USA TODAY International Edition
Reality TV is getting down to business
Entrepreneur shows banking on interest in selling new ideas
The business of TV is, increasingly, business.
Entrepreneurship is the star of a growing advise- and- invest reality genre highlighted by ABC’s Shark Tank business competition; a CNBC lineup that looks at a range of businesses; and cable offshoots that focus on technology development ( TBS’s America’s Greatest Makers) and small businesses with limited access to bank loans ( Discovery’s Blue Collar Backers).
Makers and Shark Tank executive producer Mark Burnett ( Survivor, The Voice) says the ingenuity rewarded in these shows reflects the American ethos.
“It’s the most entrepreneurial nation in the world,” he says.
Shark Tank ( Fridays, 9 ET/ PT), which features a panel of business successes deciding whether to invest in budding entrepreneurs, has blossomed on ABC, with reruns ranking as business news- oriented CNBC’s top- rated series. Makers, airing its first- season finale Tuesday, 9 ET/ PT is a multiplatform, Intel- partnered technology competition with a $ 1 million grand prize.
“We’re focused on the tech-maker community and we have something no one else can provide: the brain- power and muscle of Intel,” Burnett says of Makers. “You have the chance to really launch a company.”
Americans have become more familiar with real- world business investment, and that increases viewer interest.
“Entrepreneurship has gotten more sexy,” says Laura Huang, professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “People love to see new ideas and dialogue between the investors and the entrepreneurs.”
Many of the programs, including CNBC’s The Profit and West Texas Investors Club, parallel real- life angel investors in a promising business.
The appeal goes beyond the technicalities of launching a business, says Jim Ackerman, who oversees primetime alternative programming at CNBC. “These shows are about creativity and self- expression,” he says. “They’re happening at a time when there’s more debt within families, more insecurity in your job, less faith in big institutions and a growing emphasis on self.”
CNBC has sharpened the entrepreneurial focus in a range of programs, including Restaurant Startup; Billion Dollar Buyer, which invests in suppliers in the hospitality industry; and West Texas, where financial decisions are made far from Manhattan or Silicon Valley.
CNBC’s upcoming Cleveland Hustles will give entrepreneurs the chance to revitalize a city neighborhood, aided by business experts, with local NBA superstar LeBron James as an executive producer.
The CNBC shows try to go beyond the win/ lose of competition to illuminate the challenges facing successful businesses, even when they have financial backing, Ackerman says. “They are creating real opportunity for people, but there’s the high chance of failure as well.”
Discovery’s Blue Collar Backers, due Aug. 26, focuses on cases where banks reject the majority of loan applications, and promises “a new breed of investors” will offer money and sweat equity to promising proposals.
Backers investor and Cruising Kitchens owner Cameron Davies, a successful maker of food trucks and customized vehicles, knows the challenges.
“Once I had a business that was successful, I have taken my money and started backing these small businesses that can’t go to a bank” for a loan, says Davies.
Could Backers have helped him earlier in his career? “Absolutely 100,000%.”