Bravo

Bravo: Bringing Art to the Mass Market

by Lucas Alvarez and Peter DiPrinzio

I. Industrial Analysis

History

Bravo was originally envisioned as an upscale cable network with programming focused on the arts. It was created in 1980 as part of the Cablevision’s Rainbow Media group. For the first 20 years of its history, Bravo programmed mainly movies, specializing in foreign, independent and classic movies. Although it suffered mediocre ratings, it was marketed as and became known for a niche station for the arts. In the nineties it expanded to include some original arts-focused programming of its own, such as Inside the Actors Studio.

In 2002 NBC bought Bravo from Cablevision for $1.25 million, which fundamentally shifted the channel’s focus. At this time, Bob Wright, NBC programming director, said Bravo would remain a “specialized network with upmarket artsy programming,” but would include some repurposed content from NBC. However, less than a year later NBC was aggressively promoting its reruns on Bravo and broadcast TV and Bravo decided to produce its first reality show: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. NBC moved one of its executives, Jeff Gaspin, to lead Bravo’s programming division and he made the channel’s new direction clear: to “continue with arts and entertainment programming” but to “add a dash of style and pop-culture programming.”

Bravo executives were not motivated to make this shift by style trends, but rather economics. The network had only been averaging a 0.3 Nielsen rating during primetime before the shift and NBC wanted to make more money from its new asset by reaching a larger market. Bravo began to program original reality shows with an artsy twist, such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and later Project Runway to expand its popularity. This strategy worked well to boost ratings and NBC executives even moved later seasons of Queer Eye to broadcast television on NBC. Also, Bravo programmers began running more second-run syndicated shows from NBC and other networks, such the West Wing. Some re-runs like Kingpin featured language and alternate endings not shown on NBC, which they called the “director’s cut.” Since this shift, Bravo has continued in the direction of more mainstream programming, focusing on reality TV and docutainment. 

Ownership and Conglomeration

Bravo is owned by NBC Universal Cable, a division of NBC Universal. NBC Universal is a large, wide-reaching media conglomerate owned 80 percent by General Electric. NBC Universal was created in 2004 when NBC merged with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, expanding NBC from a broadcast network and a few cable channels to include theme parks, film studios, television production and even more cable channels. This large conglomerate allows for synergy and sharing of resources among divisions, so that TV and movie characters can be used in theme parks or TV shows produced by an in-house studio.

However, in recent months Comcast has agreed to purchase a majority stake in NBC Universal from GE. Although the merger is pending FCC approval, this would potentially give Comcast control over a singular content and distribution network. This would concentrate the control of a wide variety of mediums from providing internet and television to creating, distributing and transmitting television and cable content, to theme parks and Hulu etc. Critics contend this could lead to favorable treatment of affiliated content and hurt competition by giving new conglomerate an unfair advantages.

Target Audience

At its base, Bravo’s main target audience consists of men and women in the ranges of eighteen to forty-nine and twenty-five to fifty-four years of age. This is consistent with the effort to rejuvenate its audience since its opening as a ‘highbrow’ channel. According to the 2008 Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB) profile, viewers average an annual household income of $61, 342 and are a median of 43 years old. 73% of this audience owns a home and 76% have a computer with internet access.  Other figures suggest this target audience is well educated, technologically adept, and well traveled.
While it is true that titles such as Queer Eye, Project Runway, and Boy Meets Boy, imply a focus on a gay male audience, Bravo actually tries to steer itself towards a female audience between eighteen and forty-nine. As the former president, Jeff Gaspin, said: "Does this mean that Bravo is becoming a gay network? Absolutely not... On the surface [the program block] might seem designed for gay audiences, but it's really not... When we discussed our advertising plans for how we are going to promote it, the first group of people we are going to promote it to are women [aged] 18 to 49... We don't sell a gay audience to advertisers." . The corporate leadership recognizes its programming attracts a gay audience, yet their main target remains young women because it is a more profitable group than the comparatively narrow gay male audience. They insist that they do not need to look at the gay audience because they will naturally follow programs with these themes. 
Coming from its upmarket niche market, Bravo needed to appeal to a wider audience while keeping its identity if it wanted to compete in today’s industry. It achieved this by focusing its attention on women  to broaden its viewership base and propel it to the levels of popularity it enjoys today.

Programming

With its current and past lineup, it is no wonder that Bravo has often been hailed as the gayest channel on television. However, the programming on this channel, albeit mainly gay in content, is not all gay-themed. For example, the channel has offered The Real Houswives of… series with its spin-offs, Inside the Actor’s Studio, Top Chef, and Tabloid Wars as options that do not consist of strictly gay content. Most of the shows highlight an affluent lifestyle covering themes and genres popular in the brand’s target audience.
Though, Queer Eye, the program that propelled Bravo to the forefront as a major player among cable channels is no longer running, it remains an important part of its legacy. This show proved that there was a significant market for reality television à la Bravo. A reality series that followed in Queer Eye’s footsteps and made the channel more successful is Project Runway. It remained a major hit for Bravo until its controversial departure to Lifetime in 2008, where ratings have lagged since.
In addition to its original series, Bravo also gathers some of its programming from its parent company, NBC. It regularly features re-runs of popular shows like The West Wing and, more recently, House. It is clear that these shows depart from the genre and themes that characterize Bravo, yet it they bring a great advantage to the table. Even if a cable channel like Bravo could not necessarily afford a drama series it benefits from its corporate network. Furthermore, this type of programming diversifies the channel’s offering, making it more attractive to a yet wider audience. As Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times points out, “Bravo, with its potpourri of original programs and NBC hand-me-downs, has a gay identity and a strong following that reaches beyond gay audiences… Bravo provides an arena where gays and straights interact, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in conflict, but almost always with flair and a sense of humor.” She finishes by saying, “Bravo is best known for lighthearted, gay-oriented shows that also have wider appeal. And that makes it a serious matter.”

Branding

Bravo promotes itself as an original, upscale, artsy cable channel. In its own words, Bravo "delivers the best in food, fashion, beauty, design and pop culture to the most engaged, upscale and educated audience in cable."  When Bravo describes its brand's audience it uses similar words: hip, upscale, educated, young. In essence Bravo want to be seen as art-focused, but still accessible to the average viewer. It markets itself as not too highbrow to exclude Real Housewives, and not to simple for In the Actors Studio. 

Bravo's on-screen and online presence is carefully crafted to reflect the essence of the channel's brand and target its desired demographic. Bravo's logo is comprised of bold white text inside a bright blue speech bubble. This conveys the importance of discussions, opinions and even gossip on the channel. The bold lettering and bright colors make it pop and highlight the importance of what is being said. Before 2009, the tagline that appeared with the logo was "Watch What Happens," conveying the originality and unpredictability of the programming, while clearly referenceing their popular reality shows. In 2009 executives changed the tagline to "by Bravo," and customizing it for different shows by inserting a noun in front. This way Real Housewives could be "Drama by Bravo," the website announces "Web by Bravo," Top Chef is called "Food by Bravo" and House re-runs say "Miracle by Bravo." Here is a clip showing a promo using these taglines.

Promotion, Multimedia Integration, and Partnerships

Bravo has kept itsef on the cutting edge of online and social media promotion, especially encouraging viewer participation. Nowhere is this more evident than its unique partnership with the location-based social network foursquare. The joint venture allows dedicated fans of shows such as Real Housewives to virtually "check in" at locations from the show in their respective cities. In 2008, Bravo launched a promotion called B-Hive, which encouraged dedicated followers of Project Runway to dress up as their favorite contestants, post pictures, and even meet up for viewing parties. For Top Chef, viewers who want to participate even more can compete in virtual competitions on their mobile phones. The channel also solicits feeback from its most active fans, called "Influentials," through its website.

Riding on its high viewer participation, the brand utilises different technologies like smart phones and QR scanning to expand its promotion and advertising strategies across mediums. In its latest campaign, Bravo has teamed up with Bluefly.com to offer discounts on fashion articles advertised in 45-second spots using the quick response (QR) barcodes to link viewer's smart phones to the Bluefly website. In an extension of this partnership, Bravo is also helping to run an online series "Closet Confessions" created by Bluefly to advertise before the holiday season. This series features Bravo stars and other celebrities in a blog style website, http://blueflyclosetconfessions.com/.  

Bravo takes its promotion a step further by resorting to gorilla marketing to get its brand out, quite literally, into the streets. In the month of April, 2010, the channel recruited 8 advertising agencies to use stencils to spray paint its logo in bright colors on the sidewalks of New York City. As seen in this video, they employed the high-traffic city sidewalks to promote their brand to professionals in their targeted demographic. 

II. Textual Analysis

Bravo's programming consists primarily of reality television shows, and two of their most popular shows--Flipping Out and Top Chef--illustrate the variety of content it offers.

Part I: Flipping Out 

Flipping Out is one of Bravo TV’s reality shows focusing on Jeff Lewis and his real estate business in which he flips properties to make a profit on them. The program follows Jeff Lewis in his home/office and around the Los Angeles area to client meetings and various other activities revolving his business.

Form and Style

Genre and Format

Though Flipping prescribes to the broad reality television genre, it fits more closely in the documentary-style reality sub-genre that follows a specific professional activity. Like other shows in the genre, like American Chopper or the Deadliest Catch, the show uses a professional field (in this case the real estate business) as a thematic foundation and departing point. It then highlights the characters that make up the design firm including Jeff Lewis, his assistant Jenni, and the his maid, Zoila.

In the first episode of the fourth season, we can see that the show’s format mimics that of other similar shows. It started by recapping the events of the previous season and in a serial style. It continues with several plotlines in the shape of different projects like Encino, Valley Oak One, and Nottingham. The cameras follow Jeff, usually taking the back seat, as he and his assistant argue over details, big and small. There is a strong sense throughout the episode that the character’s personal lives are always intertwined and often the source of heated arguments. Drama also ensues as Jeff disagrees with his clients, sometimes putting into question his professionalism.

Visual Style

The show's visual aesthetic is very characteristic of the documentary style of television, mostly using handheld cameras and fast zooming and focusing to underline the reality of the situations. Part of the comedy and drama of the show comes from the close-ups of the character's reactions to Jeff's crazy antics. The editing also influences the hyped drama employing fast cuts between the characters followed by the personal interviews with supplemental commentary on the dramatic events. The sound in the show is also an important aid to create the audiences emotion to the show. While Jeff is in the car or he is narrating some project, the soundtrack helps to emote an upscale yet young feel. The music passes from west-coast rock, to jazz, to ominous instrumental depending on the mood. Overall, there is an obvious Bravo signature in the style of the show.

Representation and Cultural Meaning

Flipping Out is an especially interesting program because it represents Jeff Lewis in an unusual way. Though he is gay, the show does not treat his sexual orientation as controversial or taboo. Furthermore, the fact that he manages a successful business and moves a large amount of capital establishes him a businessman before anything else. In articles by The New York Times and other reputable sources, critics do not even mention the fact that he is gay. Instead, they describe him as “a very scary man… solely because he treats his employees like dust mites or consults a psychic to assist him in the running of his business or sends his cat, Monkey, to an acupuncturist… Jeff Lewis, a Los Angeles real estate speculator, evokes a chill because he is so leveraged, a man balancing multiple mortgages like bricks on a noodle.” Even during the economic downturn that hit the housing market the hardest, Jeff kept afloat by hiring himself out as a design consultant. His image is very favorable for the gay community because he manages to be good and entertaining on his own merits, and not ride on his sexual identity.

This good image suggests, then, that there is a change of perception in our culture. Everyday more and more people are accepting gays as an establishment of our society. It is true that this show helps the image along because the viewer can connect Jeff’s gay identity with “neatness,” “good taste,” and a lifestyle many would envy. Despite all his shortcomings, the protagonist of this series is very in control of his life and his employees. He lives how he wants, and that is something that attracts people, male and female, and of all orientations.

Industrial Context

Scheduling

Jeff Lewis’ antics were on every Tuesday at 10pm. This competitive time slot puts it up against some of the toughest programming, yet it did fairly well for the channel. It was rated as the best real estate program on television during its third season, encouraging producers and the channel to commit to the fourth season, which just finished three weeks ago. 

Production and Ownership

The series was created and produced by Authentic Entertainment, LLC, originally for Bravo. This reality television production company is the home to many popular shows like Ace of Cakes and Toddlers and Tiaras on a wide range of networks and channels including The Discovery Channel, TLC, The Food Network, among others.

Audience, Advertising, and Branding

The show creates its target audience using mainly its cultural meaning and the representation of its characters. As established in the Industry Analysis, Bravo’s target audience is men and women in the ranges of eighteen to forty-nine and twenty-five to fifty-four years of age, especially the hip, upscale demographic. Everything from the advertising to the business parlance to the characters’ wardrobe suggests an affluent market. The Mercedes-Benz M-Class and S-Class vehicles he drives are conspicuously featured, along with nightly martinis which are served by his personal "house manager". Although Bravo never states this directly, Jeff's openly gay personality clearly attracts a gay audience as well, as well as those who simiply envy his lifestyle, whether they are gay or straight.

Part II: Top Chef

Top Chef is a reality television show airing on Bravo in which contestants compete in a varity of staged culinary challenges and are judge by a panel of chefs and food critics.

Form and Style

Genre and Format

Top Chef's genre is best described as a competition-based reality show, with a focus on food. Contestants compete for the privilege of appearing at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival, along with a cash award and other prizes. It takes the same reality show format that was successful for Bravo in the form of Project Runway, and applies it to the medium of food. It is similar in many ways to competition-based shows on the Food Network such as Iron Chef, but differs in the way it creates drama. Rather than focusing exclusively on the preparation of the food, Top Chef creates storylines based on the comments and bickering of contestants both during and between challenges, adding a dash of The Real World to the typical food reality show. To create the kind of show that Bravo VP Francis Berwick describes as "uncripted drama", editors use characters' commentary to create the character drama that goes along with the food drama of the challenges. But the importance of the food itself is not overlooked by the producers or the audience, as contestants must truly be creative with their ingredients and can be eliminated for the smallest of mistakes, like undercooked beans.

The format of the show is simple, typically comprising of two different cooking challenges and then a judging ceremony. Contestants first participate in a "Quickfire Challenge" in which they have only an hour to complete a themed dish using only the ingredients in the kitchen. Then, they are given a longer challenge that can take place over an afternoon or a few days and often involves teamwork and shopping. At the end of the show, contestants are judged based on the culinary and presentational merits of their dishes, and the worst chef is eliminated and told to "pack [their] knives."

Visual Style

Top Chef uses a visual style that is very consistent with the norms for its genre, employing many standard techniques to ramp up conflict and drama. Throughout the challenges the show cuts to post-competition commentary from the participants, which often features bickering and complaining about the other contestants. The audience often sees shots of the clock or the chefs scurrying around and mopping their brows to emphsise the drama of the kitchen. This transitions to the somber "judge's table" scenes at the end of the show, where the dishes are soberly analyzed as the audience sees close-ups of the beautiful dishes and nervous contestants faces.

Representation and Cultural Meaning

Top Chef is able to challenge some stereotypes of the both the culinary world and everyday cooking. By diverse cast in terms of race and background, Top Chef illustrates the spectrum of people and personalities in the culinary industry. Frank Bruni points out the portrayal of women as powerful and in control of their kitchens, as illustrated by Hillary and Stephanie in the season four finale. For the general audience, the show reveals through its sometimes contrived challenges that it is possible to make quick meals that are also healthy or kid-friendly.

Industrial Context

Scheduling

Top Chef is scheduled in the competitive Wednesday 10p.m. time slot. Reruns of previous episodes are shown earlier in the evening for viewers who missed the previous episodes, but are not necessary to watch due to the episodic nature of the competition reality show genre. Immediately before Top Chef are two episodes of Real Housewifes, from various seasons, which have a similar theme of "non-scripted drama" and also a large female audience.

Production and Ownership

Top Chef is produced by Magic Elves Productions, which is the same company that produced Project Runway. This connection is interesting due to the fact that the two shows they produce are similar in many ways with the exception substituting the medium from fashion to food.

Brand

Top Chef was clearly created with Bravo's hip, artsy, upscale brand in mind, and shows them off in many different ways. The show treats food as an art, and puts it in a competition setting where contestants must balance the art of the taste and presentation of the food with the logistics of cooking it. The "judge's table" often features guest celebrities from the food world, showing just how upscale the show and the food on it really are. Top Chef is typically comprised young and up-and-coming chefs, (with the exception of Top Chef: Masters) which showcases not only their youth and hip-ness, but also the ambition and competition that they bring.

Audience and Advertising

Top Chef's target audience is very much similar to Bravo's overall target demographic: 18-35 hip, upscale audience. As both Bravo and cooking shows skew towards females, Top Chef's audience does as well. From and advertiser's perspective, Top Chef is an idea medium for advertisements and product placement, as the show highlights the purchase and consumption of food and other culinary items. Emprically, advertisers have found that Top Chef generates double the brand recall of similar cable tv reality shows, resulting in many product placement deals from companies such as Toyota and Sears. 

III. Audience Interaction and Online Analysis

Reflecting its young and hip target audience, Bravo uses a large variety of media to connect and engage its fans with their favorite shows, personalities and contestants.

Online Profile

Bravo.com

From message boards, to blogs, to twitter, most of Bravo’s viewer interaction tools reside online. Blogs are a large and essential part of this array of tools, and there are blogs for just about every character, personality and contestant, which will be discussed in detail later. For the most part, while the seasons are being shown, so viewers can follow their favorite contestants in between episodes. Bravo offers other ways for fans to contact personalites, such as “Ask the [Millionaire] Matchmaker,” and live “tweetups” with the Real Housewives before big episodes. Fans can interact with each other on message boards and threads, both on the Bravo website and external sites as well. Bravo integrates social networking in to its online presence, hosting pages and twitter accounts for many of its shows. Bravo also has a show called “See What Happens LIVE,” in viewer interaction is one of the central focuses of the show. Celebrities are brought talk with the host and respond to viewers’ questions—via email, tweet, Facebook, or video. It is in essence an interactive live talk show.

Besides interaction, Bravo offers opportunities for fans to simulate being on their favorite shows. The Rachel Zoe Project offers a “Virtual Fitting Room,” while Flipping out lets viewers design their dream room. Real Housewives fans can create design their own virtual housewives, and Top Chef devotees can gorge themselves on cooking tips at Top Chef University – for $25 per month.

Finally, Bravo connects it fans to the real world through Guides by Bravo. These city guides—half in the U.S. and half international—feature hot restaurants, bars and clubs and highlight “Bravo’s Recommendations.” This is a way the channel can tie connect its hip, upscale brand to destinations in the real world.

Advertising

Bravo does not feature much advertizing on its website, but products it does advertise are clearly targeted at an upscale and female-skewing audience. Advertisements for skin and beauty products are common, as are household products. On the Top Chef portion of the site, food advertisements are more common, and often publicize new and trendy offerings, such as Breyers “Recipe Inspirations” and new Yoplait flavors. In addition, all online video are preceded by 30 second advisements that are often a bit unconventional in form, such as Bluefly.com’s closet confessions.

Merchandise

Going beyond message boards and games, many of Bravo’s shows offer ways for its fans to get their wallets involved as well. In addition to the online “university,” Top Chef offers a large selection of merchandise, sold through its Shop by Bravo. There is a whole line of Top Chef branded cookware, along with cookbooks featuring recipes from and inspired by the show’s contestants. Other products in the online store run the gambit from Real Hosewives baby onsies, to wine parings inspired by Top Chef’s Quickfire challenges. For the most passionate fans, Bravo hosts events and city tours based on the show and the various locations where Top Chef has been filmed in over the seasons. The channel also partners with Target to sell DVD’s through its website.

Mobile

For fans on the go, Bravo takes advantage of mobile technology to deliver its content in a variety of way. Mobile interaction began as wallpaper and ringtones for cell phones, but has since expanded to games and apps. The longest-running game is the Top Chef mobile game, in which users can participate in timed challenges. More recently, Bravo has debuted iPhone apps as well. The first is the mobile version of Guides by Bravo, which lets users search nearby destinations in the guides. In addition, “Bravo Now” allows fans to follow the latest developments and blogs of their favorite shows, among other extras. Even the channel’s advertisers have gotten involved, and some display QR codes that viewers can scan with their smartphones to get more info on a specific product. In terms of Bravo’s brand, integration with the iPhone makes sense due to its ubiquity among its upscale target audience.

Audience Participation

Upon visiting Bravo’s website, it is evident that the channel’s fans are nothing short of dedicated. Starting with the numerous celebrity blogs, fans take the opportunity to comment on their favorite characters’ boards. Not only do the personalities from the The Real House Wives and other shows post updates on their pages, but they also receive feedback supporting and criticizing their actions on the show. In the following sections, we will analyze a few online outlets for viewer reactions both sponsored by Bravo and independently run blog sites.

Bravo's Cast Blog

Among the first sections one sees while scrolling down on the BravoTV home page is the ‘Cast Blog’ section where the different members of shows like House Wives or Top Chef post weekly updates. The posts by the Housewives seem to be more popular than those by the stars from the other shows. Typo and mistake laden, these posts are very informal. They provide candid reactions to events in the show and in their private lives. In a recent post by Sheree Whitfield, an Atlanta Housewife, she discusses her dates with a doctor mentioning that he was too pushy on the second date. Her followers went on to advise her like any girlfriend would advise her closest friend. In a post submitted by Tresstine on November 16th, the poster says:

“The Love Doctor forgot that he sold his house last year?? There is something very off about this man. I can almost feel his creepy persona through the tv screen. How can you stand him pushing his food and himself on you in person. He's using you and Bravo for exposure. Don't give it to him!”

The viewer’s attachment to the show is obvious as she provides her honest opinion while referencing the channel and her TV screen. Bravo’s marketing and branding strategies are proven effective in this post because the contributor shows awareness of the network, took the time to comment on the post, and seems personally involved in the drama. Tresstine, like the other bloggers are aware that they are behind the screen and actively take a role in the events of the show, going as far as defending the characters’ and the channel’s interests. It is interesting to note that in the dozens of pages of posts on Bravo’s various Cast Blogs, few to none of the contributors spoke ill of the channel.

Reactions on Television Without Pity

Even though Bravo enjoys a high rate of mostly positive online viewer participation, it is not immune to criticisms on its decisions. On Television Without Pity’s Housewives of New Jersey forum, many people showed discontent with Bravo’s decision to spin off yet again on the already popular, yet overdone, franchise. As contributor named Carmelized noted, “they [Bravo] must be getting desperate for ideas.” He or she along with others expressed that they would like to see other cities or regions represented, and that RHoNJ might be too close to the same title based in New York. Another viewer, kacesq, posted the following on April 15, 2008:

"Sigh. I used to be Bravo's total reality slave but with Millionaire Matchmaker, Top Design, RHONY and now this, I'm falling out of love with Bravo. This Jersey girl wonders which stereotypes Bravo will find to showcase. I just know this show is going to have me screaming at the TV "we're not like that!" … Is this show a done deal? Where was the announcement from - Bravo? I. can't. wait."

She voices her discontent with the channel because she notices that Bravo tends to use stereotypical characters as subject matter for its shows. Being from Jersey herself, this poster worries that she will have to continue defending herself from the stereotypes of New Jersey that will be perpetuated should this show go on. Still, the same person posted a follow-up comment almost a year later, saying that she “needs to decide whether [she’ll] be horrified by the wives or suitably amused.” Obviously, Bravo is able to start and maintain a buzz about its programs even if met with some initial hesitation.

The way that this channel markets its shows allows viewers to speculate and comment on a show months before it airs. There is something noteworthy of having so many spinoffs: audiences can connect to a familiar format while expecting different plotlines and conflicts in each new resurrection of a show. The same patterns exist across the gamut of Bravo’s lineup. Though far from having a significant educational or cultural value, Bravo’s programming attracts an audience that becomes a follower of the channel. Not many channels can boast that they have a coined word for its audience members. According to Urban Dictionary, a Bravho is “Any girl or woman who sits around all day watching all the reality TV shows that Bravo has to offer.”  One can argue that it is Bravo’s strong online presence and community, not the actual programs that keep its audience coming back season after season.