‘THE REAL’ DEAL

Daytime t alker has 2020 vision

DAYTIME talk show “The

Real” has been renewed for two more seasons, taking it through 2020 — and, perhaps, beyond.

“It’s a huge relief because I’ve always considered this ‘The Little Show That Could,’ ” says executive producer Rachel Miskowiec. “We’re on live at 11 a.m. in New York [on WNYW/Ch. 5], which is 8 a.m. here [in LA], so the co-hosts show up very early. They’re here at 4 a.m. They play to win every day.” [“The Real” airs live on the East Coast Monday-Wednesday and live-to-tape Thursday and Friday.]

Since launching nationally in 2014, after a seven-market summer tryout in 2013, “The Real” has steadily gained viewers and increased its social media footprint with co-hosts Adrienne Houghton, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai and Tamera Mowry-Housley — no mean feat in a cluttered daytime landscape that’s not conducive to long-term success.

Since 2010, for example, 23 new talk shows have premiered in daytime, but only “The Real” and “Steve Harvey” have lasted at least four seasons. “The chemistry between the women is an undeniable gift,” Miskowiec says. “They’re truly friends; they hang out on weekends, see each other on break and send the funniest group texts, which would blow your mind.

“But I think what’s ultimately different about [the show] is that we’ve got the youngest audience in daytime,” she says. “The live shows this year have allowed the girls to interact with the audience ... and have given us a point of view we may not have had before. It’s opened up a dialogue between us and our audience which didn’t exist before.” Miskowiec also points to the show’s digital footprint as vital to its growth — it had over 12 million social interactions (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) last season.

“We’re second only to ‘ Ellen,’ who’s the Holy Grail [in social media],” she says, alluding to Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show. “Hitting 1 million users on Instagram was my goal last season and we hit it on the first day of taping last fall. We just passed 1 million YouTube hits in December. Everyone is second-screening these days, and some of our audience isn’t watching the show on TV at all — they’re interacting with us through YouTube or Instagram.” (Even the show’s pet fish, Fernando, has over 11,000 followers on Instagram.)

Miskowiec says that knowing “The Real” has at least two more seasons on the air means she can try some new things. “I’d like us to continue in the same vein ... maybe have the co-hosts go out into the field more and surprise viewers in their homes and get a little more splashy in terms of getting out in the world,” she says. “But what we’re doing now is working, and I have no desire to change what’s working.”

And that includes keeping the four-host format. (Original co-host Tamar Braxton left “The Real” after its second season and was never replaced.) “We feel good with the four co-hosts we have, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have guest co-hosts,” she says. “We did a week with ‘Boss Ladies’ this season and we did ‘Man Crush Monday.’

“We consider the viewer the fifth person at the table.”