Arena (1975) is a documentary tv series whose audience scores lean most toward older men at 63 out of 100, with comparable appeal to older women (54). Its overall reach is rated mainstream, meaning it addresses a general audience. Measured against a balanced 50-point baseline, it sits 4 points toward men on the gender axis and 9 points toward older viewers on the age axis. On-screen representation tracks close to the expected baseline for its production origin across the groups measured. Its content balance scores as entertainment-first at 0 out of 100, indicating its content choices weight storytelling over explicit messaging. All figures reflect WhatSphere's data-driven audience model rather than a critical opinion of the title.
Synopsis
Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by leading TV executives in Broadcast as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has run since 1 October 1975 with over five hundred episodes made, directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Alan Yentob, Roly Keating, Frederick Baker, Volker Schlondorff and Vikram Jayanti. Arena's subjects are a roll-call of the world's best known cultural figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, from singers Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse to academics Edward Said and Eric Hobsbawm, from writers Jean Genet and V S Naipaul to artists Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. The current series editor is Anthony Wall.
Age: 59 — leans mature
Quadrant Scores
Audience Representation
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Advocacy Over Time in Documentary
The average advocacy score of Documentary titles by release year, with this title marked. Higher is more advocacy-driven.
| Year | Average advocacy | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| 1905 | 0 | 5 |
| 1938 | 2 | 2 |
| 1967 | 0 | 2 |
| 1968 | 4 | 2 |
| 1970 | 0 | 3 |
| 1971 | 0 | 2 |
| 1974 | 0 | 3 |
| 1975 | 5 | 3 |
| 1985 | 0 | 2 |
| 1989 | 0 | 3 |
| 1990 | 0 | 2 |
| 1992 | 0 | 3 |
| 1994 | 0 | 3 |
| 1996 | 0 | 4 |
| 1997 | 0 | 5 |
| 1999 | 0 | 7 |
| 2001 | 1 | 3 |
| 2002 | 1 | 11 |
| 2003 | 1 | 15 |
| 2004 | 0 | 9 |
| 2005 | 1 | 11 |
| 2006 | 0 | 20 |
| 2007 | 0 | 9 |
| 2008 | 1 | 13 |
| 2009 | 0 | 5 |
| 2010 | 0 | 2 |
| 2011 | 0 | 9 |
| 2012 | 0 | 3 |
| 2013 | 0 | 8 |
| 2014 | 0 | 5 |
| 2015 | 0 | 3 |
| 2018 | 1 | 12 |
| 2019 | 0 | 7 |
| 2020 | 1 | 17 |
| 2021 | 1 | 6 |
| 2022 | 5 | 2 |
| This title (1975) | 0 | 1 |
● This title (1975): advocacy 0 · explore Documentary →
Cast & Crew
Made for the Same Audience
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