Make The Politician Work successfully blends current affairs with the best of factual entertainment to deliver compelling television. Each episode is a must-see event in itself. Who doesn’t want to see their political leaders toughing it out in the REAL world? For 2-3 days one high-ranking politician is plunged into the workplace of ordinary people who are directly affected by this politician’s decision-making in Government. The Minister of Defence will become a soldier, the Minister of Justice goes on guard duty at a jail, or a senior politician takes to the waves to live the life of a lobster fisherman, in this brand new social experiment.
Key Format Points
Entertainment with a political edge
Make The Politician Work Worldwide
New Zealand - Great Southern for TVNZ
Nominated for a BANFF Award 2010
Make The Politician Work pilot episode aired on CBC mid September on a Sunday night after the 10pm CBC National News and retained 80% of the core news audience. The show, which sent the Minister for Defence to Combat Bootcamp, caused a stir in the media and, once it aired, drew a lot of comment from audience (tracked through audience interaction on the CBC website, etc). Make The Politician Work, New Zealand premiered on 24th April 2011 on TV1 and achieved outstanding ratings. The core demographics for the premiere episode were as follows;
14.5 (35.5 share of the audience) against TV2 at 7.0 (16.9) and TV3 at 5.9 (14.2) Household Shoppers
19.8 (a 43.5 share) against TV2 at 5.2 (11.3) and TV3 at 5.6 (12.2) 25-54
11.0 (28.3 share) against TV2 at 6.4 (16.1) and TV3 at 7.0 (17.6) Despite being up against a stronger line up, the second episode maintained these high figures and performed extremely well against all competition. The third episode was also a huge success, achieving an audience of 620,250, making it the third most watched programme that day. Episode four broadcast on 7th May 2011 and saw a further increase in ratings with an audience of 644,990. In the target demographic of 25-54, figures increased from 10.5 to 12.5.