Why the hottest brands are starting to look like reality TV

Дата публикации: 29-07-2026 09:59:00

If video killed the radio star, has social media killed the reality TV star?
Around two decades on from reality TV’s peak—think The Bachelor, American Idol, Big Brother—you no longer have to endure a grueling casting process or hope the editors treat you kindly to get a taste of fame. Instead, creators can now build independent audiences and monetize their content directly on TikTok and Instagram.
The impact on the industry has been widespread, with a once era-defining genre now competing against anyone with a camera. But while unscripted series premieres have plummeted by a third since 2022, and several hit shows like Queer Eye and Jersey Shore Family Vacation have disappeared in 2026 alone, reality TV’s influence remains more relevant than ever. In fact, we’re beginning to see brands themselves act less like advertisers—and more like fly-on-the-wall phenomena. 
The rise of the watchable brand
One example is Sour Strips, a candy brand founded in 2019 by the fitness personality and YouTuber Maxx Chewning. In five short years, Sour Strips hit $24 million in annual revenue before selling to Hershey, the confectionery giant. The secret is presenting the brand’s rise like a bingeworthy reality show.
Maxx’s audience watched him brainstorm, struggle, and scale the business in real time. He filmed himself meeting food scientists, opening the first manufacturing test bags, and physically packing boxes. He broadcast hurdles like risky formula changes, and even used his Instagram and YouTube community for real-time R&D—adjusting packaging and flavors based on immediate feedback.
This “build in public” strategy was a major engine behind Sour Strips’ explosion. Whether or not people are particularly passionate about sour candy, they follow because they’re invested in the story. Will the next retailer agree to stock the products? Will a product launch sell out? What challenge will the founder face next?
How brands’ stories can outperform superiority
For decades, brand building was largely organized around product: “We taste better,” “we look better,” “we last longer.” Product quality still matters, of course. But for a growing number of brands, the product is no longer always the main character.
In many cases, what a business sells becomes an artifact of the story; it’s the outcome of a journey audiences already feel invested in.
Sour Strips demonstrates that if brands are positioned in the right way, consumers will follow them the way they follow creators, influencers, and reality TV casts. They are drawn to the characters, setbacks, pivots, wins, and uncertainty along the way. They are not only buying what a company sells, but watching what a company becomes.
Graza is another example of a company demonstrating how this approach can work even in categories that wouldn’t traditionally inspire fandom. Rather than simply marketing olive oil, the brand invited consumers behind the scenes as it grew, sharing retail milestones, product decisions, and the realities of scaling the business. The bottle may have sparked initial interest, but the journey gave people a reason to keep following. Its recent expansion into adjacent categories, including potato chips, suggests that consumers aren’t simply loyal to a product; they’re invested in where the brand goes next.
This approach changes the way people relate to brands. Consumers who become fans are often willing to support a brand even when it’s no better than or functionally superior to the alternatives. The purchase becomes a way of participating.
Audiences want the messy middle
This trend of documenting business growth is happening when content has never been more abundant. Social media has flooded feeds with brand content, ads, and partnerships, and AI is making it easier than ever to generate them. But the result is that polished content is becoming less distinctive. When everything can be produced quickly, audiences start to value what feels harder to manufacture. Progress and vulnerability are tough to fake. A story being written in real time can be much more compelling than a perfectly packaged campaign.
Mid-Day Squares may be the clearest example of this philosophy in action. They went against presenting a polished founder success story and instead showcased the messy reality of building a business through the eyes of its three cofounders. Followers watch fundraising struggles, manufacturing setbacks, internal disagreements, hiring decisions, and major wins unfold in real time. It feels less like following a snack bar brand and more like watching an ongoing business reality series. The product is almost secondary to the question audiences keep coming back to answer: What happens next?
Brands shouldn’t manufacture their drama—backlash to “scripted” reality shows like Storage Wars shows how quickly viewers spot manipulation. The lesson from reality TV is that companies already contain tension if they are willing to show the process. Most traditional marketing filters out a business’s difficult decisions, near misses, and unexpected wins. But increasingly, those are the very ingredients that make audiences care.
Founder-led brands have an advantage here because the protagonist is obvious. The founder is the person taking the risk. Their personality and ambition give the audience someone to root for. Around them, a wider cast begins to form: employees, early customers, retailers, creators, collaborators, investors, and even skeptics. Together, they create a living narrative around the business, allowing viewers to feel like true insiders.
Chamberlain Coffee illustrates how this can evolve beyond creator content. Emma Chamberlain didn’t simply attach her name to a coffee brand; she extended her story through it. Fans follow product launches, creative decisions, and the evolution of the business, making the brand feel like a continuation of the world they’ve already bought into.
Why big brands need narrative design
Larger companies are often built to reduce uncertainty. They have layers of approval, risk management, and polished communications systems. But they can also make a brand feel distant at a time when audiences are craving authenticity and connection.
Not enough big brands ask: What is the narrative design of this brand? What story are people being invited into? How does it unfold over time? What are the chapters, stakes, and reasons to return?
Whatever a brand’s story is, it needs movement. It cannot simply be a static message repeated across channels. It needs development, tension, and progression. This is where participation becomes powerful. The strongest brand narratives make audiences feel like contributors. They vote on flavors. They react to prototypes. They comment on decisions. That sense of participation can turn customers into ambassadors in a much more organic way.
The new battle for attention is narrative
In a world of infinite content, the most valuable asset may be an unfolding story people want to keep watching. Product, positioning, and brand distinctiveness all play a role in shaping this narrative. Vulnerability can create a deeper form of trust than polish alone ever could, and herein lies the potential for a faster, deeper momentum in building brand equity and consumer loyalty.
Brands like Feastables show that this approach can scale well beyond startup culture. By making product improvements, retail expansion, and behind-the-scenes business decisions part of the entertainment, they’ve turned company-building itself into content that audiences actively choose to follow.
For challenger brands, the opportunity is clear: Don’t just launch products; build stories people want to follow. For established brands: Don’t confuse control with connection. The brands winning today are those with the most compelling journeys, the ones that let people see what happens next.

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