What are some new trends in reality show funding?

What are some new trends in reality show funding?

Recently, there's been a trend to cutting out the network in the middle, and there's more and more companies trying to fund shows directly, where, for example, Coca Cola would actually pay for a television show, call it The Coca Cola Hour and put it on a network. The network doesn't have to pay for the show, but the money came ultimately from the sponsor. That's still rare. It happened in the early days of television, it was the primary way shows got funded - Texaco Star Theater and things like that. It died out completely for a very long period of time while networks had all the power and money, and now it's coming back again because the sponsors are not sure that the networks are where to advertise any more. They want to own the show so they can put it on the internet or use it in other ways.