Preamble

How to Help Once-Dominant Interview Programs Break Barriers and Gain Popularity in the Digital Intelligence All-Media Era

Taizhou Broadcasting and Television Station, Taizhou, Jiangsu 225300, China

Abstract

[Objective] In the digital intelligence all-media era, traditional television media faces intense冲击 from new media platforms, with its living space increasingly compressed and both viewership and ratings declining sharply. The former glory of television interview programs has faded. To change this situation, television professionals urgently need to break through their comfort zones, construct a full-media ecological communication system, and promote a two-way奔赴 between positive energy and high traffic in radio, television, and new media—generating high traffic from positive energy and ensuring positive energy flows within high traffic. [Method] This paper focuses on how television interview programs have gradually declined from their once-dominant era and explores how traditional media professionals can accelerate their adaptation to the current media convergence era. [Results/Conclusion] The study provides pathways for interview programs to break barriers and measures to gain popularity.

Keywords: Digital Intelligence All-Media Era; Dominating Screens; Interview Programs; Path-breaking Strategies; Media Convergence

Classification Code: G211
Document Code: A
Article ID: 1671-0134(2025)05-44-04
DOI: 10.19483/j.cnki.11-4653/n.2025.05.008
Citation Format: Ji Yang. How to Help Once-Dominant Interview Programs Break Barriers and Gain Popularity in the Digital Intelligence All-Media Era [J]. China Media Technology, 2025, 32(5): 44-47.

The digital intelligence all-media era has fundamentally transformed public lifestyles, during which people's spiritual and psychological structures have undergone earth-shaking changes. Fewer audiences patiently watch programs in front of television sets, while the demographic seeking information from new media continues to grow. Television interview programs must proactively adapt to these changes in the public and social environment, breaking barriers to forge new paths suitable for their development.

2. Pathways for Interview Programs to Break Barriers

The emergence and rapid development of new media technologies have ushered in the media convergence era, transforming public entertainment patterns. Traditional television has suffered severe audience loss, with its living space significantly compressed. What users truly care about is content relevant to their daily lives [4]. Today, most people use mobile phones to watch social media accounts or interactive platforms like TikTok. Audiences are no longer passive recipients of information in traditional media environments but rather users navigating multiple media platforms [5]. This has directly led to a substantial decline in television viewership and ratings, with well-crafted interview programs failing to achieve effective dissemination. To address this situation, television professionals must find breakthrough methods to restore former glory. They must actively enter the networked, digital, and intelligent track using instant communication methods and new media platforms that integrate text, graphics, audio, and visual expressions, including voice, symbolic expressions, emojis, micro-videos, and live interactions [6], while preserving their inherent traditions and advantages. Only by continuously adjusting structure, optimizing content, and broadening channels can they capture larger market shares and consolidate the dominant position of mainstream ideology.

1. The Era When Interview Programs Dominated Screens

Television personality interview programs originated in the United States, with their core format being one-on-one interaction between host and guest, focusing on the guest's personal stories and perspectives [1]. The 1993 debut of Oriental Live Studio marked the true establishment of television talk shows in China. Once-dominant television interview programs enjoyed tremendous popularity, with high viewership ratings and content that became daily conversation topics. CCTV's Tell It Like It Is and Dialogue were particularly representative. Tell It Like It Is, produced by renowned CCTV producer Shi Jian in 1996, achieved a peak market share of 70%, inspiring numerous imitations across television stations [2]. The program's success stemmed from addressing hot social topics while maintaining quality control through the host's command of program rhythm and the production team's craftsmanship. Dialogue, launched by CCTV's Economic Department in 2000 after restructuring, featured trending topics and personalities for in-studio discussions, with vivid host performances that revealed story conflicts and sparked viewing frenzies after broadcast. However, in the all-media era, as audiences gained more entertainment options, traditional interview programs failed to effectively adapt their broadcast formats, leading to gradual decline [3].

3. Measures for Interview Programs to Gain Popularity

Formerly, programs like Tell It Like It Is and Dialogue typically ran for one hour or nearly one hour, with immersive in-depth interviews as the main format. However, new media platforms such as Toutiao, Weibo, WeChat Official Accounts, and TikTok have diverted most of the television media audience and become primary channels for news consumption [7]. Based on these changes, television professionals must adapt to the current social environment to regain popularity and attract public attention. The following specific measures are proposed for interview programs to gain popularity in the media convergence era.

3.1 Leveraging Platforms to Focus on Public Opinion Dynamics

Television professionals can utilize platforms to increase program popularity, promote content, and continuously optimize programs after gaining sufficient attention to gradually expand their audience base. In 2024, more online social platforms featuring audio-visual content emerged, though previously such platforms did not primarily profit from audio-visual programs. Television professionals can emulate this approach by using network platforms with massive user bases to promote interview programs or upload interview videos, leveraging these platforms' user communities to expand program influence.

For example, the author’s organization launched the converged media interview program Entrepreneurs Speak. During early development, the research team discovered through grassroots interviews that many private entrepreneurs lacked confidence in development. Against this backdrop, the program was born in June 2023 as a monthly show featuring two to three entrepreneurs representing Taizhou's characteristic industries and development directions, plus one expert, engaging in face-to-face dialogue around a theme. Through scene-setting, the program guides entrepreneurs to share development journeys and successful experiences while periodically offering confidence-boosting "golden quotes." Experts provide commentary and suggestions on industry development, corporate growth, and business environments, while relevant departments and young entrepreneur representatives listen and interact on-site. By asking about needs, strategies, and effectiveness from enterprises, the program aims to create a platform for solving corporate problems, serving party committees and government decision-making, facilitating government-enterprise communication, and enabling enterprise exchanges. For each episode, station leaders lead planning teams in deep corporate interviews. The recording site uses electronic screens and poster series to showcase entrepreneurs, with ceremonial elements like red carpets, signature walls, handprint engravings, trophy presentations, and return visits with photo albums, making entrepreneurs feel respected and celebrated like "model workers" and "heroes." Before and after broadcast, the program releases trailers and short videos of entrepreneurs' "golden quotes" on Weibo, micro-videos, and TikTok, achieving three-dimensional, comprehensive all-media dissemination with positive social impact. Many viewers and netizens noted that through sharing experiences of outstanding entrepreneurs, the program actively promoted "entrepreneurial spirit" and strengthened confidence and development.

3.2 Active Interaction and Innovative Questioning Methods

As social development changes public demands, unchanging dialogue patterns bore audiences. Interview programs must adjust their inherent models and styles, such as increasing interaction and changing program progression. High-interactivity programs provide more advertising exposure opportunities and more precise user targeting, generating higher advertising revenue for media [8]. Many current programs develop diverse formats around Weibo's exclusive characteristics, including changes in interview program formats. Hosts find topics from Weibo comments and trending hashtags, advancing programs based on these topics. By adopting audience opinions, programs achieve active interaction, changing inherent interview patterns, enhancing novelty, and closing the distance with audiences.

For example, the trending-topic decoding interview reality show Beyond the Heat selects the top three questions from trending searches as interview content. Meanwhile, guests are provided with Weibo emoji standees to answer trending topics, attracting more audience attention through this innovative host-guest interaction method.

3.3 Highlighting Integration and Breaking Inherent Patterns

Users demand not only information but also emotional connection. With the "blowout" development of short videos, "emotion" has become an indispensable element in information consumption. Beyond focusing on a single protagonist, interview programs can also feature the protagonist's friends, sharing interesting stories through friendly conversations and everyday actions to meet audience emotional needs.

For instance, the program Mao Xue Wang uses "Mao Xue Wang's Home" as the main setting, where Mao Buyi and Li Xueqin gather each episode or receive visits from friends. Audiences can sense the authentic life atmosphere and sincere friendship between them, warming viewers. While ensuring content quality, the program integrates various variety show elements including gift-giving visits, makeup transformations, and camera漂流, maintaining sustained audience attention.

3.4 Using Big Data to Precisely Target Audiences

With the practical application of AI technology, technological channels have opened up across topic selection, material collection, content production, and content dissemination [9]. Using this technology, interview programs can deeply explore audience needs and achieve more refined operations. The well-known interview program A Date with Luyu successfully used big data technology to achieve precise matching between program content and audiences. By analyzing multi-dimensional data including viewing habits, social media interactions, and search engine trends, the program accurately grasped target audience interests and needs, helping teams select topics closer to audience preferences and optimizing guest selection to significantly enhance program appeal and influence.

For topic selection, A Date with Luyu uses big data analysis to follow social hotspots and audience interests, selecting topics with maximum discussion potential and attention. By analyzing trending topic hashtags on social media and keyword data from search engines, the program team discovers audience interest in certain social phenomena and quickly plans relevant interviews, inviting guests for in-depth discussions. This data-driven approach ensures timeliness and greatly enhances program relevance and appeal. For guest selection, the program similarly uses big data technology to comprehensively evaluate guests' social media influence and fan interaction, selecting guests who match program themes and have broad audience appeal. This not only enhances program attention and discussion but also strengthens brand image. Big data technology also plays an important role in program promotion. Through intelligent recommendation systems, A Date with Luyu can precisely push programs to potential users based on viewing history and preferences. This personalized promotion greatly improves program exposure and click-through rates, effectively expanding audience reach. The program also uses big data technology for real-time monitoring and analysis of user feedback after broadcast, helping teams timely understand audience evaluations and suggestions to continuously optimize program content and format, maintaining close connections with users.

3.5 Strengthening Brand Building to Enhance Program Influence

In the increasingly competitive digital intelligence all-media era, interview programs must focus on strengthening brand building to enhance influence and public recognition. Brand building is a systematic project covering not only visual identity—such as program names, LOGO design, and host image—but also deeper program philosophy and cultural connotation transmission.

Establishing a clear brand positioning is key to interview program success. In a market crowded with programs, only uniqueness and exclusivity can attract audience attention, requiring production teams to deeply understand target audience needs, find different entry points from competitors, and create unique brand images. For example, the interview program Thirteen Invitations has successfully carved out its niche through profound cultural insight and unique interview perspectives.

Establishing good fan interaction mechanisms is crucial for brand building. Fans are a program's most valuable resource, and their word-of-mouth dissemination and sustained attention are important foundations for expanding influence. Production teams should actively build bridges for fan interaction through online and offline fan meetings, Q&A sessions, voting activities, etc., to enhance fan participation and belonging, cultivating loyal audiences.

3.6 Innovating Program Formats to Enrich User Experience

3.6.1 Introducing Diverse Interactive Segments

Traditional interview program formats are often limited to dialogue between host and guest, with relatively weak audience participation. To break this pattern, interview programs can actively introduce diverse interactive segments to deepen user involvement. For example, setting up audience Q&A segments at program sites where audiences can directly ask guests questions through screening or random selection not only enhances participation and immersion but also makes programs more responsive to actual audience needs. Production teams can also fully utilize social media channels to continuously monitor user preferences and needs, timely adjusting program content to ensure it remains current and appealing [10]. The program Very Quiet Distance skillfully integrates user interaction segments through on-site questions and social media interaction, establishing closer connections between users and guests. This innovative interaction model enhances program观赏性 while further consolidating its position in users' hearts.

3.6.2 Combining Virtual Reality Technology

As technology develops, virtual reality (VR) has gradually penetrated various fields, and interview programs can attempt to integrate this cutting-edge technology to provide more immersive viewing experiences. Applying VR technology is an important development trend in the radio and television industry [11]. Through VR, production teams can create realistic virtual scenes where users feel as if they are at the program site. In this environment, users can more intuitively sense guests' emotional changes and program atmosphere, obtaining richer viewing experiences. VR technology can also provide more personalized viewing choices, allowing users to select different viewing angles and scenes according to their preferences, greatly enhancing participation and satisfaction.

VR technology can also help interview programs break through traditional static "frame-style" viewing, introducing users into comprehensive, multi-dimensional interactive spaces that deepen user-program interaction and provide more creative freedom for production teams. As VR technology matures and becomes more widespread, interview program formats and viewing methods will undergo revolutionary changes. The combination of interview programs and VR technology will usher in a new era of immersive, interactive media experiences, allowing users to enjoy unprecedented integration of technology and art while consuming high-quality content.

3.6.3 Conducting Offline Activities

In the digital intelligence all-media era, interview programs have begun experimenting with offline activities to establish closer connections with users, providing platforms for face-to-face exchanges with guests and hosts to deepen mutual understanding and emotional bonds.

In recent years, the acclaimed interview program In-Depth Dialogue successfully held a series of offline activities, becoming an industry highlight. These activities attracted large user participation and further enhanced program influence in the public consciousness. In-Depth Dialogue's offline activities created rare opportunities for users to interact directly with program guests and hosts. At these events, users could ask questions, share opinions about the program, and even participate in impromptu discussions. This authentic, direct exchange greatly enhanced user participation and immersion.

Beyond interaction segments, activities featured diverse content such as guest sharing sessions and themed discussions, allowing users to gain deeper understanding of guests' journeys and stories behind the program. These presentations enriched activity connotations and provided users with more comprehensive program understanding. The offline activities also cleverly integrated digital intelligence all-media elements, featuring real-time interactive voting and bullet comment sections, enabling users to participate in program discussions and feedback in real-time. The production team used big data and AI technology to analyze user participation and feedback to better optimize future program content and activity planning.

These offline activities not only narrowed the distance between program and users but also brought more exposure opportunities. Through widespread dissemination on social media and network platforms, In-Depth Dialogue's offline activities attracted more potential user attention, further expanding the program's audience group. By conducting offline activities, the program successfully extended its influence from online to offline, providing users with more authentic, in-depth interactive experiences. This approach not only enhanced user identification and loyalty but also injected new vitality into the program's development in the digital intelligence all-media era.

3.7 Attempting Cross-Border Cooperation

In the digital intelligence all-media era, cross-border cooperation has become an effective way to enhance program influence. Interview programs can attempt cooperation with other fields to create uniquely distinctive interview content. This cooperation not only brings freshness to users but also helps programs expand audience groups and increase market share.

For example, Ice Hockey Kids is an interview program that successfully attempted cross-border cooperation, cleverly integrating sports and entertainment elements by inviting numerous sports stars and entertainment celebrities for in-depth interviews. This unique format not only attracted large numbers of sports enthusiasts but also sparked strong interest in sports among ordinary users. Through this cross-border approach, Ice Hockey Kids successfully expanded its audience base and enhanced program visibility and influence. The program also conducted deep cooperation with related industries such as sports brands and event organizations, further enriching program connotations and extensions. This cross-border integration not only provided users with more diversified content experiences but also created more possibilities for commercial cooperation and maximized brand value. The success of Ice Hockey Kids exemplifies the innovation possibilities and market expansion potential of programs in the digital intelligence all-media era.

The digital intelligence all-media era also requires high-quality content as support and guarantee [12]. Programs must select hot topics and emotionally resonant topics to create good on-site atmosphere. Journalists and hosts involved in creating interview programs must deeply understand interview subjects, refine interview language, and use accessible language and professional knowledge to help audiences understand program information in the shortest time. Meanwhile, interview programs can be re-created multiple times in lightweight formats such as short videos, medium videos, or audio for distribution on network platforms, better fitting different audience viewing and listening habits.

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Author Biography: Ji Yang (1977—), male, from Taixing, Jiangsu, bachelor's degree, senior reporter, research direction: journalism.

(Editor in Charge: Li Jing)