Many programs and series have returned in the current wave of nostalgia dominating television, but very few have succeeded. The Grand Prix did it. This happened in the summer, the time of year with the lowest television viewing, and on a channel, La 1, which has not had its best time in years. “The Grandfather and the Child Program,” as the tune goes, didn’t need major changes in its formula to attract the masses again. What happened that we’re all seeing the popping in the crazy suitcases and the explosions of the hot potatoes this summer?
family entertainment
In a television environment with increasingly fragmented audiences and programming aimed at more and more specific audiences, the major free-to-air channels are still looking (and needing) for spaces that bring mass audiences together. Ultimately, it is his reason for being. After an 18-year absence from TVE, Grand Prix returned to La 1 on 24 July, just a day after the general election. And suddenly whole families were showing up for this white entertainment show, an unpretentious fun that changed for the third time after weeks in which politicians seemed to have hijacked television.
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The premiere of the renewed Grand Prix was seen by 2,572,000 viewers, plus the 635,000 who watched it with a delay (in the seven days following its original broadcast on recording systems or television services in the last operator week). Since then, viewership has declined but is still well above that of other prime-time shows. The first three episodes averaged 2,176,000 viewers and a 24% screen share, according to data from the consultancy Barlovento Comunicación, based on data from the auditor Kantar Media.
One of the stages of the “Grand Prix”. Goyo Conde
The public that doesn’t watch TV
“It’s an accepted lie that young people don’t watch TV. Television was often comfortable, believing that the best way to achieve big-screen ratings was to reach out to older people,” says culture analyst Borja Terán. One of the dates that has most caught the attention of Grand Prix audiences is precisely the very high proportion it achieves among the youngest audiences. 41.3% of children between the ages of 4 and 12 who watched television in the last three Monday evenings did so on the show La 1. The average share of this channel in this age group is a meager 5.3%. For audiences between 13 and 24, the proportion was 31.8% (the chain average for this age group is 8.7%). Although the percentage is very high, according to Barlovento Comunicación, these slots contributed only 136,000 and 132,000 viewers respectively to the overall program. But the interest it’s garnered from the younger audience watching Monday night TV is significant.
One age group that is particularly difficult to reach for traditional television is those between 25 and 44 years old, as this target group is the most likely to choose digital platforms. It was precisely the viewers who called for the return of the Grand Prix: they are the ones who associate childhood memories with the show. Attraction in this slot was 42% and contributed to 677,000 viewers.
From nostalgia to reality
Nostalgia is a strong claim at a time when more television content is being produced than ever before. Restoring titles from the past makes it easier to stand out from the crowd. “But nostalgia is very dangerous, because the memory can be destroyed in the first minute of reunion,” warns Terán. Several bets this summer looked to the past. So much! Like Passwords, they got good audience data, not like Me Slips, which was a public failure. Even Amazon Prime Video has joined in the nostalgia fever with Takeshi’s Castle, formerly known as Yellow Humor in Spain. TVE will continue to ride this wave with the resumption of the Cifras y letras competition, which is already being prepared to be broadcast in La 2 nights.
Nostalgia can be an ally in formats that know how to adapt to changing times, the expert emphasizes. This is the case of Operación Triunfo, which returned to La 1 in 2017, six years after its last broadcast, and will return with an edition on Prime Video before the end of 2023. “The Grand Prix is now more fluid. But before the premiere I saw an old program and it was already very agile, it’s a program that has no expiry date because it has universal values that never go out of style. The slander, the goosebumps are infallible on TV, that was in the 1970s and it’s 2023. It has the power of people’s spontaneity and enthusiasm,” says the analyst.
Michelle Calvó and Ramón García talk to a woman in the stands during the taping of the “Grand Prix”.GOYO_CONDE
handmade creativity
Grand Prix kept the essence of the program as viewers remembered it. The key additions were Cristinini’s commentary, Wilbur’s humorous explanations, and a new mascot, a dinosaur that joins the wrong heifer, all designed to captivate young and childish audiences. But the rest keeps the original style. The new games could have been part of the program 20 years ago and even the animated explanations, in the style of 8-bit video games, refer to the past. “It’s very well put together at the level of creative craftsmanship. They didn’t stick with the LED screens, they did it technically, a dark set… They created the amusement park. They understood that classic television is still modern if done right. In times when technology destroys everything, creative craftsmanship makes us different,” says Terán.
royal company
“The Grand Prix gets everyone to play on an equal footing without looking down on anyone. The participants are ordinary people, but the great peculiarities of our being lie in the ordinary,” says the expert. The stands are also littered with personal stories, childhood memories, families competing together, memories of grandparents watching the show with… Terán recalls some attempts to copy the show and its physical evidence base, such as: . B. Games Without Borders or Wipeout (renamed Guaypaut in Spain), they opted for other profiles of participants, “handsome, over the top people who forget to pay close attention to the reality that society is building,” he points out.
Rappers Arkano, Wilbur and Ramón García, in a moment of tomorrow’s show on Monday.GOYO_CONDE
The participants represent cities with 5,000 to 10,000 inhabitants. Populations with fewer than 50,000 residents contribute just the most viewers, averaging 1,071,000 viewers, compared to 753,000 viewers from populations between 50,000 and 500,000 residents and 352,000 from cities with more than half a million residents. according to Barlovento. In terms of viewership, Castilla y León is the municipality with the largest following of the program (28.4%), followed by Madrid and the Autonomous Community of Valencia (26.4%). It has attracted less interest in the Balearic Islands, where it remains at 12.1%.
Ramona Garcia
The one in Bilbao is the soul of the Grand Prix. “He knows it’s a program to play with, but it gives him the authority that the competition needs,” says Borja Terán. “He controls the set and has this stage attitude that makes sure the set never eats up on him, no matter how big it is. That’s a great virtue of a host who not only knows how to shoot the show, but also recognizes the ins and outs of what’s happening and focuses on that little story that we can relate to and that makes television great.
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