Resurgence in reality show cuts across TV, streaming

Shailesh Kapoor, CEO and founder of Ormax Media, the insights and consulting firm for the industry, nailed the reason for this resurgence in unscripted shows and said broadcasters operate both traditional TV channels and streaming apps and are looking for content that works on both screens

MUMBAI: Entertainment platforms seem hyper active in view of the upcoming festival season, launching fresh content slates to catch viewers and advertisers. They are going big on unscripted or non-fiction shows – bringing fresh seasons of the older franchises with a bang and trying out newer formats to entice a wider audience.

Resurgence in reality show cuts across TV, streaming

JioHotstar, which claims to reach 800 million viewers every week through its television network and streaming service, said this year it is unlocking the heartland with ‘Bhojpuri Bawaal’, the country’s first Bhojpuri celebrity reality series. “With this, we’re bringing premium unscripted entertainment to one of the country’s largest yet underserved language markets,” a JioHotstar spokesperson said. It’s also launching a re-imagined quiz show ‘India Ke Top 1%’, hosted by Anil Kapoor, as well as ‘Second Love’, a Tamil reality dating show.

The broadcaster is also returning with the popular reality franchise Bigg Boss and launching all the language editions (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bangla) simultaneously in September along with ‘Dhamal’, ‘Pati Patni aur Panga’ and ‘Hustle’. Sony announced ‘The Rohit Sharma Show’ with the celebrity cricketer, and earlier launched ‘Tum Ho Naa – Ghar Ki Superstar’, a game show spotlighting women’s success stories. OTT platforms Netflix and Prime Video are running a captive reality competition series ‘Lock Upp’ and ‘Alliance’ respectively.

Shailesh Kapoor, CEO and founder of Ormax Media, the insights and consulting firm for the industry, nailed the reason for this resurgence in unscripted shows and said broadcasters operate both traditional TV channels and streaming apps and are looking for content that works on both screens. “One format that travels well between linear TV and digital is non-fiction as it has the ability to get the family audiences as well as the younger OTT viewers,” he said.

The proliferation of the Bigg Boss-like captive reality shows can be attributed to the rise of the influencer economy, he said. Earlier, contestants for such shows came from a limited pool of out-of-work film stars and TV actors. “Now shows like ‘Lock Upp’, ‘The 50’ or ‘Traitors’ do well as participants come from among social media influencers and understand content. These shows work for young audiences seeking authentic and unscripted content,” Kapoor said. “Viewing has become more fragmented, on-demand and mobile-first, with younger audiences seeking authenticity, relatability and participation over scripted narratives,” added Muralidhar Thyagarajan, senior vice president – media delivery and operations, WPP Media, South Asia.

Also, reality content has moved beyond talent shows. “It has evolved from being a mass-appeal broadcast genre to an engagement-led content ecosystem,” Thyagarajan said. Earlier formats were built to maximize family co-viewing and weekly television ratings but today’s reality formats are designed around communities, personalities and social behaviour spanning strategy, survival, relationships, entrepreneurship and creator-led storytelling, Thyagarajan explained. “This evolution mirrors changing audience behaviour,” he said.

JioHotstar’s content breadth also makes non-fiction incredibly attractive for advertisers. “These shows don’t just deliver scale; they create fandom, cultural moments and sustained engagement. They enable brands to move beyond traditional sponsorships through meaningful integrations, contextual storytelling, commerce-led innovations and cross-platform experiences across television and digital, resulting in stronger recall and deeper consumer connections,” the spokesperson said. In 2025, ‘Bigg Boss’ generated over 1.7 billion social engagements and 30 million user-generated memes, extending the life of brand campaigns far beyond on-air integrations.

“The scale of advertiser participation reflects this shift. Across leading reality franchises, more than 1,000 brands participate annually, with a healthy mix of returning partners and new advertisers entering the category every season,” said Thyagarajan. ‘Bigg Boss’ has consistently dominated social conversations beyond television, while ‘Shark Tank India’ has transformed pitches and entrepreneurs into year-round creator content, he said. “This creates a multiplier effect for advertisers. Instead of buying a 30-second spot, brands become part of the narrative through native integrations, creator collaborations, branded challenges and commerce-led activations. In today’s attention economy, the most valuable content is not what people simply watch. It is what they share, discuss and participate in, and reality formats are uniquely designed to deliver that,” Thyagarajan said.

When audiences are genuinely invested in characters and outcomes, they naturally want to discuss, theorize, and share, said Nikhil Madhok, director and head of originals, at Prime Video India. “We see that with ‘Mirzapur’, ‘Family Man’, ‘Panchayat’, ‘Call Me Bae’ and many others in scripted series, and unscripted shows like ‘The Traitors’ and ‘Alliance’. But since reality TV features real people versus fictional characters, the audience engagement and conversation beyond the social screen tends to be more amplified,” he said.

In streaming’s early days, creators leaned towards thrillers and crime series as the genre naturally lent itself to binge viewing. “Over time, streaming has become the first-choice entertainment for a large part of the audience, leading to significant expansion in genres and formats. Unscripted is definitely benefitting from that,” said Madhok.

Prime Video claimed a breakout moment with ‘The Traitors’ last year, its first unscripted hit built exclusively for streaming in India. “Now we are in the midst of ‘Alliance’ -- the first-ever daily reality show globally on the platform,” Madhok said, adding that its ambitions for the unscripted genre have only grown over time.

At JioHotstar, the strategy is to refresh successful franchises while introducing new formats. “We believe non-fiction will continue to be one of the biggest growth drivers of India’s entertainment landscape.”