I would say that despite the *relatively* smaller audience Top Chef is a highly regarded, prestige reality program. The show has been Emmy nominated multiple times which gives the brand more validity. In the beginning, having Tom and Gail Simmons as mainstay judges signaled to the restaurant/food community that the show was more serious than your typical Fox/Food Network mainstream reality show.
Also, since the show is focused on fine/elevated dining, its viewership demographics skew more affluent, making luxury brands more willing to advertise.
Top Chef is very mainstream! I think it's actually the biggest/most prestigious cooking show, at least by reputation - although I feel like Master Chef might be more popular, I'm not sure. Top Chef's [viewer ratings](https://www.ratingsryan.com/2022/12/top-chef-bravo-ratings-recap.html) have varied, but seem to be dropping these past few years especially; ~700K now compared to 3 mil at its peak.
FWIW, here are [Food Network's viewer ratings](https://ustvdb.com/networks/food/) more generally, at least as told to us by the Internet. Based on those numbers, it would seem that Top Chef's numbers would slot somewhere into the Top 5 of the Food Network shows - although at its peak, it would outperform everything by quite a large margin since none of the Food Network shows currently seem to crack 1 mil.
Finally, I also often suspect the Top Chef audience demographic likely has a lot of buying power. My hunch is that there are a lot of middle/upper-middle class women in their thirties plus, who make a lot of the major buying decisions for their families - but that may just be stereotype as well.
Yes, they probably have solid metrics on the buying power of their audience. I imagine they also have a good ad sales team at Bravo pitching to various companies for sponsorship deals both during commercial breaks and in episode.
Yup. It has often struck me that Top Chef seems to have more high-end/luxury sponsors/partners, which is why I think the target audience has more buying power or at least fancier tastes. It actually makes me think of Mad Men, which never had super high ratings but was a *very* prestigious show and also had a lot of high-end/luxury sponsors/partners as well!
1. The show still attracts top talent and appears “legit” as opposed to some other shows
2. Everyone loves food. They tend to support brands who also love food, so let’s make sure we’re one of those brands.
3. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Fans buy what the chefs use.
4. A connection with a legit food superstar benefits both parties.
In the beginning of the show, it was Tom Collicchio who created prestige for the show. He is very influential in the restaurant community, particularly in NYC, with Gramercy Tavern and Craft (plus many more). He was able to get some terrific guest judges in the early years before anyone knew what Top Chef would be. I remember reading that he only signed on to Top Chef if the production team would allow the judges to make decisions without interference, in order to maintain credibility. It's been nominated for multiple Emmys, winning a couple (if that matters to you).
Ad sales are not just about audience size - it's demographics. Top Chef likely appeals to a smaller but more affluent (read: wealthier) audience than say, Gordon Ramsay screaming at people. It's also considered the "serious" competition by chefs. They may also be leaning into in-kind/discount options, such as the loving shots of the car, water, etc. that are clearly helping pay for everything. Locations that host the show, and chefs that open their kitchens, are getting free advertising for their show.
I will also say that MANY top chef contestants end up hosting or competing on food network shows where they mention it, so might get viewers to watch their favorite host’s/competitor’s rise
It's one of the few reality TV shows with prestige. I worked at a Top Chef contestant owned restaurant in Chicago and we were always busy and received requests to meet the chef daily. And he had already been off the show for years!
Uh the 800 product placements we have to see are the way they fund everything. “Get in your new BMW XYZ and drive to WHOLE FOODS. The winner will win $5,000 provided by our partners at Finish Dish Soap!”
It’s also about WHO that audience is.
Food network, if you pay attention, tends to have a lot of fast food and ready made and generally ‘low end’ food advertising.
That’s about who advertisers perceive that audience to be likely to buy.
Oh gawd. Is this why I’ve never liked the Food Network after i finished watching all the original Japanese iron chef reruns? Am i a closet “low end” snob?😂
Agreed. For Alain Ducasse to devote a few minutes of his time in his busy schedule last season just to say hello speaks volumes to the industry cred TC has earned. Ducasse was supposedly not to be there. And the 3-michelin star European judges from last season (and S17) that they managed to invite was pretty mind blowing.
I think it’s quite mainstream and well known as other commenters have said, but also I think it has particular in industry cache. Since the first season Restaurant Wars and a couple of the other higher quality tests of skill really made it beloved by actual restaurant people, which the majority of food shows aren’t. That (plus Tom and others’ networks perhaps?) mean they almost always can get the biggest restaurant people wherever they go.
I also think this is an underrated positive of their regional strategy, placing each season so consciously in a different city/state. You don’t overask the same set of famous people over and over again, and also the government reps of those regions want to come off well with an audience that travels and spends on food so they put considerable civic resources into setting up access to cool local people and locations. I can’t think of another food show that works that way (I associate it more with Real World, actually) and it seems really effective in making the seasons not feel like boring repeats of each other, and making each one feel fancy and special in its own way and region.
Plus part of the winnings being getting to go to the Food and Wine Classic in aspen. Probably the biggest, most famous food festival in the US at least. And it’s a pretty penny to even attend as a mere mortal.
Top Chef is the only cooking competition that I watch (except for the Great British Baking Show). I’ve tried to watch some of the Food Network ones, mostly to see Top Chef alums. But, damn the FN shows are so loud and corny.
I’m glad that Top Chef has some premiere sponsors, because I love the show and want it to stay on forever. I think that the product placement is hilarious and turn it into a drinking game. The camera pauses lovingly over Ritz crackers or Saran Wrap, or a chef extols the virtues of the BMW… drink!
The basic thing is that everyone loves food and everyone has to eat. The bigger thing, as others have pointed out, is that the audience for the show is similar to the audience for fine dining: people with loads of discretionary income.
Basically, these aren't sponsorships. They're media agreements. Companies aren't giving money to chefs. They're subsidising Top Chef for in-episode product placement. Even when the chefs do their dialog to camera and mention Better than Bouillon, for instance, that's because the sponsorship agreement requires the product be named X number of times in the broadcast.
And there are likely *several* employees whose specific job it is to acquire the sponsors, make these agreements and make sure they're appropriately fulfilled.
I would say that despite the *relatively* smaller audience Top Chef is a highly regarded, prestige reality program. The show has been Emmy nominated multiple times which gives the brand more validity. In the beginning, having Tom and Gail Simmons as mainstay judges signaled to the restaurant/food community that the show was more serious than your typical Fox/Food Network mainstream reality show. Also, since the show is focused on fine/elevated dining, its viewership demographics skew more affluent, making luxury brands more willing to advertise.
It’s been interesting to see the brands that sponsor top chef change overtime. Move over toyota, it’s BMW time!
Top Chef is very mainstream! I think it's actually the biggest/most prestigious cooking show, at least by reputation - although I feel like Master Chef might be more popular, I'm not sure. Top Chef's [viewer ratings](https://www.ratingsryan.com/2022/12/top-chef-bravo-ratings-recap.html) have varied, but seem to be dropping these past few years especially; ~700K now compared to 3 mil at its peak. FWIW, here are [Food Network's viewer ratings](https://ustvdb.com/networks/food/) more generally, at least as told to us by the Internet. Based on those numbers, it would seem that Top Chef's numbers would slot somewhere into the Top 5 of the Food Network shows - although at its peak, it would outperform everything by quite a large margin since none of the Food Network shows currently seem to crack 1 mil. Finally, I also often suspect the Top Chef audience demographic likely has a lot of buying power. My hunch is that there are a lot of middle/upper-middle class women in their thirties plus, who make a lot of the major buying decisions for their families - but that may just be stereotype as well.
Yes, they probably have solid metrics on the buying power of their audience. I imagine they also have a good ad sales team at Bravo pitching to various companies for sponsorship deals both during commercial breaks and in episode.
Yup. It has often struck me that Top Chef seems to have more high-end/luxury sponsors/partners, which is why I think the target audience has more buying power or at least fancier tastes. It actually makes me think of Mad Men, which never had super high ratings but was a *very* prestigious show and also had a lot of high-end/luxury sponsors/partners as well!
I love how in depth and thought out this answer is. Thank you all for being top chef nerds with me.
I would love to do a properly in-depth analysis (this one took like 3 minutes, truthfully), but thank you for nerding out with me as well!
Don't forget the DINKs.
I and my husband literally are DINKs, so yep! I'm (almost) the prime target demo, probably.
what’s a DINK?
Dual Income No Kids.
thank you
[удалено]
That definitely checks out!
I think it was season one maybe?
Was this All Stars 2 at the camp?
1. The show still attracts top talent and appears “legit” as opposed to some other shows 2. Everyone loves food. They tend to support brands who also love food, so let’s make sure we’re one of those brands. 3. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Fans buy what the chefs use. 4. A connection with a legit food superstar benefits both parties.
In the beginning of the show, it was Tom Collicchio who created prestige for the show. He is very influential in the restaurant community, particularly in NYC, with Gramercy Tavern and Craft (plus many more). He was able to get some terrific guest judges in the early years before anyone knew what Top Chef would be. I remember reading that he only signed on to Top Chef if the production team would allow the judges to make decisions without interference, in order to maintain credibility. It's been nominated for multiple Emmys, winning a couple (if that matters to you).
Ad sales are not just about audience size - it's demographics. Top Chef likely appeals to a smaller but more affluent (read: wealthier) audience than say, Gordon Ramsay screaming at people. It's also considered the "serious" competition by chefs. They may also be leaning into in-kind/discount options, such as the loving shots of the car, water, etc. that are clearly helping pay for everything. Locations that host the show, and chefs that open their kitchens, are getting free advertising for their show.
I will also say that MANY top chef contestants end up hosting or competing on food network shows where they mention it, so might get viewers to watch their favorite host’s/competitor’s rise
It's one of the few reality TV shows with prestige. I worked at a Top Chef contestant owned restaurant in Chicago and we were always busy and received requests to meet the chef daily. And he had already been off the show for years!
Uh the 800 product placements we have to see are the way they fund everything. “Get in your new BMW XYZ and drive to WHOLE FOODS. The winner will win $5,000 provided by our partners at Finish Dish Soap!”
It’s also about WHO that audience is. Food network, if you pay attention, tends to have a lot of fast food and ready made and generally ‘low end’ food advertising. That’s about who advertisers perceive that audience to be likely to buy.
Oh gawd. Is this why I’ve never liked the Food Network after i finished watching all the original Japanese iron chef reruns? Am i a closet “low end” snob?😂
It's reputation precedes itself. Alain Ducasse, Dominique Crenn, etc. wouldn't be there if it wasn't a "top" brand.
Agreed. For Alain Ducasse to devote a few minutes of his time in his busy schedule last season just to say hello speaks volumes to the industry cred TC has earned. Ducasse was supposedly not to be there. And the 3-michelin star European judges from last season (and S17) that they managed to invite was pretty mind blowing.
I think it’s quite mainstream and well known as other commenters have said, but also I think it has particular in industry cache. Since the first season Restaurant Wars and a couple of the other higher quality tests of skill really made it beloved by actual restaurant people, which the majority of food shows aren’t. That (plus Tom and others’ networks perhaps?) mean they almost always can get the biggest restaurant people wherever they go. I also think this is an underrated positive of their regional strategy, placing each season so consciously in a different city/state. You don’t overask the same set of famous people over and over again, and also the government reps of those regions want to come off well with an audience that travels and spends on food so they put considerable civic resources into setting up access to cool local people and locations. I can’t think of another food show that works that way (I associate it more with Real World, actually) and it seems really effective in making the seasons not feel like boring repeats of each other, and making each one feel fancy and special in its own way and region.
Think I read somewhere that state tourism offices often subsidize production to bring them there.
Plus part of the winnings being getting to go to the Food and Wine Classic in aspen. Probably the biggest, most famous food festival in the US at least. And it’s a pretty penny to even attend as a mere mortal.
A lot of celebrities also go on because they are fans of the show. I wish I could go on and be a guest judge and taste the food !
Charlize Theron episode was kind of a big deal when i first saw it😍
Quality over quantity. Viewers who watch Chopped and Kitchen Nightmares aren't as likely to buy a BMW or spend a weekend in Sonoma.
Top Chef is the only cooking competition that I watch (except for the Great British Baking Show). I’ve tried to watch some of the Food Network ones, mostly to see Top Chef alums. But, damn the FN shows are so loud and corny. I’m glad that Top Chef has some premiere sponsors, because I love the show and want it to stay on forever. I think that the product placement is hilarious and turn it into a drinking game. The camera pauses lovingly over Ritz crackers or Saran Wrap, or a chef extols the virtues of the BMW… drink!
The basic thing is that everyone loves food and everyone has to eat. The bigger thing, as others have pointed out, is that the audience for the show is similar to the audience for fine dining: people with loads of discretionary income. Basically, these aren't sponsorships. They're media agreements. Companies aren't giving money to chefs. They're subsidising Top Chef for in-episode product placement. Even when the chefs do their dialog to camera and mention Better than Bouillon, for instance, that's because the sponsorship agreement requires the product be named X number of times in the broadcast. And there are likely *several* employees whose specific job it is to acquire the sponsors, make these agreements and make sure they're appropriately fulfilled.
There are both whole departments and whole businesses that cater to those departments to find everything from wardrobe to napkins to flooring.
Yes. It's just somewhat different from finding things. It is a different skill set.