Tag: KBC

Marketing sentiment is quite positive for festive season & IPL: Shashi Sinha

NEW DELHI: While the road to economic recovery is long and troubled, there is a positive sentiment amongst the marketers to cash on the upcoming festive season, IPG Mediabrands CEO–India Shashi Sinha shared during an exclusive virtual fireside chat with Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari. Over an hour-and-a-half-long session, the duo discussed a number of industry trends, advertiser and consumer sentiment, and the way ahead for the industry.

Sinha noted, “India is a very sentiment-driven market. And while it is going to be a difficult recovery and the consumer demand might or might not be there, a lot of brands are wanting to invest at this point in time; maybe not at a large value scale, but definitely far higher than they would in the months of July-August. I'm not seeing the uptick in demand but the marketing sentiment is that let us cash in on this system.”

He insisted that the advertisers want to capture the festive season and the initial signs are already visible in the dealings. “To give an example, auto sales are there. And then there is a client of ours called Indigo Paints, which is telling us that their sales are up. I am asking them how is it possible as according to me to call people home to paint, would be the last thing on someone’s mind now. But they tell me it is for outside paints. So, yes the market has already started moving.”

But considering the Onam and Ganpati were both muted, how is the market sentiment moving, Wanvari asked.

Sinha elaborated that both the festivals were very localised events and he won’t take it as an indicator of the overall market sentiment. He added that IPL is looking very positive, much above the initial expectations the market had.

Sinha pointed out that the upcoming new programmings on TV channels, including big-budget properties, like KBC and Bigg Boss, will also attract a lot of advertiser attention. “I am not sure if they all will earn because they are coming at almost the same time, but the marketing sentiment is quite positive right now.

But all of this might not translate into consumer sentiment pulling up. “I see advertisers pumping money in September-October. And if the sentiment turns out to be false and they fail to move the consumers, the impact will be seen in the first quarter of the next year, which for Indian companies will start this year. So, the companies will evaluate whatever money they are investing in IPL and Diwali and if it doesn’t yield results, they might pull back.”

Overall, the earnings of the media companies and agencies will not be similar to what they recorded last year, but will be a great improvement from the past few months, he shared.

September 4, 2020
SonyLIV’s first ever exclusive digital selection process of KBC breaks all previous participation records

MUMBAI: SonyLIV has emerged as the most preferred way of participation for the fans and aspirants of Kaun Banega Crorepati. This year saw more than 3.1 crore initial audition entries, with SonyLIV seeing a 42 per cent jump in participation. In a landmark change, the auditions that have traditionally been happening on-ground across eight cities and ten days till last year, were conducted digitally on a single day via the SonyLIV app this season. These auditions saw more than 12K participants, a 4x increase compared to last season.

With the evolution of digital media, in changing times SonyLIV brought the audience closer to their favourite reality show in the comfort of their homes. The online auditions of KBC 12 have created history and broken all records by providing an ease of access to participants and saving their travel time to audition cities. The digital auditions also allow a robust verification process, giving users direct access to the entire selection procedure. This safeguards their interests against fraudulent activities.

The auditions commenced with a General Knowledge test followed by a video uploaded by the participants. The assessment for the final round will be centred on the cumulative score and participants with the highest scores will qualify for personal interview. In alignment to this process, the selection for the Fastest Finger First contestants will be based on the scores of the above selection process. To ensure inclusivity, makers have facilitated calls for visually challenged auditionees.

“The exclusive digital selection process for KBC has recorded an all-time high number of auditionees. A 3X increase in the participants with the online selection process signifies the yardstick of our user engagement on the SonyLIV app and the evolving preference of digital mediums amongst users. The process enabled us to reach out to a wider cross-section of audience while innovating with the 2nd screen initiative,”SPN digital business programming and new Initiatives head Amogh Dusad commented.

June 11, 2020
Kannada KBC to air on Colors Kannada starting 22 June

BENGALURU: Viacom18 has taken over where Star India left off – the Kannada version of Kaun Banega Crorepati – Kannadada Kotyadipathi or KK will start airing on Viacom18’s flagship Kannada GEC Colors Kannada and its HD counterpart Colors Kannada HD starting Saturday 22 June.

It’s a strategic move as far as Viacom18’s Kannada entertainment cluster head Parameshwar Bhat is concerned – Colors Kannada has a strong lineup of programmes for the week. More often than not, more than half of the programmes in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) list of top 5 Kannada programmes in Karnataka during primetime are aired on it. Besides, on most weeks, Colors Kannada is the most watched Kannada channel based on BARC weekly data.

Bhat needed the weekend programming of his flagship channel to be strengthened – he asked for it and got the rights for KK for his channel when Star India forsake the show after a not very successful season in 2018. Colors will air 41 episodes, of which 4 have already been canned, for the clone that has been tweaked for local Kannada audiences of the globally popular Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Colors has tweaked the fourth season of KK a bit as compared to the previous editions – besides the changes that evolved with each season, the channel has brought back Kannada film icon Puneeth Rajkumar to host the show.

Industry pundits peg the KK cost per episode at Rs 25 lakh or thereabouts. While not confirming the estimates, Bhat is confident that the show will be in the black. And he has his experience with Kannada Bigg Boss to back his confidence. “A property such as Kannadada Kotyadipathi attracts spot advertisers even during the day of the broadcast of the show,” he says. Bhat says that he is sure of them coming in, more so for the weekend, which incidentally, he feels is just an urban phenomenon. For rural folks all weekdays are the same, be they working days or weekends for the rest of the world. He has already roped in Wipro’s soap brand Santoor as presenting sponsor, Eastern Masala and detergent Rin as powered by sponsor and another soap brand – Chandrika Soap as special partner. His marketing is actively working out deals, he says.

Colors has a 360-degree marketing plan to attract eyeballs for KK with touchpoints across on-ground, outdoor, radio, print, cross channel and digital. However, outdoor and billboard promos on the 500 to 600 Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses have been restricted to outside Bengaluru for now. Once the show starts Bhat plans to strategically release ads across media including print. Most of the creative work has been done in-house by the channel’s own teams.

Company speak:

Besides strengthening the weekend slot, there are other reasons for Colors doing the show. Here’s what Viacom18 Head of regional entertainment Ravish Kumar had to say via a press release: “The language content consumers have grown enormously over the years and though their tastes vary from region to region, they all converge at family game-show formats like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. The universality of a quiz-show brings about cohesivity in viewing making it enjoyable and enhances captive engagement. Featuring real people and stories that showcase their aspiration and reason to win a substantial sum makes for a compelling content proposition.”

Kumar further added, “Gauging the success of our previous two editions in different languages, we’re confident that Kannadada Kotyadipathi will certainly be well received by viewers as well as the advertisers on our channel, who rely on us to bring only the best of content to Kannada television.”

Elaborating further, Bhat said, “Colors Kannada leads the roster in creating and presenting pathbreaking content for its viewers, and Kannada Kotyadipathi is yet another example of our commitment to be industry leaders. We’re luring audience to a form of entertainment that keeps them engaged as well as invested. While the format of the game remains unchanged, we’re scaling up the production and sprucing our treatment to make it more delightful for viewers across genres and milieu; and are also bringing back on board the indomitable superstar Puneeth Rajkumar who will multitask as a host, a friend and a guide.”

KK is produced by Studio Next, the production house of Sony Pictures Networks. Studio Next holds the license of the format, for all Indian languages and has produced more than 1,800 episodes of the show across nine languages. The latest edition of KK will have an upgraded look and feel including an advanced set, claims a press release

Studio Next head Indranil Chakraborty said, “We are extremely happy and privileged to bring the show to the people of Karnataka with their favourite host, Puneet Rajkumar and in the leading channel, Colors Kannada. We have maintained the same ethos of the show as in other languages, followed strict and transparent process for contestant selection and delivered production quality of the highest standards. Kannada Kothyadipathi will celebrate the great leveller of our society i.e. knowledge”.

June 19, 2019
Hindi GECs flirted with formats, sensed OTT challenge

MUMBAI: When it came to content, OTT platforms captured the zeitgeist of 2018. Premium digital video content was relentlessly rolled out by the likes of Amazon Prime, Netflix, ALT Balaji, Hotstar, Voot and Zee5, keeping the audiences hooked at all times. Naturally, the band of programmers at some of India’s biggest broadcast networks felt the heat as a new wave of content competition hit India. Heads of Hindi GECs pulled out all stops in order to stay ahead of the game and keep their viewers happy. Thankfully for them, the cord-cutting trend, prevalent in several countries, didn’t turn to India. However, the sheer scale and quality of OTT content audiences were exposed to this year should be a cause for worry entertainment channels.

‘TV isn’t dying, in fact, both TV and OTT is growing simultaneously,’ was a line often heard this year. That’s perhaps the reason broadcasters remained confident that daily soaps, fiction and non-fiction shows on TV would continue to command viewership numbers.

The advent OTT players increased the overall demand for content. While Indian broadcasters put out over 100,000 hours of content annually across formats and languages, newer entrants continued to pump in more cash per episode (though for much smaller quantities of content) and tried to snap up the best available talent.

The overall cost of content rose by almost two to three per cent of the broadcasters’ top line. With OTT companies refusing to take their foot off the pedal, broadcasters have no choice but to pay up. However, if their bid for quality programming fails to generate higher viewership which can be monetized better, broadcasters may not pursue quality, and stick to current cost metrics.

As far as content consumption was concerned, regional content too made its mark this year. While Hindi language consumption remains the country’s preferred choice, growth was fastidiously led by regional content. Backing this up with some facts, it was reported that the daily tune-ins on TV by the HSM led to 68.4 per cent, whereas in the South market it led to 78.3 per cent. Simultaneously, the advertisement expenditure in FY18, Hindi GECs declined by nine per cent as compared to an increase of 5.4 per cent in on regional channels.

It was also a year of full surprises for the Hindi GECs, especially on the leadership front. Top-notch industry executives decided to call it quits including veteran Colors CEO Raj Nayak who dropped the bombshell of his Viacom18 exit after a distinguished seven-year stint with the media and entertainment conglomerate. Another prominent personality Discovery India and South Asia head Karan Bajaj also called it a day. Industry insiders believe the bespectacled Bajaj timed his exit to perfection, stepping aside when it mattered most. Both of them haven’t hinted at what gigs they are likely to take up next. Another heavyweight – Deepak Rajadhyaksha – who was heading Zee TV, turned to Viacom18 with his mantle being handed over to the broadcaster’s English cluster head Aparna Bhosle.

The GECs also flirted with formats and played around with show timings in an attempt to infuse life into programming. Here's a quick recap of how some of India's most-loved Hindi GECs tried to stay ahead in a cluttered segment.

Colors

Having a stronghold in the mythological and fantasy drama genre, it revived Naagin for season three giving it an 8 pm slot on the weekend. Another supernatural drama Tantra by Swastik Productions was aired on weekdays at 11 pm. Rashmi Sharma Telefilms’ Vish Ya Amrit: Sitaara, a supernatural thriller, was given the weekday 10.30 pm slot.

Two leading ladies of not just Viacom18, but the entire industry, added more feathers to their caps. Manisha Sharma, who was in charge of Colors, was elevated as the chief content officer – Hindi mass entertainment. She heads both Colors and Rishtey. Kids’ cluster head Nina Jaipuria’s portfolio further expanded to include both kids TV network and Hindi.

The channel reshuffled its programming line-up post the launch of historical saga Dastaan-E-Mohabbat Salim Anarkali, Monday-Saturday at 8.30 pm, by replacing the drama series Udaan which was shifted to 7 pm slot. Internet Wala Love, which aired at 7 pm was moved to 6.30 pm time band while Savitri Devi College and Hospital, which aired at the 6.30 pm slot was called off.

After a two year hiatus, Colors came back with the launch of season 8 of reality show India’s Got Talent, to be shown on weekends at 10 pm. The show was planned to replace horror anthology television series, Kaun Hai? That was produced by Contiloe Pictures and was scheduled to air every Friday to Saturday at 10.30 pm. Also, another home-grown reality show Entertainment Ki Raat season 2 was given the weekend 9 pm slot, promoted from its debut season slot of 10.30 pm. The show was replaced with the reality show Rising Star produced by Optimystix Entertainment. Bigg Boss 12 was also launched but with a new time-slot at 9 pm.

Sony

Hindi GEC Sony Sab started a new weekend slot titled ‘Sab Ka Weekend Plan’ with two new shows India Ke Mast Kalandar – Atrangi Hain Ye!and Namune. The channel aired the former show every Saturday and Sunday at 8 pm whereas the latter was at 9 pm. The Kapil Sharma Show is all set to make a comeback after a hiatus of more than a year. The channel had stopped airing fresh episodes of the show from September 2017.

Taking Colors’ Bigg Boss 12 head-on was Sony’s tentpole show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) season 10 at 9 pm. Following that, the channel launched two fictional drama Patiala Babes and Ladies Special post-KBC. The channel pulled the plug on Yeh Pyaar Nahi Toh Kya Hai, which was aired at 9.30 pm, following poor ratings.

The network also announced that Sony Pictures Network India’s (SPNI) newly launched content production arm Studio NXT will focus on creating premium, high investment content that can also travel outside India. Headed by Sony Entertainment Television (SET) EVP and business head Danish Khan, the content studio began its journey with Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) season 10 which was co-produced with Big Synergy.

The channel is experimenting with new shows and formats in the time slot starting 8.30 pm. The channel aired comedy-drama Main Maike Chali Jaungi, replacing Dus Ka Dum and Zindagi Ke Crossroads. Dus Ka Dum aired on Monday and Tuesday while Zindagi Ke Crossroads aired from Wednesday to Friday.

Zee

Zee TV’s primetime offering included Manmohini, produced by LSD Films, every Monday to Friday at 7.30 pm. &TV launched a live singing reality show for kids Love Me India and fantasy show Vikram Betaal ki Rahasya Gaatha. Zee TV launched a new fiction show named Tujse hai Raabta on 3 September, weekdays at 8.30 pm, produced by Full House Media.

ZEEL elevated Aparna Bhosle as the business head of its flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV. Bhosle headed the premium and FTA GEC cluster. The move comes in the wake of Deepak Rajadhyaksha’s exit from the company. He was the deputy business head at Zee TV. Rajadhyaksha joined Viacom18 as business head of Colors Marathi and Colors Gujarati.

Zee also took three of its shows abroad for a remake, in collaboration with African countries – Punar Vivah, Dance India Dance and Pavitra Rishta.

Ending the year 2018 on a high note, &TV opened doors of endless opportunities for makers to experiment with content. Supernatural ruled the roost this year for the channel, progressive concepts and live reality remained at the top of the list. From launching its first live reality show for kids to introducing supernatural in a new style, &TV presented its khaas andaaz with not one but many pieces of content that were rolled out. The channel launched shows like ‘The Unconventional Saas (Perfect Pati)’, ‘Love with supernatural twist (Laal Ishq)’,’ Reliving childhood stories (Vikram Betaal Ki Rahasya Gatha)’, ‘ The mysterious Daayan (Daayan)’, Kids Live singing with ‘Love Me India’ and ‘High Fever… Dance Ka Naya Tevar’.

Star

Star India signed a multi-season, multi-year deal with Talpa Media for The Voice franchise, comprising The Voice and The Voice Kids. The new series will be produced by Banijay Asia, a Banijay Group company.

Star Bharat’s socio-thriller Kaal Bhairav Rahasya returned for a second season featuring new mystery and folklore. Star Bharat launched a mythological show Radha Krishn airing Monday to Friday at 9 pm, replacing political drama Saam Daam Dand Bhed. The show was produced by Swastik Productions who have had several successes in the genre including Shani, Mahakali, and Porus. It also announced the launch of a new finite fiction show that narrated the story of firebrand freedom fighter Chandrashekar Azad in about 110 episodes, produced by Anirudh Pathak.

The main GEC Star Plus launched a new show Karn Sangini at 7 pm. The show replaced channel’s reality show Sabse Smart Kaun. With Karn Sangini, the channel is dealing with the new genre of mytho-romance. Produced by Shashi and Sumeet Mittal, the show narrated the never-seen-before tale of a royal princess Uruvi who chose her love and stood by it against all odds.

Discovery Jeet

Despite heavy promotions in its launch stage, Discovery Jeet didn’t quite manage to grasp the pulse of the audience.

Jeet entered the Hindi GEC sweepstakes on 12 February with five hours of daily programmes, out of which three hours were original programming, with content available in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. The channel launched with a distribution blitzkrieg to more than 100 million households and signed up Netflix as the exclusive global OTT partner.

Despite the network’s best effort, the channel failed to rate. Initially thought of a challenger to the existing GEC order, Jeet fizzled out without much of a fight.

According to Broadcast Audience Research Council data week 9, the channel garnered 6096 impressions (000s) in the 7 pm to 11 pm time slot, while it secured 15908 impressions (000s) for the whole day’s viewership. Currently, the channel airs syndicates content dubbed in Hindi.

Overall, almost all channels heavily swapped shows for one another in order to keep audiences steady and growing. Unlike earlier years, when channels relied on primetime shows for years, times are changing and audiences are picky and broadcasters realise that.

December 27, 2018
Zeel channels rule Hindi channels across genres

BENGALURU: Subshash Chandra’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) Hindi GECs Zee Anmol and Zee TV were ranked second and third in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India weekly list of top 10 Hindi channels across genres: All India (U+R) : 2+ Individuals in week 36 of 2018 (Saturday, 1 September 2018 to Friday, 7 September 2018). At its normal first rank was the Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV.

In terms of ranks and networks, channels from four networks followed a simple arithmetic progression in consecutive order. One rank, rank one was held by a Sun TV Network channel; two ranks, ranks two and three, were held by Zeel Networks channels. Three ranks, ranks four, five and six, were held by Star India channels and; four ranks, ranks seven to ten, were held by Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) channels in week 36 of 2018. From the languages perspective, there was one Tamil GEC, two Hindi movies and seven Hindi GEC channels present in BARC’s across genres list in week 36 of 2018. Consequently, two Zeel Hindi GEC channels – free to air (FTA) Zee Anmol and flagship Zee TV ruled Hindi channels in week 36 of 2018 in BARC’s across genres list.

One Sun TV Network channel

As mentioned above, at its normal first rank in week 36 was the Tamil GEC Sun TV with 1063.806 million weekly impressions as compared to 999.006 million weekly impressions in week 35 of 2018. Sun TV also led BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry market and all of the 5 programmes in BARC’s list of top 5 Tamil programmes during primetime in these markets based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week under review were aired on Sun TV.

Two Zeel channels

Reclaiming its second rank in week 36 of 2018 was Zee Anmol with 840.010 million weekly impressions as compared to 701.762 million weekly impressions in week 35. Zee Anmol was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R). The Balaji Telefilms produced soap Kumkum Bhagya aired on Zee Anmol was ranked second in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and was ranked first in HSM (R). Another soap from the channel, Mahek, was ranked third in HSM (R).

Bounding up six ranks to third place was Zee TV with 721.364 million weekly impressions as compared to 620.187 million weekly impressions in week 35. Zee TV was ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R), third in HSM (U) and seventh in HSM (R) during the week. Two programmes that were aired on Zee TV- Kumkum Bhagya, and its spinoff Kundali Bhagya were at third and fourth ranks in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U).

Three Star India channels

Climbing up four ranks to fourth place was Star India’s FTA Hindi GEC Star Utsav in week 36 of 2018 with 669.262 million weekly impressions as compared to 629.138 million weekly impressions in week 35. Star Utsav was ranked third in BARC’s list of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R), second in HSM (R) and was ranked seventh in HSM (U). The soap Rabba Ve aired on Star Utsav was ranked fourth in BARC’s weekly in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (R).

Another Star India FTA Hindi GEC, Star Bharat, also jumped up two ranks to fifth place in week 36 of 2018 with 652.973 million weekly impressions as compared to seventh rank and 632.025 million weekly impressions in week 35. Star Bharat was ranked fourth in BARC’s list of top 10 Hindi channels in HSM (U+R), sixth in HSM (R) and HSM (U) in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GEC channels during the week under review.

Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC, Star Plus dropped down two ranks in week 36 of 2018 to sixth place with 650.318 million impressions as compared to 687.926 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Star Plus was ranked fifth in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and was ranked second in HSM (U) and tenth in HSM (R). Director’s Kut Productions produced Hindi soap Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai aired on Star Plus was ranked fifth in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and was ranked second in HSM (U).

Four SPN channels

SPN’s Hindi movies channel, Sony Max, dropped down five ranks to seventh place in week 36 of 2018 with 630.227 million weekly impressions as compared to 721.447 million weekly impressions in week 35. Sony Max was also ranked second in HSM (U+R), first in HSM (U) and was ranked fifth in HSM (R). The Hindi version of SS Rajamouli’s film Bahubali the Beginning was ranked first among BARC’s list of the top 5 Hindi movies programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R). Further, three Hindi feature films HFF – Bahubali the Beginning, 3 Idiots and Bhairava, on Sony Max were also among BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi movies programmes during primetime list in HSM (U).

SPN’s women focused Hindi GEC Sony Pal re-entered BARC’s across genres weekly list in week 36 of 2017 with 626.815 million weekly impressions. The channel was ranked fifth in BARC’s list of top 10 Hindi GEC channels in HSM (U+R), third in HSM (R) and eighth in HSM (U). The long running sitcom Tarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah on Sony Pal was ranked second among BARC’s list of the top 5 Hindi movies programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM R).

Big Synergy Productions’ Amitabh Bahchan anchored Indian version of Who Will become A Millonaire – Kaun Banega Crorepati or KBC is on air on SPN’s flagship Hindi GEC pay channel Sony Entertainment Television (SET). SET entered BARC’s weekly across genres list for the first time in 2018 in week 36 with 625.080 million weekly impressions. SET was ranked seventh in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GEC channels in HSM (U+R), and first in HSM (U).

At tenth rank was another SPN Hindi movies channel, Sony Wah with 623.522 million weekly impressions as compared to 669.499 million weekly impressions in week 35. Sony Wah was ranked first in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi movies channels in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R). HFFs’ The Return of Rebel and Yevadu that featured on Sony Wah were among the top 5 most watched Hindi movies programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) for the week in BARC’s list in HSM (U+R) One more HFF- Dangerous Khiladi 4 on Sony Wah was also on BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi movies programmes during primetime in HSM (R).

September 15, 2018
Sony’s production house Studio Nxt to co-produce KBC 10

MUMBAI: The 10th season of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) is all set to see more involvement from its host channel Sony Entertainment Television (SET). The broadcaster is co-producing the show via its newly launched production house Studio Nxt along with rights holder Big Synergy. The show will be aired from 3 September, weekdays at 9 pm.

SET business head and EVP Danish Khan said, “Sony Original is the sub brand of SET, Studio Nxt is another independent entity which is a production house to produce fiction, non-fiction, scripted, non-scripted and digital IPs.”

He added that it is an independent production house that will cater to Sony as well as platforms outside.

The show was kick-started with the campaign #KabTakRokoge, celebrating the spirit of resilience in people. Viewers can look forward to a special curtain raiser episode which will be telecast on Sony on 2 September at primetime.

The network claims to have received record-breaking registrations of over 31 million within a span of 15 days. The show promises to be a visual delight for viewers with the use of Augmented Reality (AR) for the first time on Indian TV.

Since Khan’s tenure at Sony as marketing head, KBC has always seen brainstorming for every aspect except the host. “Amitabh Bachchan was the best host in our mind from the day one. Since then, every year we have been trying to do something new, last year we had introduced the Fridays, Nayi Chah, this time we are coming up with AR to happen for any reality GEC in India. We have done huge investments and it is worth it,” he said.

When it comes to the promotion of the show, Khan said that there is a lot of media explosion. He added that as there’s a lot of penetration of social media and internet, there is little to plan and more to create.

The channel expects the ad inventories to be completely sold out within the next seven days. The show is co-powered by Vivo V11 Pro and Mahindra Marazzo while Aakash Institute, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, CEAT, Raymond and Syska Wires & Cables are the associate sponsors.

August 29, 2018
Kumkum Bhagya and spinoff help Zee TV to second place in across genres

BENGALURU: Over the past few weeks, Zee TV or its network sibling Zee Anmol have been ranked second and/or third in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly lists for top 10 channels across genre (All India (U+R) : 2+ Individuals). In week 42 of 2017, it was Sony Pictures Network India’s (SPN) Hindi Movies channel Sony Max with the help of the rerun of Baahubali 2 that was placed second in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres (across genres list). In week 43 of 2017 (Saturday, 21 October 2017 to Friday, 27 October 2017) – the week after India’s biggest festival season of Diwali, it is Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited’s (Zeel) flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV that has climbed back to second position in BARC’s across genres list. As in the past, the channel was once again supported by the Balaji Telefilms produced family drama soap Kumkum Bhagya and its spinoff Kundali Bhagya to attain the second place in the across genres list for week 43 of 2017. Both the soaps were amongst the top 5 Hindi GEC programmes HSM (U+R) during primetime (1800 – 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals The pole position of the across genres list belongs to the Sun Networks flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV (except during the annual Indian Premier League). Three channels from SPN, two channels each from or associated with Zeel, Star India and Network 18 and one channel from the Sun Network comprised the top 10 channels across genres for week 43 of 2017. From the genres perspective, seven Hindi GEC channels and one channel each from the Hindi Movies, Tamil GEC and Telugu GEC made up BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres for week 43 of 2017. Two flagship Hindi GEC channels of two networks – Colors and Star Plus returned to the top 10 channels list across genres after a short hiatus. As mentioned above Sun TV was at first rank in week 43 of 2017 with 1,059.914 million weekly impressions followed by Zee TV with 700.976 million weekly impressions. Zeel’s FTA Hindi GEC Zee Anmol was at third place with 681.964 million weekly impressions. Star India’s FTA Hindi GEC Star Bharat was at fourth place in week 43 of 2017 with 668.004 million weekly impressions. Network 18’s (Viacom 18) flagship Hindi GEC Colors was at fifth place with 617.659 million weekly impressions, followed by SPN’s women focused Hindi GEC Sony Pal with 594.487 million weekly impressions at sixth place. Sony Max was seventh in week 43 of 2017 with 584.651 million weekly impressions. The Network 18 associated Telugu GEC ETV Telugu was at eighth place with 536.339 million weekly impressions followed by Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC with 529.028 million weekly impressions at ninth place. SPN’s flagship Hindi GEC aided by the Amitabh Bahchan anchored Kaun Banega Crorepati was at tenth place in week 43 of 2017 with 519.420 million weekly impressions.

November 3, 2017
Chrome Study: Colors, Amitabh most liked GEC channel, anchor among working individuals

BENGALURU: Colors is the most liked Hindi GEC channel among working individuals and KBC’s Amitabh Bachchan is the most liked anchor, according to a survey by Chrome Data & Analytics (Chrome) covering 1,957 working individuals in the HSM market.

The most preferred genre – in order of preference – 92 percent were hooked to GECs; 56 percent preferred movies; 52 percent were addicted to music; 44 percent followed news; 19 percent liked infotainment; 17 percent preferred sports; 12 percent preferred the kids’ genre and 5 percent preferred the lifestyle genre.

In terms of channels – in order of preference – 70 percent preferred Colors; 55 percent Sony Entertainment Television (SET); 53 percent preferred Star Plus; 41 percent preferred &TV; 37 percent preferred Zee TV and 31 percent preferred SAB TV.

In terms of favourite channel – for 38 percent Colors was a favourite channel while Star Plus was a favourite channel for 21 percent; 20 percent found Sony TV as their favourite channel; Zee TV was a favourite for 10 percent; &TV was a favourite channel for 7 percent and 4 percent of the respondents found SAB TV to be their favourite channel.

The Chrome study respondent universe was 22 percent in the age group of 15 to 20 years; 44 percent in the age group of 21 to 30 years; 27 percent in the age group of 31 to 50 and 7 percent that were 51 years old or more. 58 percent of the respondents were male and 42 percent were female.

Please refer to the six charts below for the favourite programmes and characters on favourite channels

Writers note: Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly data for top 10 channels that is freely accessible in the public domain indicates that it is Zee TV and its sibling and free to air channel Zee Anmol that have been topping ratings in the Hindi GEC markets over the past few weeks. Correspondingly, Kumkum Bhagya and its spinoff Kundali Bhagya generally and consistently are amongst the top 5 GEC programmes in BARC’s weekly lists. In the case of reality television there is limited amount of BARC data available in the public domain. It may be noted that BARC data covers the entire HSM urban and rural market, while Chrome data is limited to working individuals in the HSM market.

October 30, 2017
Sun, Zeel, Star India channels continue presence in across genres lists

BENGALURU: It’s festival season in India. Channels from three major networks in India continue finding presence in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) top 10 channels across genres All India (U+R): 2+ individuals. Sun TV from the Sun Network continued its pole position in the top 10 channels list in week 40 of 2017 (Saturday, 30 September 2017 to Friday, 6 October 2017. Two Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) channels have consistently been leading the Hindi GEC channels band, while three Star India channels (4 Star India channels in week 38 of 2017) have been present in the top 10 channels across genres weekly grouping. In week 40 of 2017, three Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) channels were also present in the weekly top 10 channels across genre table.

As mentioned above – three channels each from the Star Network and SPN, two channels from Zeel and one channel each from the Sun Network and Network 18 (Viacom 18) were present in the BARC weekly top 10 channels across genres tally for week 40 of 2017. From the genre/languages perspective, seven Hindi GEC, one channel each from the Hindi Movies, Tamil GEC and Telugu GEC genres were present in the weekly top 10 channels lists across channels’ group in week 40 of 2017.

Sun TV continued its unassailable rule over the weekly across genres band with 1,114.363 million weekly impressions (sum) at first place, followed by Zeel’s FTA channel Zee Anmol with 788.250 million weekly impressions (sum) at second place. Zee Anmol had strong support from Kaala Teeka in Hindi GEC and Kaala Teeka and Jamai Raja which were among BARC’s top 5 primetime programmes in the Hindi GEC –HSM (U+R) and Hindi GEC HSM (R) markets respectively. At third place was Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV with 665.989 million weekly impressions (sum), strongly supported by Kumkum Bhagya and its spinoff Kundali Bhagya in BARC’s top 5 primetime Hindi GEC – HSM (U+R) market and Hindi GEC – HSM (U) markets.

Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi Pain in Spain among BARC’s top 5 primetime programmes in Hindi GEC HSM (U+R) weekly results and Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi Pain in Spain and Udaan in the Hindi GEC HSM (U) weekly results for week 40 of 2017 helped Network 18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors to fourth place with 661.538 million weekly impressions (sum). Kaun Banega Crorepati’s (KBC) presence in BARC’s top 5 categories of Hindi GEC – HSM (U+R) and Hindi GEC HSM – (U) markets during primetime helped SPN’s flagship Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television to fifth place in BARC’s across genres table with 647.825 million weekly impressions (sum) in week 40 of 2017.

Star India’s renamed Hindi GEC Star Bharat was placed sixth in the across genres tally for week 40 of 2017 with 632.766 million weekly impressions (sum), followed by SPN’s Hindi Movies channel Sony Max with 615.63 million weekly impressions (sum) at seventh place. Hindi Feature Films’ Bahubali the beginning in BARC’s weekly categories of top 5 programmes for Hindi Movies (U+R) and Bahubali the beginning, Sultan and Raj Mahal 3 in BARC’s weekly results of top 5 programmes for Hindi Movies (U) helped Sony Max to return to BARC’s top 5 channels across genres list after a hiatus.

Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus was ranked eighth in BARC’s weekly list across genres tally for week 40 of 2017 with 551.267 million weekly impressions (sum). SPN’s women oriented Hindi GEC Sony Pal was ranked ninth in the category with 549.725 million weekly impressions (sum) followed by Star India’s flagship Telugu GEC Star Maa with 524.551 million weekly impressions (sum) at tenth place.

Please refer to the list below for BARC data for top 10 channels across genres for weeks 38 to 40.

October 18, 2017
Hindi GECs don’t see many blockbuster shows today: Sony’s Danish Khan

MUMBAI: The folks at Sony Entertainment Television are popping bottles of champagne! The channel has garnered the first position in the Hindi GEC urban market in week 40 of BARC data.

Sony Entertainment Television EVP and business head Danish Khan expresses, “We are happy. We have been working towards this and KBC has been accepted very well and so have “Yeh Un Dino Ki Baat Hai” and Ganesha. We’ve lined up four-five new shows, and the calendar is filled to the brim.”

Two years ago, Khan rejoined Sony as the business head. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Khan shared the changes and developments he has seen in the network. He says, “The focus has primarily been to work with the right kind of people in both, the internal team and production team outside.”

He further says, “There are three pillars of our programming mantra — the first one is novelty. Our shows must have a new element. The second aspect is to have variety. Every half an hour should capture various genres like love story, family drama and mythology, etc. Lastly, we are extremely careful about the quality of the shows. Around one to two years are given to make the best.” To encourage writers to come up with extraordinary scripts, the channel invests in this area first.

Displaying excitement and confidence in the new shows and the team working on it, he explains the backdrop of a show. “Shooting outdoors requires planning more than finance. Show budgets have increased over the years owing to better technology — giving scale to the shows, skilled technicians and artwork,” he adds.

Khan admits that the Hindi GEC space is very competitive. “The success percentage in Hindi GECs has gone down and there is heterogeneity in the market. Blockbuster shows that appeal to all audiences will be scarce. Ten per cent of shows are for mass viewership while the remaining 90 per cent will have its own sectored viewership.” He gives the example of “Un Dino Ki Baat,” which is a show based on the 90s and appeals to the set of audience, which grew up in that decade. Though, it is micro-targetting, the quality and variety will make a difference.

The network has launched a number of new shows in last month that include Mere Sai, Vighanharta Ganesh, Super Dancer, KBC, Yeh Un Dino Ki Baat Hai and Kuch Rang Pyar ke Aise bhi season 2.

The 730pm time slot was reopened, after a long hiatus, to Sai Baba. Ganesh was given the slot after that. Byhadh is aired at 830 pm, and is slated to be replaced by Porus in November. A new show “Likhenge Rishta Hum Naya” will make its way to the prime time followed by Haasil. In the pipeline are — Dus Ka Dum and Prithvi Vallabh.

Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin vouches for Sony’s seasoned attitude in the GEC space. “Customers don’t watch channels, they watch content. If a channel can create content that resonates with the audience, it will attract eyeballs. Viewers switch between channels, which is why there are ups and downs.”

Success rates don’t resemble what they were earlier is because of the choices available to people. But, Bhasin sees this only as a boon.

October 13, 2017