This story was originally published on The Spinoff.
Get in here you lot, because yesterday, NZ On Air announced its Round Tahi 2025 Non-Fiction Funding Decisions. It’s big news for those of us who love documentaries, factual series and podcasts, but it’s even bigger news if you like reality TV. The three biggest funding beneficiaries were comedy panel show 7 Days ($1,493,313), and reality TV shows The Traitors NZ ($1,436,911) and Celebrity Treasure Island ($1,349,000). While 7 Days is an NZOA funding mainstay, it marks the first time that CTI and The Traitors NZ have received NZ On Air funding.
The decision comes as the New Zealand television industry remains in more turmoil than Dame Susan Devoy after a crayfish dinner. TVNZ expects a $49m loss, Sky bought an entire TV channel for a buck and a year ago, it looked like local reality TV might be gone forever. “The challenging media environment has required a response from NZ On Air, as local platforms have been clear they can no longer afford to commercially fund the local content they previously could,” the funding announcement reads. “This is impacting the volume of local stories available for New Zealand audiences, and work in the local production sector.”
