All rise for the TV

What's up with TV audiences nowadays? They're standing up. I noticed Top Gear started the trend a few years ago with getting rid of chairs and making their audience stand up.

Now, I've seen that It Pays to Watch, makes its audience stand up.

Instead of filming in locations with seating for the audience eg big televsion studios it allows the programme makers to film in a wider variety of locations. Top Gear is supposedly filmed at an airfield and it looks like the audience are in a hanger. What's IPTW's excuse?

Is this just a way off saving money on big studios and filming in smaller locations with just a couple dozen people standing around?

Why not go further and cut out the audience?

I liked the good old days when there was massive audience in a big studio. I've been to recordings at the BBC's Wood Lane studio as well as the Elstree studio where I saw Who Wants to be a Millonaire and the LWT Tower's studios on the South Bank.