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YouTubers Engage Audience For Reality Show

  • Gigaom, Monday, May 7, 2012 3:18 PM

Along with many other reality shows, NBC's "Escape Routes" features much "blatant" product placement, but also stands out for an "intriguing" level of audience interactivity that includes online competitions, writes Liz Shannon Miller.

Two YouTube-connected onscreen contestants built large virtual teams that have helped them dominate the competition."In the premiere, as contestants struggle to engage their social networks to solve a basic challenge, [the two with the YouTube connection] are shown easily setting up their live feed and interacting with fans," writes Miller.

"If this sort of audience interactivity is the future of reality TV, then casting directors might want to rely heavily on YouTube creators going forward," she writes -- half-seriously, we assume, though it's clear that online expertise can give reality show ratings a real boost.

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