 8 References10 Introduction The sub region of America is Latin America. The majority of population in Latin America speaks in romance language. In the year 2013, the survey states that Latin America is populated with more than 604 million people. The number of television channels in Latin America is more than 1,500. Latin America constitutes 20 countries. The numbers of TV sets that are sold throughout the 20 countries in Latin America are more than 60 million. This determines the huge ratio of population that is dominated by the use of television. The average percentage of people paying TV channels to view most watched movies, series and children shows. The percentage of viewers who are paying for TV channels increased drastically to 22% from the year 2008 to 2010. There are many countries influenced with the contents available in the digital media like television. Though there might not be proper contents available in the broadcast of television programme but people are prone to watch entertainment channels in their leisure time drastically. This essay will discuss about the reasons that lead to dominance of entertainment channels in Latin America. Discussion The demand of amusement and entertainment in people increased as a result of leisure time that people had after the industrial revolution. Before industrial revolution people had more work and they required proper rest so that they could overcome the physical exhaustion. After the world increased a step towards modernization physical activities became low and there was more of mental pressure rather that physical pressure. Hence in order to calm down the mental exercise media and entertainment channels became one of the most common medium to reduce the amount of stress gained in daily life. Moreover the leisure time that people have in the modern world is more compared to social life in the nineteenth century and before. Latin Americans are more prone to television compared to people of other societies. In Latin America the interference of social media through internet is not much compared to other parts of world. People residing in Brazil, Mexico and other Latin American countries are more dependent on Television compared to other forms of media. Computers are not commonly used as a medium of entertainment. The population of Latin America is mostly influenced by academic field of television and studies. Portuguese and Spanish is the most common language used in the Latin America. Latin American people because of speaking different language other than English are more reliable on television broadcasts rather than using internet (Miller, 2003, p.38). There are many channels that provide different type of entertainment programmes for the people of Latin America. There are about 500 million people who are influenced by the entertainment programmes broadcasted by different channels. Entertainment programmes available in television have become an important institution for the people of Latin America because of greater effect of linguistic and cultural consistency. Some of the entertainment channels that have become famous in this region are Sony Entertainment Television and E Entertainment Television. Sony Entertainment Television has started broadcasting in Latin America from the year 1995. Since then Sony is one of the most wanted channels among the people. This channel gained its popularity by broadcasting different types of reality shows in their local language. Because of lack of acceptance towards English the people of Latin America have shown greater interest towards this channel. The programmes available in this channel are mostly soaps and serials; there are many seasonal series available in many programmes. Moreover Sony Entertainment also broadcasts movies in Spanish and Portuguese language. HBO and AXN are other examples of entertainment channels which dominates the Television broadcasting industry. Apart from the channels that have been mentioned there are other local channels that are loved by the people of Latin America. Salsa is a kind of art that is very famous in the Spanish culture. People of Latin America get to see some reality shows of their favourite dance art. People in leisure time like to see the championship programmes and due to a common taste of people in the entertainment programmes it is easier for the broadcasting industry to determine the programmes that grabs more interest of people. Keeping these factors in mind the channel directors of different channels engaged in developing programmes that could get more attention of people and hence the entertainment programmes were developed in such a way that they could bring forward the cultural interests of people in front of them. Some of the important programmes broadcasted by Sony Entertainment in Latin America are Agent of SHIELD, America’s Next Top Model, The Blacklist, Desperate Housewives, Everybody Loves Raymond, Felicity, Grey’s Anatomy and several others. These are some of the entertainment programmes that have dominated the Sony Entertainment channel in a drastic way. The producers and directors also try to make most profit out of these famous programmes (Rogers, 2009, p.81). The dependency of people in these programmes are quite observant because it has been observed that people even have a tendency to delay important schedules so that they don’t have to miss any episode. Sony Entertainment is not the only channel that has been able to grab the interest of people; there are several other channels as well. MTV Brazil is another channel that is famous for music and soaps. MTV also broadcasts some reality shows in the local language which provides interest in viewers. The marketing of these channels is done in such a way that viewers are completely attracted towards their favourite programmes. MTV has been entertaining people of Latin America for more than 20 years. It is one of the most wanted channels in Brazil because the artists in the programmes are mostly from there and the culture of Brazil is particularly observed in the soaps and serials. E! Entertainment Television is also one of the most important channels that dominate the television broadcasting industry (Shaw, 2005, p.17). This channel broadcasts many entertainment programmes that are liked by people. The most important factor behind people liking towards the channel is the local language delivery in the shows. Most of the reality shows are hosted by the Latin American people only and famous actors from different movies and serials are invited in order to entertain viewers in their ethical ways. The culture of Latin America is displayed with a positive factor and this gives audience a common interest towards the programmes broadcasted. E! Entertainment Television is has grown famous in recent times because of three night talk shows which are comedy programmes. Chelsea Lately, The Soup and After Lately are the three most entertaining programmes broadcasted by the channel. These three programmes make people laugh because of their humorous activities. The directors understand the need of viewers and display the television shows in such a way that they can make most profit out of it. In Latin American culture entertainment programmes is dominant not only because of viewers it is also the television broadcasting people who are responsible behind it. As already discussed the production and distribution companies are mainly based in Latin America. Most of the broadcasting channels in United States have their main production unit in Latin America (Cole, 2006, p.52). This factor has helped the Television and broadcasting industry to dominate the economy of Latin America. Moreover due to high availability of the production unit people in Latin America get more benefits from the Television and broadcasting industry. This has resulted in high dominance and interest of people of Latin American countries towards entertainment media. The significance of entertainment programme in viewers is because of the participation of local people in reality shows. Because of the presence of production unit in Latin American countries, many viewers are able to participate in reality shows. As a result of this friends and neighbours of participants acquire interest towards the reality shows and entertainment channels this in-turn leads to public interest and interference in the television programmes. This is a positive development strategy implemented by the production unit. Games and sports are also part of entertainment programme in Latin America. Football is one of the most important sports in Latin America. Most of the countries of Latin America participate in football as a result there are many fans in the following countries. Countries like Argentina, Mexico, and Uruguay etc. have their own football teams and there are numerous audiences supporting these teams hence the channels involved in sports dominate a huge population in Latin America. Sports channels have been the most important channels that have dominated public interests. It has been the most important medium for entertainment media. People of Latin America are prone to football matches and contests related to these matches. Brazil is one of the countries that have one of the most famous football teams in Latin America. Due to this factor there are many supporters of Brazil. Brazil also has a production unit that broadcasts football matches and news related to these matches; hence it results in public interest towards the channel broadcasting the shows and the programmes. Movies in Latin America are also an important mode of entertainment. Most of the channels broadcast movies in the local language which results in dominance towards television industry. Channels like HBO, AXN, and E! Movies broadcast movies 24 hours. This results in interest of each and every person during leisure time. Movies are not only a mode of interest in Latin America. It is also an important medium in other countries (Esgate, 2013, p.29). In United States most of the star casts compose movies. Digital television has been an important medium for interest for public in many countries. From the year 1995, there has been a revolution in television broadcasting industry. As a result of this revolution the sale in television has increased with huge effect. The number of people involved in the media promotion and marketing also understand the interest and need of people in this sector. Entertainment programmes are now-a-days developed in such a way that they can obtain maximum support from consumers. There are many programmes that are regulated by public opinion. For an example Salsa is a form of dance in Latin America. It is produced in such a way that people can vote for their own nominees and make them win the contests. These are some of the techniques that are adopted by Television broadcasting unit. Because of these factors entertainment programmes have dominated public interest in Latin America. Conclusion It is clear from above discussion that the Latin American Television industry has been dominated by several entertainment programmes due to several reasons. First of all, it is the culture of the people of Latin America that influences several production houses to plan for entertainment programmes. People of Latin America always love football, several reality shows, dance programmes and family dramas which are the source of joy and entertainment. Salsa and samba are the major traditional cultural dances that are practiced and followed by people of Latin America. Most importantly it is the love for own tradition and culture that motivates the production houses o present and broadcast several dance programmes. Spanish and Portuguese are two major traditional languages that are considered by people of Latin America while speaking with each other. Therefore, several TV channels consider broadcasting the TV programmes and family dramas in Spanish and Portuguese languages in order to meet the demand of the viewers. Soccer is one of the popular sports among the people of Latin America. Each and every individual loves to watch soccer games in Television due to huge popularity, familiarity and tradition. Therefore, the government of Brazil, Argentina and other leading Latin American countries motivate several sports channels to broadcast live and memorable matches in television in order to target more number of viewers. Entertainment programmes have played a major role in the growth of television industry in Latin American countries. These are the major reasons behind the dominance of entertainment programmes in television industry in Latin America. References Miller, T., 2003. Television. London: Sage. Esgate, P., 2013. The Definitive Guide to Entertainment Marketing. London: Routledge. Rogers, E., 2009. Entertainment-Education. New York: Springer. Cole, R., 2006. Communication in Latin America. New York: Ashgate. Shaw, L., 2005. Pop Culture Latin America. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Read More