I don’t know if it has something to do with the “Sarah Palin phenomenon”; the scads of scenic artic cruises that shepherd tourists up into the Alaskan waters; or maybe the programmers at Discovery Channel just have a deep freeze on the brain… but whatever the case may be, this network has created several reality-based series set in the cold wilderness of our nation’s 49^th state, including “Alaska: The Last Frontier (TLF),” which began its fifth season on October 4^th.

In the current environment of slowly eroding TV usage levels – which makes it so difficult for television shows to grow their audiences — “Alaska: TLF”  has been a notable exception as it swims against the ebb tide, delivering higher ratings and shares each and every year:

What has been the secret of “Alaska: TLF” that has enabled this series to grow its U.S. household rating 24% (on a compounded annual rate) since its 2011 premiere season?

For one thing, this is an appealing story about family, and for the Kilcher clan that story begins with Richard Yule and his wife, Ruth – Swiss expatriates who carved out a homesteading life in the wilderness of Alaska, and imparted their hard-earned wisdom and practical knowledge to the next generation (and right on down the line, something like five generations and counting.)

The over-arching theme of the series is one of cooperation, preparation and self-reliance as the Kilcher clan prepares for the inevitable frigid, dark cold winters on their 600-acre Alaskan homestead. Each and every Kilcher family member has their own particular skill-set, such as Otto Kilcher (tinkerer and mechanical re-cycler extraordinaire); his wife, Charlotte, who tends to her garden, bee-keeping and chickens; and their son, Eivin, who divides his time between hunting & fishing and subsistence farming. The word is out… their lives – as well as the lives of several other Kilchers – make for compelling TV viewing, and it’s no surprise that the series keeps growing while so many other shows are struggling just to hold on to their audience.

As Rural as it Gets!

Given the outdoor setting for the show (not to mention the rustic, homesteading way of life practiced by the Kilchers), this series attracts as rural an audience that can be found on television today.

The show’s audience is well documented by PersonicX, which is a household-level consumer segmentation analysis that divides practically every home in America into one of seventy unique clusters across an array of demographic, behavior-graphic and lifestyle characteristics. By matching the unique characteristics of PersonicX clusters to their set-top-box panel homes, Rentrak has created PersonicX HH ratings for all the programs they measure.

Out of 70 PersonicX Clusters, we found a baker’s dozen with a minimum 120 cluster rating index (or higher) for “Alaska: TLF.” A quick perusal of the “urbanity” ranking below says it all. The very most rural clusters have the highest household ratings  – a rank of 70 represents the highest rural cluster in the entire family of PersonicX Clusters:

Local Cable Advertising

Local Cable advertising demand for “Alaska: TLF” is strong… and growing quickly. Over the past two seasons (2013 & 2014), more than 100 cable advertisers ordered over 1,000 30-second spots across 39 Viamedia markets. (Source: B.I.G.^SM   database — Copyright © 2015 by Viamedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved)

And within the markets that exhibited advertising on the show over the past two years, we have seen a remarkable 100+% increase in ad investments, driven by both an increase in the number of 30-second spots and higher unit rates.

1)     84% rise in the number of 30-second units;

2)     25% rise in unit pricing;

3)     21% rise due to the multiplicative effect of units sold and pricing.

(Source: B.I.G.^SM   database — Copyright © 2015 by Viamedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved)

In terms of cable advertising categories, all of the reality-based outdoor series (not to mention sports programming) attract a large amount of automotive advertising, and “Alaska: The Last Frontier” is certainly no exception. In fact, automotive’s 63% share in the show is the highest we’ve seen for any series that we’ve blogged about in this space:

The Reality about “Reality TV”

We’ve noted in past blogs that there’s an element of tromp-l’oeil to practically all reality-series and “Alaska: TLF” is no exception. There’s always the ominous life-and-death struggle against the elements and laying away enough food for the winter. But I’m assuming no Kilcher family member (each one of them with a good deal of money and a supermarket or two over in the next town) is going to starve or freeze to death.

Just a guess.

But if you have a certain willing suspension of disbelief, and just follow the Kilcher family as they go about their homesteading lives in the most resourceful and amusing ways, I think you’ll find this show to be highly entertaining. And, if not… no worries. Between the amazing social media following (including live cam views of Charlotte and Otto’s yard and woodshed), along with remarkable annual audience growth, this show – and the Kilchers –will likely forge on for several years to come.

Depend upon it.

For more information on Viamedia, visit www.viamediatv.com.

– Written by Jonathan Sims, VP Media Research, Viamedia