Line up this year’s highest-rating variety shows and they share one thing: none of them was expensive.

The high-spending, large-cast model that dominated recent years has clearly receded. In its place are formats with fewer guests, tighter settings, and momentum built on the relationships between the people on screen.

Lower cost, lower risk

Platforms explain it in practical terms: a smaller format keeps single-season risk manageable and is easier to turn into a returning series. A big production that fails is a loss no one can absorb.

Nobody bets a whole year on one programme any more.— A variety producer

Reaction among makers is more mixed. Some producers argue the constraint has produced more solid work; others worry that years of low budgets will erode the industry’s production capability.