When reality bites, big profits pour in

The site of Hunan TV's ad bid. Yili shelled out 500 million yuan for Season 3 of Dad, Where Are We Going?[Provided to China Daily]

For instance, TV shows that spawned same-title movies include The Voice of China, Dad, Where Are We Going? and Running Man. Go Fighting the movie is under post-production and scheduled for release in January 2016.

Box-office receipts of these movies vary. Dad, Where Are We Going? netted 700 million yuan, Running Man took in 430 million yuan, but The Voice of China could pull in no more than 3 million yuan.

"Reality shows that can be developed into successful films are rather limited. Much more is required than a good concept and popularity to make a movie commercially successful," said Peng.

Not unexpectedly, popularity of reality TV shows has inspired online video platforms to produce their own versions of variety shows, rather than spending significant amount of money to buy webcast rights for TV shows.

Leading online players such as Youku Tudou Inc, iQiyi.com, Tencent Holdings Ltd and LeTV Holdings Ltd are not just producing their own reality shows, but also are redefining them by steering clear of high-cost celebrities and instead featuring commoners in the lead. Celebrities are restricted to guest appearance, if at all.

Online platforms also offer more interaction with audiences, liberal censorship in terms of witty or risque remarks, and more flexibility in, and wider scope, for partnerships with advertisers.

But they are unable to match TV stations in terms of mega budgets for production.

"Under the current circumstances, it would be hard to expect any revolutionary change or breakthrough in the quality of reality shows produced by online video platforms, as their production teams are actually made up of people who used to work for TV stations," said Peng.