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International Journal of Media and Information Literacy
Has been issued since 2016.
E-ISSN: 2500-106X
2020, 5(1): 48-59
DOI: 10.13187/ijmil.2020.1.48 www.ejournal46.com
Travel Programs on TV as a Part of Entertainment Media Literacy
Mariana Kitsa a , *, Iryna Mudra a, Olena Kuznetsova a a National University "Lviv Polytechnic", Ukraine
Abstract
Travel programs are one of the popular parts of content of modern Ukrainian mediaspace. Appeared in 1995, such programs have one of the highest ratings on television. In our researching we examined the history of travel programs in Ukraine, offered our own classification of this programs by genre, purpose, theme. We also provided the poll of the viewers of travel programs in Ukraine (N 400). Most of our respondents are interested in the culture and history of the country, which is shown in the travel program, places to visit, food, attractions. Also viewers think that famous people as narrators increase the popularity and ratings of the program. However, this fact does not confirm on practice. We also found out that thanks to the travel programs, the audience learns more about other people, such TV product encourages and inspire travelers to learn the traditions and cultures of different people of the world. Besides, travel programs encourage people to travel more. Ukrainians like to watch beautiful frames of nature, buildings, architecture of countries abroad, though they believe that information in the program should be objective and truthful. Also there is a free niche of travel programs, which can be filled in the coming years.
Keywords: television, travel, program, reality show, viewer, survey.
1. Introduction
In recent years, one more trend has become increasingly popular: travel journalism is a credible and exciting way to produce information about different countries. Programs of travel journalism on Ukrainian television are increasing popularity in Ukrainian media space. Thanks to the travel programs, the audience learns about the history and culture of other countries and people, such TV product encourages and inspires travelers to learn the traditions and cultures of different people of the world.
Travel journalism is a special area of journalism that provides travel information to the mass consumer, touches on history, geography, culture, art, tourism, ethics, philosophy (Hui, Ye, Xiang, 2016). It also encourages viewers to travel more, explore other cultures and people. Travel journalism we can consider as a part of entertainment media literacy, because it teaches viewers how to behave themselves abroad. Media education is an important feature in media, especially in Post-Soviet countries (Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2019).
As a result of our study, we want to find out the link between travel programs and traveler's visits. According to the Visa Global Travel Intentions Study 2017, published on the site of UNIAN, in which took part travelers form 27 countries, Ukrainians travel half less than other Europeans (1).
Travel journalism is a perspective area for research in journalism, in particular in Ukraine, since the largest number of travel programs in Ukraine has appeared in the last 10 years. They
* Corresponding author
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Kitsa)
differ in typological characteristics, genres, themes, therefore, there was a need to explore all the programs that were broadcasted on Ukrainian TV, which enabled not only to study them, but also to classify.
In accordance with the Law "On Telecommunication and Broadcasting", the transmission (broadcasting) is a meaningful completed part or the volume of the program (TV and radio program) with the corresponding name of broadcast, copyright mark, which can be used regardless of other parts of the program and considered as a holistic information product.
Instead, there is no exact definition of travel programs on TV in Ukrainian legislation. Modern travel programs on Ukrainian television are bright and easy-to-remember programs on travel journalism. They combine elements of real-life, scandals, exciting adventures, interesting places, cities and countries, history, legends and traditions of the countries, which are told by young and friendly leaders (Mulenko, 2015).
We can say that the travel program is a hybrid of genres. As a modern television genre, it combines elements of a documentary, an educational program, an entertaining talk show featuring a presenter, a reality show, a series, and an advert. The narrator who travels with the viewer and shows new destinations is of great importance here, while the creative and acting skills of the announcer play an important role. The main audience of such programs is mainly young people aged 18 to 40 whom like to travel and discover world.
2. Materials and methods
In this study, we consider only those programs that contain elements of travel (that is, the journalists are really traveling) and introduce to viewers new and interesting places. But we examined only programs that introduced foreign countries, but not those that showed cities or towns in Ukraine. Ukrainian researchers say that such programs (about Ukraine) are ethnographic, so they are not the subject of our study. Among the researches of the Ukrainian travel programs, we did not find the history of travel programs that came out on Ukrainian TV channels, therefore, we investigated the archives of the broadcasting network of Ukrainian TV channels and archives of travel programs in Internet. Reviewed the archives on TV channels' sites and available releases of travel programs, and this enabled us to form the history of the developing and the formation of Ukrainian travel journalism on television. Based on the programs that we've studied, it was suggested our own classification of travel programs on Ukrainian television.
In order to find out the preferences of the spectators of Ukrainian travel programs, we interviewed 400 viewers of travel programs of different age groups and from different regions of Ukraine. The survey was conducted using two methods - the distribution of paper questionnaires and interviews in various groups in the social network Facebook, which is the most popular in Ukraine. During the survey, combined sample was used. Part of the respondents was questioned by a random sample - anyone who watches travel programs could answer the questionnaire, which was posted on the page of co-author Mariana Kitsa in the social networks and was public. At the beginning of the questionarrie we asked to answer only those people, who watch travel programs. The second kind of sample was convenience sampling. We questioned students and tutors of our university by giving them paper versions of questionnaires. The results were handwritten.
3. Discussion
While the relationship has frequently been studied in relation to hard news journalism, less attention has been paid to other beats, especially those which have always had a closer relationship with commercial interests (Hanush, 2019). One of such kinds of journalism is travel journalism. Travel information exists in paper guides, word of mouth, and countless websites. Organizing a trip has never been more accessible and simultaneously riddled with doubt (Pirolli, 2018). In contrast to travelogues, many mass media travel articles focus on providing usable content instead of literary value (Stone, 2018).
Under conditions of globalization, travel journalism is one of the most influential factors in the creation of the depiction - image of one nation or a country in the cultural consciousness of another. As V. Hoyan notes, "Ukrainian TV mediaspace combines the necessary functions, in particular: entertaining, informative and communicative" (Hoyan, 1999). Travel programs contribute to the history and culture of other countries and people.Shteyman declares that the role of travel journalism is revealed: travel journalism provides the audience with information about
travels related to history, geography, culture, arts, tourism, ethics, philosophy and others (Shteyman, 2019).
The researcher P. Lebedev divides television travel programs into four types: mass (production of television channels "Discovery" and "My planet"); specialized (combine hobbies with travel, such as: "Culinary Wanderings" and "World to Flavor"); sectoral (for workers in the tourist industry and clients of travel companies, for example, "Fairy of the Wanderings"); On-board video (so-called "inflight-video" airlines) (Lebedev, 2011). In the Ukrainian television industry travel programs are designed for a mass spectator.
Developers of the Ukrainian travel-show, realizing certain plans, primarily focus on two factors: the possibility of project sponsors and the taste and demand of the audience in accordance with the budgets and the concept of programs and formed travel routes. Travel journalism has experienced enormous growth over recent decades, with a record number of media organizations now involved in producing information for tourists in one way or an other. Journalism and media scholars have only begun to pay more attention to thi sphenomen on (Hanusch, Fuersich, 2014).
In Ukraine the theme of travel jourmalism is not investigated enough, because travel programs are a rather new phenomenon in our mediaspace. L. Vikhoreva (Vikhoreva, 2015) declares that based on the interaction between the subjects of the mass information process as a property emerging interactive converged travel journalism, there is an increase of its role in the globalization process of the modern information environment. As a confirmation of this statement M. Shteyman (Shteyman, 2019) says that the role of travel journalism is revealed: travel journalism provides the audience with information about travels related to history, geography, culture, arts, tourism, ethics, philosophy and others. Despite both consumer's and the media's as well as the researcher's light attitude to travel journalism people's national self-identification depends on it.
In the latest article Vikhoreva L. (Vikhoreva, 2018) considers travel journalism as a factor for enriching the society's intellectual potential with the help of cultural-educational and other information resources. Art Silverblatt (Silverblatt, 2018) declares, that the ability to develop a critical distance from the messages being conveyed through the channels of mass communication is of vital importance. The necessity to use innovation resources appearing in travel practice is stated, since the cultural background that is being updated is an important condition to for understanding modern processes occurring in society. We definitely agree that the travel journalism transforms information from one context into another, and it is responsible for the fact that an audience starts to have a particular image of a particular culture.
But on our mind, travel journalism must show not only attractive places of other countries, cities, places, but also acquaint viewers with the real situation in these places, including attractive tourist routes and less attractive places - poor dusty areas etc., if they are a part of the locality. For example, A. Duffy (Duffy, 2017) argues that there is necessity to evade the Western post-imperialism orthodoxies recurrent in cultural studies scholarship into travel and tourism would require other perspectives. From our point of view, it can be provided by demonstrating different sides of high developed countries, not only positive. Similar point of view presents Folker Hanush (Hanush, 2011), which says that in light of travel journalists' increasingly important role in reporting about foreign places, more remains to be done to promote travel stories that show a deeper understanding of other cultures and which contain a more critical appraisal of destinations.
N. Krivstov (Krivstov, 2017) declares that despite the growing importance of the integration communicative functions of travel journalism in the modern world, there are signs of its turning into the market-driven type of journalism. This tendency arises to a large extent from the external reasons including those of economic nature, and the overall trend of the media drifting to the area of infotainment. But we can agree with this definition speaking about Ukrainian travel journalism. There are only few TV programs in Ukraine, which are sponsored by tourist agencies.
However, travel programs have advertising in the form of product placement, when a narrator drinks some kind of water, eat chocolate of the concrete trade mark, have remedy etc. On this case T. Rosenkranz (Rosenkranz, 2016) says that travel journalists today generate income and resources through entrepreneurial practices that have been previously deemed unethical.
M. Joseph Sirgy, P. Stephanes Kruger, Dong-Jin Lee, and Grace B. Yu say that Implementing the suggested programs and services should not only enhance tourists' sense of well-being but also increase the profitability and financial health of the tourist operators (Sirgy et al., 2011).
Simultaneously B. Cocking (Cocking, 2018) examines travel journalism as a form of lifestyle journalism. He argues that travel features arguably lack the political relevance and importance of their hard news counter-parts. Nonetheless, given its close alliance to the world's largest industry (tourism), the underlying ideological values of travel journalism are significant and worthy of study for what they reveal of the representational and narrative features of the genre, as well as the cultural and economic context in which it is produced.
We support the opinion, that travel journalists cannot know each traveler for whom they write, so they must imagine what a reader wants. So the subsequent journalism influences how tourists travel and engage with a foreign country and its inhabitants (Duffy, Mangharam, 2017). So journalist is oriented on the habits and mentality of his viewers, and tries to show how they can behave in the country, which he introduces to them.
4. Results
History of Ukrainian travel programs. Analyzing Ukrainian domestic television, the Ukrainian TV channels have flooded the wave of wandering television projects in recent years. Today, many leading TV channels are trying to diversify their broadcasting network with such programs, because they not only increase ratings, but also attract young people.
The first Ukrainian travel program is "At first glance," which began to appear on the TV channel Privat TV in Kharkiv in 1995-1996. Subsequently, the program was renamed "Not First Look". It's author and narrator was Olga Kotlytska. And she went out for 20 years on the First National TV channel and 5 TV channels. During the existence of the program, 60 countries of the world were visited.
In 2004, for the Ukrainian audience, I. Sinitsyn began to show the TV project "Traveling with his eyes", convincing the viewer that "life is beautiful because you can travel." Traveling through different countries and continents, the team from Kyiv (2-6 people) talks about interesting facts, about the sights and peculiarities of the visited places, seen "with their own eyes"; communicates with local people, gets acquainted with local life.
Continues the wave of traveling topics STB TV with the program "Around the World" with Mikhail Kozhukhov in 2007. The main task of the program is to introduce the audience to the fact that it has not yet been possible to see any of the Ukrainian travelers. The program shows lost in the jungle temples and ancient cities, sunken ships, little-known cultural and historical monuments, tribes and peoples, the existence of which knew only few people.
In 2008, the author's program "Fairy of the Wanders" began to go out - it's a 26-minute program about the best places in Ukraine and abroad, its announcer - I. Zakharenko. It was broadcast on 60 channels in Ukraine. This program is cognitive, but not entertaining. The driver goes around the world and talks about places of interest.
In 2010, the "First National" released a cognitive-entertainment program "Around the World in 48 Hours." This is the first tourist real-life show in Ukraine. Travelers - a couple of narrators I. Posipaiko and N. Drizo, in less than half an hour, introduce the viewers to the new countries. The conductors have 48 hours to show the viewer a new city in Europe.
The exotic and extreme travel program of D. Komarov "World on the Outbreak" started on the TV channel "1+1" in December 2010. It is a "documentary-cognitive-entertaining" program on how people live on absolutely different laws from the rest of the globe.
In 2011, TV channel "Inter" presented the program "Ours". The two narrators Anna Yeliseyeva and Yaroslav Lodigin travel to one of the countries and show not only traditions and prominent places, but also pay attention to how Ukrainians live in these countries. This program shows Ukrainians who are successful in a foreign country.
In 2011 appeared one more program - "Cinderella for the Baskov". According to the concept of the project, the Russian singer Nikolai Baskov made a world trip with the winner of casting Irina. The singer acted in the role of guide, whose task was to give the viewer maximum information and show in a few days the most interesting places. At this year one more travel program was broadcast on "K1" channel "Proidysvit" - tells the audience where, when and how it is possible to save money in Europe. "Proidysvit" focuses on how to show life and rest as it is: how much it costs, what's interesting, how to get there, what to look for when buying or exchanging currencies. The concept of the program is such that each spectator could repeat the "Education" route.
Another program on K1 - "The Ukrainians" (author and presenter A. Surin). The essence of the project is not only to cross the continent along a given route, but also to reveal the autoculture of each of them. Surin pays attention to local attractions, customs, prices. The transfer can be really useful for those who are going to travel "on wheels".
In 2011 appeared another rating program - "Eagle and Rescue" (Orel i Reshka). In the scenario of the program, each weekend, two narrators go to different cities of the world. According to the rules of the program, one announcer must live on Saturday and Sunday for $ 100 (for European countries - 88 euros or more, according to the current exchange rate), and the other can spend unlimited funds stored on a gold card. To decide which of them will live as a millionaire, and who will survive, they throw a coin before each trip, and every time it decides an eagle or a tackle.
The "Mad Hitch" program came out on the "New Channel" screens in 2013. Two guys V. Moskalenko and S. Kapralov travel to Europe by hitchhiking. They do not pass the standard routes of tourists, they are looking for something interesting, extreme and dangerous. In 2014, the program changed the name to "1000 female desires" and so was changed the format. They still had to travel by hitchhiking, but they also have to fulfill female desires from ordinary spectators.
The NTN TV channel in 2014 presented the program "Poyekhali". It was positioned as an extreme-travel show. Each series - a new country, a strange city, an exciting kind of extreme sports. In addition to the satisfaction of the traveler, the spectator also received an exciting extreme experience of motorcycle, aviation, breakdance, BMX (tricks on bicycles) and much more.
In 2014, on the First National TV channel, the program "Notes on the Globe" was presented to the audience. Together with the creative group of the program, the audience of UA: channel has already got acquainted with the richest people on the planet - the Qatari, learned what a gift made to the Lebanese aliens, tried the Indian sari, were being in the Latvian prison, admired the newest buildings of the only new capital in the post-Soviet space - Astana.
Since December 2014 The Volkner Group project, called "Two-Wheeled Chronicles", launched in the media space. It's authors and performers are Vladimir Mulyr and YarinaKvitka, still known as folk band "Folkwings". The idea of the project was to cycle around the various countries on bicycles and to study different countries, cultures, and find local flavor when traveling. The leaders live in a tent or in some of the locals, they also spend a minimum amount of money on their residence and try to manage goods from local markets. They tried not to choose tourist routes. Initially, their project was embodied in the radio program "Two-wheeled Chronicles", which came out in ether on Ukrainian radio "Beam" weekly from December 2014 to October 2015.
In 2016, the third installment was introduced - Marco, the son of a spouse born in February 2016 year during a journey to Australia. Within 6 months at 2017 year "Two-wheeled Chronicles" were broadcasted on the Public Television. In 2018 a continuation of the TV project was broadcasted by the TV channel "Tera". The program resembles a traveler's diary, which is being removed by the author and conductor VolodymyrMulyr. It does not have stories about the country, but it still introduces viewers to local cuisine, country, roads, and more, in the form of a video diary.
In 2014, the program "Eurochekin" appeared on the screens of the "UFO" channel. Two young friends, who have completely different tastes and views on life, go on a journey through Europe by car, so that once and for all, the dispute is resolved "is it better where we are not?". They visited 20 countries in a month and experienced all the bait and difficulty of unorganized auto-tourism. Narrators learned a lot about the rules of life in different countries, talked with Ukrainians who live or work in different parts of Europe. The program is useful for those who travel by car, because viewers in it can get information about what to do if there was an accident, what is it toll freeways (in Ukraine there are no toll freeways), how to pay fines for wrong park, etc.
In 2016, the TV channel "Inter" broadcasted the program "Around M". Announcer L. Nikitiuk, who traveled every week to a new country to make the world's first men's guide. And she did this through visits to foreigners.
The transfer of "Europe for a penny" initially started as a special project of the "Paragraph" program (2017-2018). After closing the "Abstraction", this program wound up on the TV screens on its own. An interesting format of the program - a young girl-leading M. Sebova herself travels to Europe's cities for 100-200 euros. And it shows the audience how to settle cheaply, how to save on excursions, and explore all the landmarks themselves, as well as acquaint with the locals and prepare local dishes.
In 2018, a new travel program "World of Treasures" appeared on the STB TV channel. The format of the program is completely different than ever had been presented on the Ukrainian television. According to the concept, eight pairs of participants undergo a quest in different parts of the world to find the main prize - 500 thousand UAH. Participants had to be in the role of street musicians, sculptors, producers, marketers; cope with the compass and look for hints on crowded squares; recognize buildings with old photographs and sets of small things; as well as learn to overcome their secret fears.
In 2019, the Ukrainian regional television channel " UA: Lviv" began to broadcast a documentary series of program "Megapolis". This is a documentary short program about the big cities of different countries. In 2018, this program was broadcasted on the TV channel "KRT". The program shows tourists, little-known attractions, local customs and history. The cycle includes 13 series for 30 minutes, each series consists of seven short stories devoted to a separate city. This is a genuine documentary program that does not contain any elements of the show and the presenter.
The trend for the travel show is to cross-link genres and search for new ones. It is also typically that many of them went live on short seasons, because channel managers and producers tried not to risk with long series and only checked, how much popularity will win travel programs in the Ukrainian market (Veremchuk, 2011).
We distinguished the following features of travel programs:
The novelty of the demonstration material. Many tourists are interested in traveling along the same route, which is described by the narrators of the program. They even call and encourage their viewers to do so. For example, the announcers of "Eagle and a Rescue" at the end of each program specifically hide a bottle with $100 and show their coordinates with the "treasure" to their spectators, so that they went on a journey and found a hidden gift.
Shows unknown places. Also, such programs show countries, cities or places that for ordinary tourists are unknown and sometimes also closed. For example, D. Komarov, the program leader of "The World on the Outback", visited Tefe (Brazil) in the capital of piracy, where it is dangerous and every foreigner may perish. In 2017, a well-known British traveler, E. Kelty, died there. D. Komarov in the program repeated the British route and met with local pirates.
Aesthetic pleasure from the program. People travel to see the mountains and rivers, historical monuments with their own eyes. But not everyone has the opportunity to travel, so with pleasure they watch such programs, where the TV creator, videographer and photographer as much as possible try to convey the beauty of landscapes and sights of architecture. They do this very well and professionally, that even the constant travelers with enthusiasm watch such programs.
It's rather strange, but on Ukrainian television there are no travel culinary programs. Though, Lynch Bernerdine exemines that such programs are one of the earliest forms of culinary television, the food/travel program. The vicarious travel opportunities such programs offer are explored to reveal the lifestyle aspirations of contemporary audiences (Lynch, 2018).
From the above-mentioned travel programs that appeared on Ukrainian TV channels in the modern broadcast network, viewers prefer to watch such travel programs: "The World on the Outback" and "The Eagle and the Rescue", which are the most ranking, have a long history on the air. In order to understand the secret of their success, we will analyze these programs in more detail and present the results of the survey of viewers of these programs.
So, "The World on the Outback" appeared on the screen on December 11, 2010. The crew consists of two people. The author D. Komarov and the director of the video. D. Komarov is a non-changing program narrator, and the video directors were 3. The program is published in Russian. The program is released on the Ukrainian TV channel "1+1", and is also broadcasted on Friday "Friday" and the Belarusian "Belarus 2". From 2010 to 2019, 10 seasons, 151 issues lasting 60 minutes were broadcasted.
Every season "The World on the Outback" is a series of programs devoted to one country. D. Komarov "hunts" on the exclusive - lives in predators with wild tribes, takes part in exotic rites, in short, shows places not damaged by civilization. It is interesting that D. Komarov travels to countries where it is not accepted to travel with tourist tours. The program allows the viewer to see rare traditions and unique rituals, incredible acquaintances with aborigines.
The idea of the program - to go as far as possible from the standard. And if it is a tourist place - to look for an unusual approach, display it in an unusual perspective: to find some unusual "chips", rituals, traditions.
D. Komarov believes that today practically there are no places where there are no tourists at all. However, there are still places that could not spoil civilization. And that's where he travels.
"Eagle or Rescue" is a cognitive TV program about travel, which goes on TV channels Inter, K1. Also, it was broadcasted on TV channels from other countries - "Friday! (Russia), Seventh Channel (Kazakhstan), TTV (Poland), Belarus 2 (Belarus), 3+ (Estonia) .
On the 13-th of February, 2011 - the first show of the program "Eagle or Rescue" on the TV channel "Inter" took place. Currently, there are 21 season, 430 issues. The program had 17 presenters. Unlike the program "The World on the Outback", which positions itself as a documentary-cognitive-entertaining project, the program "Eagle or Rescue" is a cognitive-entertaining program with elements of the show, which lasts 37-55 minutes. The program is also available in Russian.
In the scenario of the program, each weekend, two presidents go to different cities of the world. One presenter must live on Saturday and Sunday for $ 100 (for European countries - 88 euros or more, according to the current exchange rate), while the other one can spend unlimited funds stored on a gold card. To decide which of them will live as a millionaire, and who will learn to survive, throwing a coin before each trip, and every time he decides an eagle or a tackle.
In contrast to the "World on the Outback", where the team consists of only 2 people, the program "Eagle and Rescue" of both hosts is accompanied by a crew of 5-6 people.
In "Eagle and Rescue" the duration of the trip is 2 days - weekend in the world-famous tourist city of the world, with acquaintance with the famous and well-known tourist destinations. The main task of the program is to entertain and give you application information about your destination. The program seems to become an advertising guide: it shows scenic landscapes, gives advice on places of leisure, cuisine, entertainment and other tourist information.
The tradition of the program is that from the 2nd season, in each city, the leaders hide a sealed bottle, inside which are wrapped up $ 100 with a note that the viewers could find them. The lucky man who has found the treasure can send a photo or video proof to the address indicated in the note.Every season the travel-project "Eagle and the Rescue" rose in the rankings higher and the higher, along with expanding the geography of the shows - in addition to Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, the project saw the audience of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Moldova.
So, two programs are broadcasted on Ukrainian television channels 7-8 years. Each of them offers its own special format and always tries to surprise the viewer, keep it in tension and interest. Also important elements of the success of travel-shows are the charisma of the narrator and operator's work. In the "Eagle and Rescue", the conductors are recognizable faces, the journalists behave naturally in the frame. And the leader of the "World on the Outback" D. Komarov became famous due to this program and is now one of the most enviable bachelors of Ukraine. D. Komarov believes that travel programs in Ukraine will never be too much - although there are already many of them at the moment. Firstly, there is a high cost of the product, while organizing even a modest film expedition to several people is "tens of thousands of dollars." In his opinion, it is much more profitable to buy a ready-made foreign product than to take off his own. But despite the high cost on Ukrainian TV channels there were and there are quite a variety of travel programs.
If you analyze the video of these programs, it is worth noting the professionalism of filming. I. Posipaiko notes that the technical production of the show is not complicated: it is enough to have camera, four lenses, sheikdom, lamp, operator and two narrators (Veremchuk, 2011), as well as a smartphone. For example, in the program "Europe for a penny" there are cadres, where the host shoots only on her smartphone. And in the program "The World to the Outbreak," where D. Komarov solves the Brazilian piracy center (season 10, 13 release of the program), he warned the viewers who would shoot on one small camera, on glasses with a small built-in camera, and record on Voice recorder in order not to attract unnecessary attention.
Results of the survey. We interviewed 400 regular viewers of travel programs. There were questions where respondents could choose only one answer option, and there were also questions that contained several options for answers. Also, viewers of TV programs were given the opportunity to add variants of answers by their own. The following age groups were interviewed -
18-24 years old - 47.5 % of respondents, 25-40 years - 37 %, 41-50 years - 10.5 %, 51-65 years - 2.5 %, 65 and more - 2.5%. The survey was attended by 76 % of women and 24 % of men.
Such an uneven distribution is because the large part of respondents was students and lecturers of the Department of journalism, National University Lviv Polytechnic, and they are mostly women.
According to the survey 42 % of respondents viewed travel programs at least 1 time a week, 37 % once a month, only 7.5 % of respondents are very fond of this genre and watch travel programs every day. Other respondents are watching the transmission of this type of genre when there is a free moment or when they accidentally come across on TV or the Internet. But they still refer to themselves as permanent viewers of travel programs, because they look at them for years, although rarely. It is interesting that the audience of travel programs watch them on TV and on the Internet (the official pages of TV channels and broadcasts in a Youtube) is almost the same - 49 % and 49.5 %, and 1.5 % of those who were surveyed watch such programs on the TV and on the Internet.
How often do you watch travel programs?
■ 1 Lime j week I ltirncamonlh ■ every day ■ when have Tree Lime
Fig. 1. How people watch travel TV-program
The most popular among the spectators are the programs - Eagle and Rescue (76 %), The world on backside (65.5 %), Zarobitchany (22 %), Eurocell (13,5 %), Europe for a penny (9.5 %), Around M (4.5 %), Around the World in 48 Hours (3 %), The Fairy of Wanderings (2.5 %) and Megapolis (2.5 %). Other programs are viewed by 1% of respondents. It should be noted that the first four programs are currently broadcasted on television and they have good ratings, so the respondents are watching them. Other broadcasts are only on the Internet and they were filmed a few years ago, so the information they provide is not always relevant, especially with regard to prices and timetables for transport, visas, etc. 50% of respondents answered that they prefer only Ukrainian programs, 28 % besides domestic watch also other programs that are not manufactured in Ukraine, and 18.5 % do not pay attention to the country of production and the language of the program at all, and it is important for them to get interesting content and format of transmission. Only 3.5 % of respondents favor only foreign transmissions. Among the foreign programs popular are Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (USA), Planet Earth (United Kingdom), Departures (Canada), An idiot abroad (United Kingdom), Passport that's it Europe (USA), Time (Russia), Woman at the End of the World (Poland), Life of Others (Russia), Survival with Edom Sheport (Russia) and others.
The audience pays attention to the narrator and content of the program. It is important for viewers who is announcer, how he behaves on the camera and his charisma (57 %). Also, the audience draws attention to such fact in the program as how complete the information is, how truthful (68.5 %). The viewers pay attention to the realistic information presented in the program and whether it is possible to recreate the route of the presenter (52.5 %). It is equally important and which frames are selected for programs and their quality (19.5 %). Also, the audience draws attention to the practical tips and recommendations that guide the program (53 %). And the
presence of the narrator in the frame is not important for the audience, only 4.5 % believe that he necessarily must be present in the frame. A large majority of the audience (86.5 %) is convinced that information about the country in the travel programs should be presented objectively, it should show not only tourist routes, but also unsightly places and customs and traditions of the region. 54 % of the respondents repel (dislike) the false information that is provided in the travel programs. And 34 % is unpleasant, disgusting, when the conductor pings to the camera, behaves not naturally, exaggerating the situation. 10% of viewers cannot watch shocking and aesthetically-unattractive footage. Also, viewers do not like the travel-advertising programs.
In spite of this, 69 % of respondents trust the information which is provided in the travel programs they watch. Only 11 % do not trust at all, and the rest of the audience is trying to critically analyze the information that is presented in the programs.
Accordingly, the audience is the most interested in the information about interesting place for tourism and leisure (89 %), the history of the country, its development (49 %), catering and accommodation prices (55.5 %), earnings and attitudes towards migrant workers (26, 5 %), features of the route, preparation and a way to get to the sights (38.5 %).
As for the genres of travel- programs, most viewers love to watch the reality-show (71.5 %), where everything happens in their eyes, leading an intrigue and risking in their lives. Such programs include the program "The world on the outback", some series of "Eagle and Rescue". 7,5 % of the respondents prefer entertainment shows, where the narrators show exotic places, beautiful landscapes, strange and extraordinary things, as well as experimenting with everyone ("Let's go" program). 10% like travel program-transformation, where journalists come abroad to try different professions. To such a genre of the program belongs "Zarobitchany", where the presenter in each country is hired to work and tests the laborer's bread on his own. 6 %, in addition to information about the country, want to hear and see the real stories of the lives of local residents, to find out how they live in these or other localities, countries. Elements of this genre are in the program "The world on the outback," and the to the life story genre entirely corresponds program "Our". 2.5 % enjoy the easy and freeware format, where there are various games, fun, quests and competitions ("Treasures of the World "). Also, 2.5 % of television viewers like playing travel show with clear rules about dating, and in the Ukrainian media space broadcasts the program "Around M", which belongs to this genre.
Although viewers love to watch travel programs, but the length of transmission is important to them. Only 4.5 % are ready to watch the program longer than 45 minutes, the most optimal duration of the travel program is 31-45 minutes (39 %). 36 % of viewers are convinced that the program should last from 21 to 30 minutes. There are some (10 %) who believe that it is enough and up to 11-20 minutes to provide basic information about the country. But there are 10.5 % of viewers, for whom the duration is irrelevant, they can watch the travel programs for a long time and enjoy them.
Interesting for 29 % of spectators will be thematic travel programs about diverse types of hobbies in different countries (fishing, handmade, hunting, etc.), culinary travel shows (42.5 %), education in different countries (41.5 %), secular chronicles, life stories of famous people living in one or another country (30 %). Also, viewers are interested in the culture of countries, art, theaters, extreme rest, etc.
Successfully picked up and well-known narrator of the travel program contributes to the success and ratings of it, so says 59 % of the respondents. Only 19 % of those who polled believe that a well-known lead person does not influence on program ratings, and 22 % of viewers are convinced that it matters whether this well-known leader fits into the program format.
So, travel programs are interesting to the audience, they are popular, and most importantly, they encourage their viewers to travel (76 %). With the introduction of no visa regime Ukrainians began to travel more. In 2018, the number of tourists increased by 6 % compared with 2018. Every third Ukrainian travels alone, every second - in the company of relatives or friends, so it's so important for Ukrainians to show how to plan their own journeys on their own. Although Ukrainians travel twice less than Europeans, but plan to increase the number of trips abroad almost twice in the next two years - this is the result of a study conducted by VisaGlobal Travel Intentions Study 2017. And Ukrainians are traveling on a small budget. According to the received data, on average Ukrainian citizens spend on travel $ 979, which is almost twice less than the average amount worldwide - $ 1.793. And this is on 12.9 % more than
in 2017. Overall in 2018 Ukrainian tourists received services related to travel on 7.82 billion dollars USA, which is on 9.8 % more than a year earlier. Ukrainians often travel to Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Belarus, Slovakia, Egypt and Turkey. It is expected the demand and increase of trips to Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece and Denmark, Austria and Cyprus, Latvia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia and Switzerland.
Do travel programs encourage you to travel?
Fig. 2. Do travel programs encourage people to travel?
5. Conclusion
As we have written above our respondents answered that well known narrator increases the ratings of the travel program. But in the history of travel programs in the Ukrainian media market there were already such situations that well-known faces of the leaders did not help to increase program ratings, and in general, not known before, the narrator became the brand of the channel and the program. A vivid example is D. Komarov, the leading program of the "World on the outback" program, which, before the release of the program, was not known and now he is one of the most recognizable television faces. Not increased the ratings of the the program "Cinderella for Baskov" the famous Russian singer N. Baskov. In our opinion, he did not fit in the format of the transmission and looked in it not natural. And the fact that the program, despite the interesting format did not bring the expected ratings, we also refer to the unsuccessful selected presenter.
At the same time, it is important for viewers to watch travel programs with common, natural narrator, which behaves as his audience and has the same problems. It is confirmed by the program "World on the outback", which is one of the most popular in Ukraine.
So, based on the theoretical and empirical research we offer our recommendations for creating successful rating programs:
Targeting the tastes of the audience. In order to survive the travel project must be oriented towards a wide audience and, apart from the cognitive and documentary component, have an entertainment component as well. According to Dmitry Komarov, "difficult mountain climbing or car rally, reproduction of endangered species of birds in the jungle, or detailed recipes for sauce to rice by breeding recipe is definitely interesting, but only for a narrow circle of people. You need more vital topics, as well as situations that the viewer could try on himself in person. At the screen, a person must rest. Sergei Mamayev believes that the travel-show is currently to be "either the most insolent, or practical" (Veremchuk, 2011).
Leading celebrities or fans of their cause. The well-known and recognizable faces of the narrators help the program to attract attention to the project and attract the audience. M. Sebova believes that the announcer should be "alive" and natural in the frame, not afraid to show itself as it really is, though it is really difficult. You need to live everything in the picture just as you would have lived all these moments in real life. Few people can do this. Those who can become better (Yurkevichus, 2017). And true fans of their business will go to various risks and dangers to show the best moments to their audience. D. Komarov tells us that the most difficult thing is to gather a team of like-minded people and real fans of travel, which are ready not to regret themselves and
are able to see what will then be interesting for schoolchildren, housewives and businessmen (Veremchuk, 2011).
Not a program format. It's hard to surprise the current viewer, there is a need to offer something that he has not done yet. Therefore, standard programs are not so much interested in the audience. I. Posipayko, author and host of "Around the World in 48 Hours," also notes that formatting is not typical for travel programs: "I have never seen purchased and adapted tourist formats, I'm not sure what it is. After all, everything is very authorial - this is the editorial work and the charisma of the narrator, in the end, good luck, such an adaptation is impossible. Tourist projects are all very personal. "In particular, even technically and organizationally to get on the same events, the same places are very difficult (Veremchuk, 2011).
Presence effect. There should be a "presence effect" in the travel programs. It is the presence effect that we consider the main success factor for any travel program. After all, if there is this factor - it is the viewer's trust. This program looks realistic, it is full of emotions and feelings.
Coverage of information from the positive and negative sides. Typically, Ukrainian travel-oriented programs prefer the coverage of only "good" information about a particular place/city/country. In addition to the "pluses" it is important to present both the negative sides, if they are really important. Such a two-way content feed will ensure the viewer's confidence and the ability to create his or her own opinion about the particular object of the story. It will also be correct in terms of journalism standards and will act as a "balance of mind" standard. The country/city must be displayed realistically, not decorated.
Hybridization of genres and creating new ones. According to research results, there is not one "best" theme for travel programs that is, depending on your preferences, viewers like different topics. Successful programs are those that combine multiple themes. Accordingly, such a wide range of topics requires the combination of several genres to professionally and harmoniously provide one or other types of the information in travel program.
Combine the themes and cover them as much as possible. According to data, the most popular programs are those that provide a variety of information, combining topics. These can be combinations, such as information about the history of the country, its current economic status, prices, tourist attractions and places of entertainment (if the main focus is the country). If the main object of the program is city/village/place - you can highlight information about the history of origin, local population, prices, traditional food and way of picking up. Travel programs are definitely a positive phenomenon in the Ukrainian mediaspace, because they obey informative, communicative, cultural and recreation function. Moreover, they encourage people to travel more, and it's positively good.
However, there are free niches in the thematic diversity of travel programs. Thus viewers would like to watch travel programs about hobbies in different countries, food and education.
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