MUMBAI: Zee has joined the bandwagon in the race for ratings among shows and slots. The Subhash Chandra led Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited premier Hindi GEC has pulled out its first 10.30 slot for an original fiction show. Zee is set to air its new finite series Amma at that slot from 25 June every Saturday and Sunday.
With this, Zee has joined Star Plus and Colors in the weekend ratings chase. Star Plus initiated the trend of airing fiction on weekends that was later followed by Colors which aired super hit shows such as 24 Season 1 in 2015 at the 10 pm slot on Friday and Saturday. Colors added the just concluded Naagin at the 8 pm slot which has now been replaced by Kawach. The entrance of Zee in the 10.30 pm time slot will surely to heat up the competition. There are other GEC’s too which are exploring weekend opportunities according to sources.
Produced by Farhan P Zamma, Amma is based on life of Jenabai Daaruwala, who is a well – known name in the Mumbai underworld mafia. The finite series will explore the journey of the rise of this female don. A source revealed that the per episode production cost is approximately Rs 8 to Rs10lakhs.
In the past also Zee also experimented with fiction series on the weekend slot. In 2014, the channel launched Neeli Chatri Waale, a mix of comedy and drama at the 8 pm time band on Saturday and Sunday. Apart from this, the channel also took its Sunday programming a notch higher with the new adventurous show Janbaaz Sinbad at the 7 pm time slot which was launched on 27 December 2015.
Amma has been pitched against Star Plus’ new show Jaana Na Dil Se Door. &TV has no original content airing on Saturday at 10.30pm but on Sunday it has a new show Life Ka Recharge at that slot. Life OK airs the repeat telecast of Savdhaan India at 10pm. Sony Entertainment Television has a CID telecast on at the same time band. Sab TV telecasts the repeat of Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma and Colors has its comedy shows at 10pm Comedy Nights Bachao on Saturday and Comedy Nights Live on Sunday.
Could this just be a beginning of a new era in television?
MUMBAI: Zee has joined the bandwagon in the race for ratings among shows and slots. The Subhash Chandra led Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited premier Hindi GEC has pulled out its first 10.30 slot for an original fiction show. Zee is set to air its new finite series Amma at that slot from 25 June every Saturday and Sunday.
With this, Zee has joined Star Plus and Colors in the weekend ratings chase. Star Plus initiated the trend of airing fiction on weekends that was later followed by Colors which aired super hit shows such as 24 Season 1 in 2015 at the 10 pm slot on Friday and Saturday. Colors added the just concluded Naagin at the 8 pm slot which has now been replaced by Kawach. The entrance of Zee in the 10.30 pm time slot will surely to heat up the competition. There are other GEC’s too which are exploring weekend opportunities according to sources.
Produced by Farhan P Zamma, Amma is based on life of Jenabai Daaruwala, who is a well – known name in the Mumbai underworld mafia. The finite series will explore the journey of the rise of this female don. A source revealed that the per episode production cost is approximately Rs 8 to Rs10lakhs.
In the past also Zee also experimented with fiction series on the weekend slot. In 2014, the channel launched Neeli Chatri Waale, a mix of comedy and drama at the 8 pm time band on Saturday and Sunday. Apart from this, the channel also took its Sunday programming a notch higher with the new adventurous show Janbaaz Sinbad at the 7 pm time slot which was launched on 27 December 2015.
Amma has been pitched against Star Plus’ new show Jaana Na Dil Se Door. &TV has no original content airing on Saturday at 10.30pm but on Sunday it has a new show Life Ka Recharge at that slot. Life OK airs the repeat telecast of Savdhaan India at 10pm. Sony Entertainment Television has a CID telecast on at the same time band. Sab TV telecasts the repeat of Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma and Colors has its comedy shows at 10pm Comedy Nights Bachao on Saturday and Comedy Nights Live on Sunday.
Could this just be a beginning of a new era in television?
MUMBAI: YuppTV has enabled two Hindi entertainment channels namely Star Plus and Life OK for its users in the UK, EU, Middle East, Malaysia and New Zealand. Star Plus and Life OK are a part of 21st Century Fox’s Star India networks.
Speaking on the launch, YuppTV CEO and founder Uday Reddy said, “Both Star TV and Life OK are extremely popular within the country’s digital viewership for their differentiated entertainment content offerings. This move underlines YuppTV’s commitment to enable the most tailored entertainment content for our users, and offer expats a chance to catch their favourite shows anytime, anywhere.”
“Star Network is very pleased to join hands with YuppTV to offer the best of our content to our loyal viewers anywhere anytime. We look forward to a productive partnership”, said Star International president Gurjeev Singh Kapoor.
Life OK airs popular programmes like Bahu Humaari Rajnikanth and Savdhaan India – India Fights Back, Star Plus has shows such as Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Diya Aur Baati Hum which are widely viewed across India.
The users can access these channels throughwww.yupptv.com or through the application.
MUMBAI: YuppTV has enabled two Hindi entertainment channels namely Star Plus and Life OK for its users in the UK, EU, Middle East, Malaysia and New Zealand. Star Plus and Life OK are a part of 21st Century Fox’s Star India networks.
Speaking on the launch, YuppTV CEO and founder Uday Reddy said, “Both Star TV and Life OK are extremely popular within the country’s digital viewership for their differentiated entertainment content offerings. This move underlines YuppTV’s commitment to enable the most tailored entertainment content for our users, and offer expats a chance to catch their favourite shows anytime, anywhere.”
“Star Network is very pleased to join hands with YuppTV to offer the best of our content to our loyal viewers anywhere anytime. We look forward to a productive partnership”, said Star International president Gurjeev Singh Kapoor.
Life OK airs popular programmes like Bahu Humaari Rajnikanth and Savdhaan India – India Fights Back, Star Plus has shows such as Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Diya Aur Baati Hum which are widely viewed across India.
The users can access these channels throughwww.yupptv.com or through the application.
MUMBAI: Between his outrageously funny jokes, bang on comic timing and ‘put-you-at-ease’ smiles, comedy king Kapil Sharma has redefined the genre on television. His quick rise to fame flummoxed several in this entertainment industry as it didn’t follow the generic tropes – a strong Bollywood background, political backing or affluent beginning, Sharma had none.
But it is this ‘guy next door’ image that drove his fandom in the country and compelled brands with big marketing budgets to turn and take notice of him back in 2014. The last two years saw Sharma’s career take some topsy-turvy turns – his heights to fame with the his show Comedy Nights With Kapil, the tiff with Colors TV, and his subsequent departure from the channel, his hiatus from the small screen and finally his re-entry through Sony with The Kapil Sharma Show – and yet brand Kapil Sharma is going strong and how!
As per the data audience research organisation Ormax shared with Indiantelevision.com, Sharma tops the non-fiction characters in Ormax Characters India Loves list. Averaging the data for six months between October 2015 to March 2016, Kapil Sharma of Comedy Nights With Kapil has bagged 36 per cent of popularity, beating Salman Khan at second place with 16 per cent, Rannvijay of the Roadies fame at third place with a 4 percent share, Rannvijay ties it with Anoop Soni from Crime Patrol; and Sushant Singh from Savdhaan India at fourth place with 3 per cent. Here percentages denote the popularity share of each person.
“Because of his ‘non starry’ appeal, his fan base is basically a family audience including women above thirty five years of age. Within the Hindi speaking market (HSM) his core strength is mostly in the northern states. What Kapil has achieved with this fan base is quite remarkable. There have been comedy shows before his, but none could become a household name such as he has,” states Ormax Media founder Shailesh Kapoor.
Kapoor also points out that even though the show went off air, Sharma remained the most popular non-fiction character in the category by quite a large margin. His popularity is evident from the anticipation in the nation for his come back to the small screen with his flagship The Kapil Sharma Show on Sony, which he is producing under his banner of K9 Productions.
Kapil Sharma fame isn’t confined to the television industry alone. His fame competes with the likes of Saif Ali Khan and Sonam Kapoor. He is the only television star who has featured in Forbes India’s top 100 Celebrities list in 2015 at rank no 27 when it comes to popularity, beating Saif Ali Khan, Ranveer Singh, Yo Yo Honey Singh, and even Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for that matter. The same list reports his net income as Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million). While that’s a jaw dropping figure for any average entertainer, Sharma has a long way to go to rank high when it comes to net income per year. But no, there is no reason to fret for Kapil fans. Judging by how brands are enamoured with him, it’s only a matter of time before he joins the prestigious Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) club.
“When it comes to brand value, Kapil Sharma is one of the few personalities who came without any established filmy baggage and made it really big. In spite of him taking a short hiatus off screen, there hasn’t been a dent in his brand value,” says multi-platform entertainment management company Exceed CEO Uday Singh. “It is amazing how the hysteria and euphoria around Kapil Sharma remains constant since Comedy Nights With Kapil became a hit. I can’t quantify whether it’s a Rs 100 crore, but the familiarity and the relativity that Kapil Sharma gives off to his audience is what makes him a good choice for brands who want to reach the masses,” Singh explains.
So far every brand that has sought Kapil’s help to boost its brand message has cast him as a middle class or upper middle class man, or a guy next door character rather than the star Kapil Sharma is. In 2014, Sharma starred in a digital campaign for Honda Mobilio in which he played a salesman. With a success story of garnering millions of views, it was a perfect fit. As per media reports Honda India paid him Rs 4.5 crore (Rs 4.5 million) for the deal.
But it was his partnership with online classifieds website OLX India that truly took off his endorsement career. OLX India signed him on for Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) approximately for the campaign. “When the deal between Kapil Sharma and OLX was inked back in 2014, several eyebrows were raised as it was considered too big for a television star like Kapil,” revealed a source who was close to the development. Back then entertainment agencies facilitated the endorsement deals for Kapil Sharma, like most of the celebrities in the industry. Now, Sharma has taken it upon
Like most celebrities, Sharma locks these endorsement deals on a daily rate basis for the number of days he needs to commit to the campaign in a year. Having said that, the norm varies from brand to brand, depending on the nature of the campaign. Being a live performer allows Sharma to be flexible with what he offers to the brands, and his contract may include live engagements and event shows. That naturally adds to the quote he gives the advertiser. As per an industry insider, Sharma demands anything between Rs 3 to 4 crore (Rs 30 to 40 million) from a brand for an endorsement.
On an average, Sharma works on eight to ten different brands at a given time. These have included TVS Tyres, Policy Bazar, Micromax, PaisaBazaar and more. The number is likely to go up once his show goes live again on Sony, on 23 April, provided it makes the mark that it promises to.
“Obviously, if he has to maintain his brand value he needs a show on air. While one or two months haven’t affected the value of brand Kapil Sharma, if he doesn’t have a show for a long time, the audience might move on. Therefore just like a movie star needs to keep coming with movies, a television stars need to have at least one show on air at a time,” Kapoor shares.
Before one-upping his past show with more gripping content remains important for Sharma, brand Kapil Sharma has more pressing matters to handle as The Kapil Sharma Show goes head to head with one of the biggest brands and events in India, the Indian Premier League. Only the coming Thursday’s BARC data will tell us if Sharma has walked out of his show’s premiere with his head held high. His fans – of which there are many – won’t really care. They were the ultimate winners as they got a chance to engage with Kapil and team and roll over with laughter over the weekend .
MUMBAI: Between his outrageously funny jokes, bang on comic timing and ‘put-you-at-ease’ smiles, comedy king Kapil Sharma has redefined the genre on television. His quick rise to fame flummoxed several in this entertainment industry as it didn’t follow the generic tropes – a strong Bollywood background, political backing or affluent beginning, Sharma had none.
But it is this ‘guy next door’ image that drove his fandom in the country and compelled brands with big marketing budgets to turn and take notice of him back in 2014. The last two years saw Sharma’s career take some topsy-turvy turns – his heights to fame with the his show Comedy Nights With Kapil, the tiff with Colors TV, and his subsequent departure from the channel, his hiatus from the small screen and finally his re-entry through Sony with The Kapil Sharma Show – and yet brand Kapil Sharma is going strong and how!
As per the data audience research organisation Ormax shared with Indiantelevision.com, Sharma tops the non-fiction characters in Ormax Characters India Loves list. Averaging the data for six months between October 2015 to March 2016, Kapil Sharma of Comedy Nights With Kapil has bagged 36 per cent of popularity, beating Salman Khan at second place with 16 per cent, Rannvijay of the Roadies fame at third place with a 4 percent share, Rannvijay ties it with Anoop Soni from Crime Patrol; and Sushant Singh from Savdhaan India at fourth place with 3 per cent. Here percentages denote the popularity share of each person.
“Because of his ‘non starry’ appeal, his fan base is basically a family audience including women above thirty five years of age. Within the Hindi speaking market (HSM) his core strength is mostly in the northern states. What Kapil has achieved with this fan base is quite remarkable. There have been comedy shows before his, but none could become a household name such as he has,” states Ormax Media founder Shailesh Kapoor.
Kapoor also points out that even though the show went off air, Sharma remained the most popular non-fiction character in the category by quite a large margin. His popularity is evident from the anticipation in the nation for his come back to the small screen with his flagship The Kapil Sharma Show on Sony, which he is producing under his banner of K9 Productions.
Kapil Sharma fame isn’t confined to the television industry alone. His fame competes with the likes of Saif Ali Khan and Sonam Kapoor. He is the only television star who has featured in Forbes India’s top 100 Celebrities list in 2015 at rank no 27 when it comes to popularity, beating Saif Ali Khan, Ranveer Singh, Yo Yo Honey Singh, and even Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for that matter. The same list reports his net income as Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million). While that’s a jaw dropping figure for any average entertainer, Sharma has a long way to go to rank high when it comes to net income per year. But no, there is no reason to fret for Kapil fans. Judging by how brands are enamoured with him, it’s only a matter of time before he joins the prestigious Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) club.
“When it comes to brand value, Kapil Sharma is one of the few personalities who came without any established filmy baggage and made it really big. In spite of him taking a short hiatus off screen, there hasn’t been a dent in his brand value,” says multi-platform entertainment management company Exceed CEO Uday Singh. “It is amazing how the hysteria and euphoria around Kapil Sharma remains constant since Comedy Nights With Kapil became a hit. I can’t quantify whether it’s a Rs 100 crore, but the familiarity and the relativity that Kapil Sharma gives off to his audience is what makes him a good choice for brands who want to reach the masses,” Singh explains.
So far every brand that has sought Kapil’s help to boost its brand message has cast him as a middle class or upper middle class man, or a guy next door character rather than the star Kapil Sharma is. In 2014, Sharma starred in a digital campaign for Honda Mobilio in which he played a salesman. With a success story of garnering millions of views, it was a perfect fit. As per media reports Honda India paid him Rs 4.5 crore (Rs 4.5 million) for the deal.
But it was his partnership with online classifieds website OLX India that truly took off his endorsement career. OLX India signed him on for Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) approximately for the campaign. “When the deal between Kapil Sharma and OLX was inked back in 2014, several eyebrows were raised as it was considered too big for a television star like Kapil,” revealed a source who was close to the development. Back then entertainment agencies facilitated the endorsement deals for Kapil Sharma, like most of the celebrities in the industry. Now, Sharma has taken it upon
Like most celebrities, Sharma locks these endorsement deals on a daily rate basis for the number of days he needs to commit to the campaign in a year. Having said that, the norm varies from brand to brand, depending on the nature of the campaign. Being a live performer allows Sharma to be flexible with what he offers to the brands, and his contract may include live engagements and event shows. That naturally adds to the quote he gives the advertiser. As per an industry insider, Sharma demands anything between Rs 3 to 4 crore (Rs 30 to 40 million) from a brand for an endorsement.
On an average, Sharma works on eight to ten different brands at a given time. These have included TVS Tyres, Policy Bazar, Micromax, PaisaBazaar and more. The number is likely to go up once his show goes live again on Sony, on 23 April, provided it makes the mark that it promises to.
“Obviously, if he has to maintain his brand value he needs a show on air. While one or two months haven’t affected the value of brand Kapil Sharma, if he doesn’t have a show for a long time, the audience might move on. Therefore just like a movie star needs to keep coming with movies, a television stars need to have at least one show on air at a time,” Kapoor shares.
Before one-upping his past show with more gripping content remains important for Sharma, brand Kapil Sharma has more pressing matters to handle as The Kapil Sharma Show goes head to head with one of the biggest brands and events in India, the Indian Premier League. Only the coming Thursday’s BARC data will tell us if Sharma has walked out of his show’s premiere with his head held high. His fans – of which there are many – won’t really care. They were the ultimate winners as they got a chance to engage with Kapil and team and roll over with laughter over the weekend .
MUMBAI: Savdhaan India, Life OK’s flagship show that took the movement against crime and injustice to the grassroots has roped in popular actor Shreyas Talpade to host its upcoming season.
The actor will be seen hosting the first edition of Savdhaan Maharashtra- Fight Back Now that will focus on Maharashtra centric crime narratives.
Savdhaan Maharashtra- Fight Back Now will replace Savdhaan Punjab-Fight Backhosted by Sourabh Raaj Jain on the weekend slot starting 20 June.
After making a mark in Marathi television, films and Bollywood, Talpade returns to hosting with the crime docu-drama.
Talpade said, “With the growing incidence of crime, that often goes unnoticed and in most cases causes more painful irreparable damage to the victim than to the perpetrator, the angst in me against such crime and incidents has been growing many fold. Savdhaan India, which projects real incidents that not only bring to the fore the crime committed by people but also highlights the struggle of a common man to fight injustice helps me effectively channelize that angst and more importantly help create awareness and consciousness amongst all. The singular hope here being that I, as a humble representative of the common man, am able to help reduce such crime and more importantly help victims in their fight for justice.”
MUMBAI: Star Plus is all set to launch a new series revolving around the hotel industry. Called Gulmohar Grand, the finite series will be of 26 episodes, wherein each episode will have a different story.
The show is slated to launch on Star Plus on 3 May. The weekly show will be aired every Sunday at 10 pm.
Giving an insight into the world of a Five Star hotel, Gulmohar Grand will not only showcase the glamorous and luxurious world of hotels but also gives an insight in the world of hotels in a way that has never been seen before on Indian television.
Produced by Sunshine Productions, the show stars Gaurav Chopraa and Aakansha Singh in the lead role and is being shot in a hotel in Mumbai.
Sunshine Productions’ Sudhir Sharma said, “When you shoot in a live environment, you get to learn a lot of things about what’s happening in the real world and therefore, it is easier than creating a set for it. Following a certain schedule also has its cons, but since the hotel is functional, the benefits are much more. Even if we would have built a set, we could not have brought the kind of live environment that the current hotel is giving us.”
The show is going to face a tough competition with DID Super Moms on Zee TV, Savdhaan India on Life OK, Comedy Nights with Kapil on Colors, CID on Sony and Yam Hain Hum on Sab.
MUMBAI: A crime thriller has always been sold like hotcakes. And it stands true to television as well. The genre has been a potboiler for the general entertainment space for a long time now.
While serials like Byomkesh Bakshi (1993), Karamchand (1980s) and Tehkikat (1994) on Doordarshan laid the ground for fictional crime shows, a more advanced form appeared in the reproduction of real life crime incidents in shows like India’s Most Wanted (Zee TV, 1999) and Crime Patrol (Sony, 2003).
Along with a plethora of fictional crime series, a dramatised real life crime depiction has also gained traction over the years; CID’s run on Sony for 17 years justifies the popularity of the genre.
Following the trend set by the Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs), youth channels too took the same route. Channel V got Gumraah to focus on youth-based crime incidents in 2012.
The only channel which hadn’t dabbled in the genre was Colors. Realising the importance, after six years of existence, it is finally launching a finite reality series christened Code Red with a tagline ‘Andhere me Umeed Ki Ek Nayi Kiran’.
The first promo hit the television screens on 13 December and showed popular actress Sakshi Tanwar advising people to raise voice rather than suffer in silence.
The show will focus on social issues like suicide and crime against women and children. Sources close to the development say, “The motto of the show is to spread awareness and bring to forefront the crime against women and children in the society.”
Though the channel tags it as not a crime series, sources say that it will give a broader outlook that would deal with crime and its different components. “It is going to be a very different show than what viewers have seen on television till now. It is a reality show where every episode is going to give out a message of not giving up and to fight back,” says a source from the channel.
The show is a joint venture of Fremantle India, Optimystix and Shlok Entertainment, a production house helmed by three eminent people – directors of Crime Patrol, Subramanian S Iyer and Neeraj Naik along with prominent actor and anchor Anup Soni.
Launched as a daily format, it will air for six days a week. The three production houses will helm two episodes each every week.
Penned for a limited number of episodes, it is set to launch in January 2015.
MUMBAI: Star Network had a vision to create its own competition for the leading general entertainment channel (GEC), Star Plus. So while on one side, Star Plus catered to the women in the households, the network wanted to create a channel that catered to the entire family. It decided to reincarnate one of its older channels Star One (defunct youth-oriented) and repackaged it with a new and fresh content. And that is how on 18 December 2011 Life OK was born.
The network decided that the differentiating factor for the channel will be that it will not fall prey to the regular saas-bahu soaps. Reason, it didn’t want to divide the family but wanted to entertain the entire family and wanted to go beyond entertainment and into social media messaging.
It began with shows like Saubhagyavati Bhava and Mahadev which struck a right chord with the audiences. And since then there has been no stopping for the channel which has given hits after hits with its crime properties like Shapath and Savdhaan India. So far, the channel has experimented with four reality shows – Hunarbaaz, Laugh India Laugh, Welcome and The Bachelorette India – all of which garnered mediocre viewership.
However, when the tough gets going, the going gets tough. For one hit the channel gave, it had three failures. But Life OK EVP and general manager Ajit Thakur has always enjoyed failures because according to him without the low, there is no value of a high.
Now in its third year, Life OK takes 14 per cent market share of the entire pie as it continues to showcase innovative and disruptive content to stay in the game. Not only did it climb up to the number three position by beating Colors in week 22 of TAM TV ratings, it also made naysayers sit and take notice.
Talking about this year’s highlights, the channel started the year with its first big-ticket Bollywood event, The 20th Annual Life OK Screen Awards that registered a whopping 9 million TVTs, three per cent more than the 6.9 million TVTs (ratings provided by Life OK) garnered by Colors for its last year’s edition.
Riding high on the success of Screen Awards, the channel decided to get more Bollywood stars on board and launched Life OK Now Awards which celebrates excellence in the field of film, television and music, every month. The channel has aired only four editions till now.
This year, it made many ‘firsts’. The channel saw the birth of shows like Comedy Classes, its first stint with comedy which delivered decent numbers at the ratings chart and Dare 2 Dance, its first reality dance show where the Khiladi of Bollywood, Akshay Kumar came on-board as the host. The channel also introduced an action thriller series christened Pukaar – Call for the Hero which is delivering decent numbers.
After a successful three year run, the channel’s flagship property Mahadev saw its curtains fall. The culmination of Mahadev paved way for, Mahakumbh- Ek Rahasya, Ek Kahani.
Not only is the channel proud of its achievements but rivals too have applauded the experiments it has done throughout the year. An official from a rival channel believes that Life OK has established itself in the space. “We didn’t expect the channel to do so well in such a short span of time. It did come out with some great tacks like Mahadev and Savdhaan India. However, this year we didn’t see a huge property coming from it even though it did wonderful at the ratings chart. Nonetheless, we wish the channel good luck for the future.”
Advertisers too have been appreciative of the channel and have supported it throughout.
After a successful 2014, it is going to be an eventful 2015 for the channel as it gears up for a revamp. As per sources, the revamp will happen early next year, between January and March.
