Mumbai: Bhojpuri GEC Zee Ganga’s non-scripted reality show “Memsaab No 1” recently garnered a lot of attention from the audience owing to its unique concept and novel presentation. The latest season of the show is steadily growing in its viewership and has received a thundering welcome from the audience since its launch on 17 January. A marquee property of the regional channel, the tenth season of “Memsaab No 1” has successfully engaged audiences and increased viewership on a week-on-week basis.
After nine successful seasons, the channel revamped the show for its latest turn. With this strategic move, Zee Ganga has tried to break the monotony and come up with exclusive content to capture the audience’s attention.
Speaking about the show’s brand new concept, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s (Zeel) chief channel officer for Bhojpuri cluster Amarpreet Singh Saini says the latest season of the show is a giant creative leap in both formatting as well as in content delivery. “Zee Ganga is for a renewed Bhojpuri mindset seeking a high degree of novelty and creativity in its originals,” he remarks.
On the format of the show
Saini explains that the show’s new format focuses on three critical parameters of evaluation. This includes areas like personal identity, family identity, and social identity that make a woman complete. The tenth season of “Memsaab No 1” is launched with a creative concept of ‘Chalni Ke Chalal Babuni,’ which is a hunt for showcasing ‘Sarvagunn Sampann’ character of a woman in the current scenario.
The core format of the show displays interpersonal dynamics, conflicts, relationships, and power plays. The participants are judged at various levels and different types of tasks are given to them, which facilitate deciding on their talents and capabilities. In the process of performing the tasks, the participants are groomed in a manner, which makes them an ideal candidate for winning the title of ‘Memsaab No 1.’ Undoubtedly, the show is providing an intense engagement and portrays the real personality of the participants.
“This exciting hunt for Sarv Gunn Sampann Babuni, spanned across 13 weeks where the contestants are tested over three stages filled with terrific tasks,” Saini further says. “This true test of their all-round development sees their identity skills (Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Tip Top Babuni, Rasoi Ki Rani), family identity skills (Aamdani Athani Kharcha Rupaiya, Neg Jog Ke Lekha, Saas Bahu Ke Sangam, Suno Sasoor Ji ) and lastly, the third and final stage – social identity skill (Maai Ka Anchara, Jaagruk Babuni) which makes todays’ woman a complete woman.”
Catering to the younger audience
Filmlion Production India’s director and producer Harsha Khanna says Zee Ganga desired to have a major twist in the tail in the latest season of “Memsaab No 1.” The channel wanted to experiment with the format of the show and approached her to plan for a complete makeover. From a simple studio-based set-up focusing on dance and quizzes, the programme has been turned into a hardcore reality show where 16 unmarried girls started showcasing their talent on Bhojpuri television.
Khanna points out that from Monday to Wednesday, the reality episodes are telecasted and on Thursday, there is the gala round where the contestants get eliminated based on their score. The participants having the lowest scores get evicted.
She says that the channel is trying to attract a younger audience by bringing reformation and innovation to the show. The viewership is expected to grow in the future as the show is based on ‘sanskar’ and typically focuses on Indian cultural values.
“We are looking at a decent rise of 20-25 per cent in the viewership,” Khanna points out.
It is observed that the channel is witnessing significant growth in viewership during primetime between 6-7 p.m. Referring to the recent data by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) India, Saini also mentions that “Memsaab No 1” is currently achieving growth on a week-on-week basis. “It’s this complete viewer-centric novel presentation that has led to ‘Memsaab No 1’ achieving a staggering opening of 74 per cent slot jump with 88 per cent reach in growth and 15 per cent jump in time spent over pre four weeks, and on week-on-week, it has witnessed 85 per cent viewership growth in its second week and 112 per cent growth in its third week and more than millions of viewers are watching the show every week which is giving a thumping verdict of viewer engagement to the new format,” he says.
Saini asserts that the new format of “Memsaab No 1” has received support from advertisers. The segments like personal care, home hygiene, beverages (mostly tea brands) and chocolates are the top categories that are contributing maximum to the top line, and Ultratech cement, Adani fortune and Eyetex Dazller are on-boarded as sponsors of “Memsaab No 1.” “Over the years Bhojpuri category has seen a significant increase in presence of established national brands along with regional ones,” Saini tells.
Season 10 of “Memsaab No 1” was premiered on Zee Ganga on 17 January and has 65 episodes, which include both semi finale and finale. It is on air from Monday to Friday and is hosted by the Bhojpuri actor Pradeep Pandey (Chintu).
The show has a prominent presence of celebrities like Rinku Ghosh, Pakhi Hegde, ChamkiBhauji (Rekha Singh), Kajal Raghwani, Rani Chaterjee, Nissar Khan, and Puspa Verma in various capacities like judge, co-host, inspires, and promoters.
The pullback comes as brands reassess their media strategies amid economic uncertainty. Yet some categories are thriving. Food and beverages maintained their dominance with a 22 per cent share of total ad volumes, followed by personal care and hygiene products at 16 per cent.
