Within the age of Peak TV, when 1000’s of reveals compete for scores throughout tons of of platforms, there are not any immunity idols. However for 45 seasons and counting, Survivor has by no means been voted off the island.
Although linear TV doesn’t ship the numbers like Survivor’s Season 1 finale in 2000, which drew greater than 51 million dwell viewers, based on the Wall Avenue Journal, the collection is discovering new audiences on streaming TV, with viewership of the primary two installments of Survivor 45’s new 90-minute episodes rising 83% when in comparison with the primary two episodes of Season 43.
For Survivor’s host and showrunner Jeff Probst, the rationale for the present’s longevity and success is straightforward: “We simply stored adapting.”
“Initially, you don’t know you’re going to be doing 45 seasons, so that you don’t suppose that means,” Probst mentioned lately at Adweek’s Convergent TV Summit West. “As a substitute, I’ve at all times mentioned—not less than in my time as showrunner—to get to Season 24, we obtained to get by means of Season 23, so let’s simply make Season 23 nice.”
Jeff Probst explains how Survivor prevented a product placement failure:
Nonetheless, the street to greatness wasn’t at all times clean. For example, throughout the Adweek panel, Probst defined how the collection prevented a significant product placement failure in Season 1 with Budweiser. The present was providing one chilly beer as a reward, and contestants weren’t joyful.
“We go, ‘Oh my god. The sponsors are right here!’ As we speak, we’d say, ‘Positive, keep there. Don’t play. We don’t actually care. See you at Tribal Council.’ There’s no holding us hostage now,” Probst mentioned. “However the present had not even aired.”
Conserving the hearth burning
Regardless of any hiccups alongside the way in which, Survivor solid forward, including new twists to maintain the collection thrilling for gamers and viewers, not less than till Season 40: Winners at Struggle.
Probst mentioned Season 40 was at all times “designed to be the top” of the outdated format, because the host felt the collection’ artistic was “finished.”
“The gamers have been simply too subtle. They understood the sport,” Probst mentioned. “In reality, once I wrote the very first remedy for Survivor 41, it began with, ‘The blood of the final battle,’ and that we have been going to begin episode one in all Season 41 with some pictures we had of the oldest shelter in Survivor 40 with the hearth burning out.”
Although the unique plan wasn’t adopted after the pandemic delayed manufacturing, the present in the end got here again in Season 41 with new artistic, as gamers competed in a slimmed-down 26-day problem as an alternative of the same old 39-day sport; nevertheless, Probst additionally observed an viewers change as effectively.
