The Voice UK vs. Britain’s Got Talent; Saturday Night Game Theory

The Voice UK vs. Britain’s Got Talent; Saturday Night Game Theory

The Voice UK or Britain’s Got Talent? Both great talent shows that have been the hot subject on everyone’s lips, as well as their twitter, over the past few weeks. Only a short time before the live finals of each, these two shows have been battling it out for views and ratings, and the driving force behind the fight for the prime TV slot comes from the constant competition between the two broadcasting giants, BBC vs. ITV.

So, how does this link with Game Theory? It can be a somewhat complex theory to comprehend, when looking past the basics, but using the example of these two similar programmes, competing for the optimum broadcasting slot, the concept of Nash equilibrium and Game Theory begins to make some sense. Usually, the example of ‘Prisoners Dilemma’ is used to make sense of Game Theory but The Voice UK and BGT seemed much more contemporary!

The definition of Game Theory states that it is a study of tactical relations between ‘players’, whether they are people, firms, governments or other, where the decisions made by one player is dependent on the actions and decisions of another player.

When investigating the link between The Voice and Britain’s Got Talent and Game Theory, it is important to look at the aim of the producers and broadcasters, i.e. to get the most views, higher ratings and therefore make the most profit. These aims can really only be achieved by obtaining the optimal TV slot time which, for a family show, is Saturday evening.

However, in this industry, predicting the actions of other TV channels is important in order to make the best decisions and therefore attain the best outcome. The table below indicates the possible outcomes that are influenced by the decisions made by the BBC and ITV.

		BBC
		Premier The Voice UK Final on Saturday evening	Premier The Voice UK Final another night
ITV	Premier BGT Final on Saturday evening	Audience split – fewer live views overall	BGT wins most views over The Voice
	Premier BGT  Final another night	The Voice wins most views over BGT	Waste chance of acquiring Saturday night audience

This indicates that the best possible outcome for both channels is to premier both talent shows live finals on the same evening, despite having a split audience. This is the Nash equilibrium.

The Nash equilibrium occurs when the decision made by the first player is the best outcome for both players, given the others decision.

There would be little problem caused if the timings of the two live finals weren’t also so similar, as it means that the audience at home will need to choose which final they would prefer to see...