ITV

Tag: Sony Entertainment Television

  • TV broadcasters shine at Creative Abbys 2013

    MUMBAI: Television broadcasters made it big at Goafest 2013’s Creative Abbys, with Sony Entertainment Television (Set) taking away most of the trophies.

    Fox Crime had won a major share of the awards last year.

    The MSM flagship Hindi GEC Sony collected a total of seven awards at the event. It picked three awards for KBC-6, one Gold in the Integrated category- Media & Publications sub category, another Gold for Radio category- Media & Publications for KBC Anthem and a bronze in Print Craft- Copywriting (Above 100 words) for KBC Anthem.

    Set bagged a Bronze in Integrated – Media and Publications for Indian Idol 6. It also won three awards in Film Media and Publications category, a bronze for ‘Guptaji’ campaign, a Gold for ‘Girl Child’ campaign, and a Silver for ‘Style Bhai’ campaign. All the ads for Set were created by its agency Leo Burnett.
    Meanwhile, its sister channel took away a Silver in the Branded Content -Best Use Or Integration of experiential events category for Sab TV Saburbia Board Game, created by Everest Brand Solutions.

    Sab EVP and business head Anooj Kapoor said, “SAB TV has always strived to communicate the joy of togetherness in novel and different ways. The year 2012 has been a special year, where we endeavoured to increase audience engagement through alternate touch-points like SABurbia.com, SAB Dub and SAB Ke Comics internet and mobile apps, SABurbia board game and SAB Play augmented reality app.”

    Movies Now won two awards at the event. The first award it got, Silver, was in the Print-Media & Publications category for ‘Movies Now City Lights’ ‘The Great Dictator’ ‘The Circus’ ‘Modern Times’, created by Movie Now’s in-house team; while the second was a Bronze in Integrated – Media and Publications for ‘Chaplin Chapters’, created by BBH India.

    Like Movies Now, Big CBS Spark too had two awards in its kitty. It won silver and a Bronze, both in Digital- Digital Craft category for Cross Connection and SMS/Interactive voice recognition category respectively. The ads were created by McCann Worldgroup.
    Fox Traveller was awarded a Bronze metal in Print – Art Direction category for Below the line work for ‘Shoe’ campaign. The ad work is credited to Grey Worldwide India.

    Zee Café bagged a Bronze trophy in Print Craft – Typography category for Water saver font campaign made by Draft Fcb + Ulka.

    Max won a Silver in Film- Media and Publications for ‘Phuphaji’ campaign, created by JWT, while National Geographic Channel won a Silver for Film- Travel, Entertainment and Leisure category for Nazis campaign created by JWT India again.

    While Zee Studio Mighty was awarded with a Bronze for Outdoor – Media and publications category for ‘Mighty Joe Young’, ‘A Bugs Life’, ‘Hidalgo’, created by Draft FCB + Ulka, Star Movies managed to take away a Bronze for Digital – Web Banner Rich Media category for ‘Oscar Charades’ created by Grey Worldwide India.

  • Star Plus stays at the top; Colors a GRP away from Zee TV

    MUMBAI: Continuing to maintain its lead in the Hindi general entertainment space, Star Plus added six gross rating points (GRPs) to its last week’s tally to register 271 GRPs in the week ended 9 March.

    As per TAM data (HSM including 5 new LC1 markets, C&S, 4+) sourced from a channel, Star Plus’ Saraswatichandra saw improvement in ratings. The show rated 2.5 TVR in its second week of airing as compared to 2.1 in the first.

    The other shows of the channel like Saathiya Saath Nibhana (3.5 TVR) and Pyaar Ka Dard (3.6 TVR) also added eyeballs. It had a special episode of ‘Ek Hazaaron Mein‘ which got a rating of 1.7 TVR on Saturday (9 March).

    Zee TV held on to the second spot, despite the loss of 11 GRPs. Most of the shows witnessed a dip in viewership. The ratings of India’s Best Dramebaaz too fell from 4.4 TVR to 3.5 TVR. The channel closed the week with 215 GRPs.

    Just a GRP away from Zee TV is Colors that lost six GRPs to end the week with 214 GRPs. The channel had aired ‘The Mirchi Music Awards‘ on 3 March that clocked 2.1 TVR at the 8 pm slot.

    Sony Entertainment Television (Set) recorded 155 GRPs in the last week, down 15 GRPs from the previous week. The loss can be attributed to poor performance of few of the fiction shows of the channel like Khoobsurat (0.6 TVR) and Bade Achhe Lagte Hain (1.8 TVR).

    Following Set is its sister channel Sab that lost three GRPs to clock 135 GRPs. Life OK too lost around six GRPs to collect 126 GRPs in the latest week of TAM ratings.

    Life OK recently launched Balaji Telefilms‘ show (a promotional event for Balaji’s upcoming movie ‘Ek Thi Dayan’) Ek Thi Nayika, which debuted with 1 TVR on Saturday 9 March.

    Sahara One with 24 GRPs (24 GRPs) remained at the bottom of the ladder.

  • Sony bowls a fast one with ‘made for TV’ cricket

    Sony bowls a fast one with ‘made for TV’ cricket

    Ever thought of making an eminent cricketer dance with a click of a computer mouse or a phone call? Chucking them in and out of a one-day cricket match as and when one wished if he’s messing up on the field. That’s precisely what Sony Entertainment Television has promised to cricket buffs while announcing its entry into what CEO Kunal Dasgupta termed a new genre of television programming with cricket as its centrepiece.

     

    Close on the heels of Zee Telefilms announcing its entry into reality television with POW, Sony is brewing its own unique version of reality television centred around cricket, whose driving force would be a great level of interactivity with the viewing public.

     

    Something akin to the rolling substitutions in hockey, here the public would be able to decide who should be on and off the field during timeouts seems to be the general drift of what is being conceptualised.

     

    Bidding to dispel media talk that Sony was planning a new version of masala cricket a la Kerry Packer in the early eighties, Dasgupta said the matches would be held only during the off season. There was no question of taking on any national cricket boards by putting together rebel teams, Dasgupta said. He, however evinced the hope that the endeavour will “generate unparalleled entertainment for the cricket loving public so that the cricket establishment will recognise Sony’s innovation and contribution to the game.

     

    The programme is to be aired over a 10-15 day period per season over three seasons in a year live on MAX. It is aiming for a nationwide audience and says it is hopeful people would participate in this made for television cricket game. According to Dasgupta, they were working with a group of associates to develop an innovative, transparent “made for television” cricket format using the latest available technology. Subject to their availability, Sony was planning to rope in the best national and international cricketers, Dasgupta said.

     

    Dasgupta was unable to provide details of the format, who were the players who had signed on, or even when it would take off other than saying that it would be sometime in April or May.

     

    A problem Sony will have to get around is the problem of uplinking. Sony has no uplinking facility in India but uplinks from Singapore. For the live feel of viewer interactivity this will have to be addressed. Anand Desai, senior vice-president corporate development, who is responsible for the show, admitted as much and said they were working on it. Desai, however, gave a categorical assurance that the programme would be real time live.

     

    Referring to the interactive element of the game, Dasgupta said one of the top cricket portals would be hosting details on the match through which viewers could participate. Dasgupta admitted that Sony was entering uncharted territory with this effort but said it was worth a shot anyway.

  • Bigg Boss 6 lifts Colors ahead of Star Plus

    MUMBAI: Colors was at the top among Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) in the second week of 2013, as Star Plus lived without its big spike show, Big Star Entertainment Awards.

    In its finale week, popular reality show ‘Bigg Boss‘ gave Colors the leg up to recapture the top position after three weeks. Colors winded up the sixth season of its celebrity reality show ‘Bigg Boss‘ on 12 January with 4.4 TVR and ran for two-and-a-half hours contributing 22 GRPs to the overall numbers of the channel. The Salman-Khan hosted show, which airs for an hour per episode, averaged 3.3 TVR in the week ended 12 January compared to 2.8 in the trailing week.

    As per TAM data (C&S, 4+, HSM), sourced by Indiantelevision.com from Hindi GECs, Colors got 245 GRPs (previous week 253) in the week, leading Star Plus by a slender margin of four GRPs.

    Star Plus lost 46 GRPs in the second week compared to a week earlier. ‘Big Star Entertainment Awards‘, which was aired on the New Year‘s Eve, had added 41 GRPs to Star Plus‘ viewership to give it 287 GRPs.

    Also, the average ratings of Star Plus‘ weekend dance reality show ‘Nach Baliye‘ fell from 4.3 TVRs (television ratings) to 3.6 TVRs in the second week. The other shows of Star Plus have seen minor fluctuations in viewership.

    Colors lost eight GRPs as some of its fiction shows like ‘Madhubala‘ (3.6 TVR), ‘Parichay‘ (1.3 TVR) and ‘Sasural Simar Ka‘ (3.5 TVR) witnessed slight fall in the viewership.

    Zee TV and Sony Entertainment Television (Set) jointly shared the third spot with 195 GRPs each. The two channels stood in the same position two weeks ago (in week 52) with 198 GRPs each. Zee TV lost 15 GRPs from a week earlier while Sony added 14 GRPs.

    Set‘s popular game show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati-6‘ aired the episode of the first Rs 5 crore winner this season on 12 January which notched a 5.1 TVR. The other shows of the channel like ‘Comedy Circus‘ (3.3 TVR), C.I.D (3.7 TVR) and ‘Bade Achche Lagte Hain‘‘ (2.3 TVR) too saw increase in eyeballs.

    Zee TV‘s newly launched fiction property ‘Housewife‘ clocked 2.2 TVR in week 2 (previous week 2.5 TVR). The other shows of the channel like ‘Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke‘ (3.5 TVR) and ‘Hitler Didi‘ (2.2 TVR) lost viewership while ‘Qubool Hai‘ (2.7 TVR) and ‘Mrs Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuyein‘ (1.8 TVR) saw improvement in ratings.

    Multi Screen Media‘s second GEC Sab didn‘t see any change in ratings and ended week 2 with 150 GRPs, the same as in the previous week. Life OK was next with 117 GRPs, down three GRPs from a week earlier.

    Sahara One with 25 GRPs (last week 23) continues to be at the bottom of the ladder.

    Digital Viewership

    In HSM, digital, 4+, market, Colors again is the leader with 253 GRPs (previous week 245 GRPs). Bigg Boss 6 finale notched 5.2 in digital market. Star Plus, which had climbed to No.1 spot in digital market on the back of ‘Big Star Entertainment Awards‘, slipped to No.2 position with 233 GRPs as compared to 275 GRPs in the previous week.

    Sony was in the third spot with 202 GRPs, while Zee TV followed with 178 GRPs.

    Sab‘s GRPs in digital were 143 and Life Ok 108 GRPs in week 2.

  • Star stays No. 1; Colors rules digital for last 4 weeks

    MUMBAI: Star Plus stays at the top based on average ratings for the 10 weeks ended 15 December while Colors rules for the last four weeks after Diwali in the digital homes, according to TAM Media Research data provided by a channel.

    Star Plus averaged 250 GRPs a week in the overall TV viewing universe in the Hindi Speaking Market (HSM, C&S 4+) and 234 GRPs among digital viewers during this period.

    The second in the pecking order shows a different pattern with Colors occupying that position in the TV viewing universe (analogue and digital included) while Zee TV takes that ranking in the digital homes. Colors earns 232 average GRPs (HSM, C&S) and Zee TV 227 in digital.

    Sony Entertainment Television (Set) ranks at number third spot with 215 average GRPs in the overall viewing, while Zee TV ranks no 4 with 192 average GRPs. Sab followed next with 143 GRPs, while Life OK grossed 131 average GRPs in the HSM, C&S, 4+ market.


    Source: TAM data provided by Hindi GECs for HSM, C&S, 4+

    In digital, Colors ranks third with 222 average GRPs followed by Set (167). Life OK and Sab take the next two spots with 133 and 111 average GRPs respectively. Zee TV has shows gains in digital market but the highest position it reached was the No 2 position with 227 average GRPs.

    Data for the 10 weeks was made available by TAM Media Research to the industry on Monday, after being suspended for smooth switchover to digital mode of delivery in the four metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.


    Source: TAM data provided by Hindi GECs for HSM, Digital, 4+

    The television viewership trends are inferred from the data for C&S 4+ and Digital 4+, made available by television channels.

    How shows behaved in HSM (analogue and digital included)

    There was only one big ticket property launched during this period – Bigg Boss-6. The show that had launched just three days before TAM stopped reporting data on 10 October opened with 4.1 TVR on Colors in HSM C&S (4+). The average rating for the 10 weeks ended 15 December stood at 2.5 TVR.

    Colors wrapped up India‘s Got Talent with 2.9 TVR on 24 November. The channel‘s crime non-fiction property Shaitan-The Criminal Mind debuted with 2 TVR on 1 December. It has also aired People‘s Choice Awards that rated 2.8 TVR on 25 November.

    The other big event that was telecast during this time period is Zee Rishtey Awards on Zee TV that aired on 2 December and collected 4.2 TVR for the channel. The debut ratings of Zee TV‘s newly launched show on Muslim community titled Qubool Hai was 2.5 TVR. The channel had a special property ‘Zee Ki 20th Diwali‘ that aired on 10 November and notched 1.6 TVR.

    Star Plus launched three fiction shows during this period. Its Veera, Khamoshiyaan and Kali made an opening of 2, 2 and 1 TVR respectively. GIMA Awards and Star Dandiya notched 1.1 TVR and 2.1 TVR respectively.

    Set launched one show during these 10 weeks, Anaamika, that opened with 1.3 TVR.

    Life OK too had aired special properties like Ram Leela that clocked 1.2 TVR on 21 October. Its reality show Hindustan Ke Hunarbaaz opened with 0.7 TVR. The two fiction shows that the channel had launched were Junoon and 2612 that opened with 0.8 TVR and 1.2 TVR respectively.

    Sab had aired special property on Diwali titled Sab Ki Diwali that collected 1.7 TVR on 10 November.

    How movies performed in HSM (analogue and digital included)

    There were lots of movie premieres on Hindi GECs of Indian television from week 41 to week 50 of TAM. Akshay Kumar-starrer Rowdy Rathod that did wonders in box office appealed to the television audience as well as it rated 5.1 TVR in its first airing (21 October 12 pm) on Set. The second airing on the same day at 8.30 pm notched 5.6 TVR.

    The second biggest premiere on Hindi GECs was that of Ek Tha Tiger that aired on Set on 11 November. While the first airing of the movie (12 pm) clocked 3.3 TVR, the second airing (8.30 pm) rated 4.6 TVR.

    Hindi feature film Oh My God, appreciated by not only the audiences but also the critics, had a decent opening on television as well. Aired on Colors on 18 November at 1 pm and 5.30 pm, the movie rated 3.5 and 3.4 TVR respectively. It is to be noted that the film could have rated better but it couldn‘t because the audiences were deviated to news channels on account of Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray‘s death on 17 November. His funeral was scheduled on 18 November and his last rites were aired live on news channels on 18 November.

  • ‘Veera’ to grow 10.30 pm slot for Star Plus by 30%: Ormax study

    Mumbai: ‘Veera‘ is set to grow the 10.30 pm slot for Star Plus by at least 30 per cent in its first week of airing, Ormax said in its new forecast.

    ‘Veera‘ is replacing Star Plus‘ long running show ‘Pratigya‘ on 29 October. Pratigya was rating 2-2.5 TVR for the past few weeks.

    Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor said, “Veera has broken the Showbuzz record of being the most recalled new program on Star Plus two weeks before its launch. It should rate around 3 TVR in its first week.”

    Ormax Media‘s TV Track, a syndicated study based on Day After Recall (DAR) of TV channel and program viewing, showed that the premiere of Rowdy Rathore on (Sony Entertainment Television) dominated Sunday‘s TV viewing on 21 October.

    Ormax TV Track covers respondents in the 15-44 years age group in SEC ABC, across 17 cities in India. According to Ormax, the top five viewed programs on Sunday were Rowdy Rathore (Set), Cocktail (Colors), Bigg Boss (Colors), Crime Patrol (Sony) and Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (Sab).

    Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor said, “TV Track is conducted amongst regular TV viewers across the week. Rowdy Rathore‘s excellent performance was expected given the film‘s immense mass appeal.”

  • Hindi GECs gain after losing for two weeks

    MUMBAI: The Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) gained 23 GRPs last week after losing viewers to live T20 World Cup cricket matches in which India played in two previous weeks.

    The India vs Pakistan clash did attract a lot of viewership but its impact was not felt as it was on a Sunday, which resulted in viewers not normally watching television on the weekend being glued to TV sets, and GECs too had strong content in programmes like the finale of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.

    As per TAM (HSM, 4+, C&S) data provided by GECs, the India vs Pakistan match fetched 6.4 TVRs in its first innings when India batted and 7.6 TVRs in its second innings during Pakistan‘s batting.

    The GECs had taken a hit in previous two weeks because of start of the T20 World Cup on 18 September (week 38 of TAM). The combined GRPs from Hindi GECs fell to 1271 from 1322 in week 38 as the T20 matches were telecast live during evening prime time. In week 39, when India played against Australia on 28 September (Friday), the genre further lost GRPs to register 1233 GRPs. However, GECs have seen an improvement in ratings in week 40 when the genre added 23 GRPs to clock 1256 GRPs.

    According to ZenithOptimedia managing partner Navin Khemka, The India vs Pakistan match was able to attract more viewers onto the television screen and people who wanted to watch GECs too saw their favourite programmes. “India vs Pakistan match was able to get light viewers onto the television screen on that day. It had driven up the overall viewership of that day, therefore people who wanted to watch GEC for a particular time period, be it because of the airing of Jhalak finale or Ishaqzaade, watched it.”

    “The impact of live cricket on GECs is more if the matches are played during weekdays. The India vs Pakistan match was played on the weekend against big properties like Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa that aired its final episode,” Khemka added.

    Weekly GEC update:

    Star Plus continues to lead the GEC genre with 274 GRPs, having added five gross rating points (GRPs) during week 40. The channel has crossed the 270 GRP-mark after a gap of seven weeks. In fact, this is the highest recorded rating of any channel in the genre in six weeks.

    Star Plus has extended the telecast of two of its weekday shows, ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai‘ and ‘Diya Aur Baati Hum‘, which rated 4 TVR and 2.8 TVR respectively on Saturday (6 October). However, the average ratings of both the shows dropped; ‘Yeh Rishta…‘ rated 3 TVR (last week 3.4) while ‘Diya…‘ fetched 4.9 TVR (last week 6.7) in the week ended 6 October.

    Colors held on to its second position with its GRPs unchanged. The channel aired the finale of ‘Jhallak Dikhhla Jaa‘ which notched 3.5 TVR on 30 September. The finale episode helped the channel stabilise itself despite India and Pakistan playing against each other in the same time slot. However, the fiction shows of the channel have seen a drop in viewership. The channel ended the week with 233 GRPs.

    Zee TV closed the week with 231 GRPs (last week 217), just two GRPs away from Colors. The ratings of its singing reality show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘ fell from 2.5 TVR to 1.9 TVR, though its fiction shows have seen a rise in eyeballs.

    Sony Entertainment Television (Set) added three GRPs to end the week with 205 GRPs. It had premiered ‘Ishaqzaade‘ on 30 September, which rated 1.9 TVR in its 12 noon airing and 1.4 TVR in the 8.30 pm telecast. Set did not air its ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati-6‘ episode at 8.30 pm on 30 September. Daily soaps of the channel lost numbers but its crime-based shows – CID (3 TVR) and Crime Patrol (2.7 TVR) and KBC (3.4 TVR) saw an increase in viewership.

    Meanwhile, Sab added six GRPs to end the week with 128 GRPs. Life OK with 121 GRPs (last week 124) follows. Sahara One with 33 GRPs (last week 34) remains at the bottom.

  • Battle for 2nd spot intense among Hindi GECs

    Mumbai: The fight for the second spot among Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) is intense. Zee TV, Sony Entertainment Television (Set) and Colors are separated from each other by just a few points, with Star Plus ahead of the pack.

    As per TAM data (HSM, C&S, 4+) for week 38, provided by Hindi GECs, Star Plus is the leader with 252 GRPs (last week 250 gross ratings points). The fiction shows of the channel have not seen much change in viewership except ‘Diya Aur Bati Hum’ which notched 6 TVR (last week 5.3 TVR) in the week ended 22 September.

    Second in the Hindi GEC hierarchy is Zee TV that winded up its dancing property ‘Dance Ke Superkids’ on 23 September (Sunday). The Saturday (22 September) episode of the show, which was part of the finale week, clocked 4.3 TVR. The channel lost five GRPs to close the week with 235 GRPs. Its fiction properties like ‘Pavitra Rishta’ (3.1 TVR) and ‘Punarvivaha’ (2.5 TVR) have seen slight dip in the viewership.

    Just two GRPs behind Zee TV is Colors that added three GRPs to end the week with 233 GRPs (previous week 230). Its reality property ‘India‘s Got Talent’ opened with a 4.1 TVR on 22 September. The show had debuted with 3.9 TVR in its last season. ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa’ that will air its finale this weekend recorded 2.8 TVR (last week 3.2 TVR) in week 38. ‘Balika Vadhu’ continues to be the leading show of the channel with 4.5 TVR.

    Set continues to be a strong fighter with 232 GRPs (previous week 230). Its popular fiction show, ‘Bade Achche Lagte Hain’, rated 4.7 TVR (last week 3.9), as the lead protagonists Ram and Priya meet each other after five years. ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ averaged 3.9 TVR. Its other shows like ‘Kuch to log kahenge’ (1.4 TVR), ‘Kya Hua Tera Vada’ (1.8 TVR) and ‘Parwarish’ (1.6 TVR) saw growth in eyeballs.

    Meanwhile, despite the loss of six GRPs, Sab has jumped back to No.5 spot on the GEC ladder. Life OK with 124 GRPs (last week 167) follows. The channel had fetched its highest ratings last week on the back of the grand episode of ‘Mahadev’ that got this year’s highest rating of 8.2 TVR.

    Sahara One with 29 GRPs (last week 34) is at the bottom of the ladder.

    The Hindi GECs were hit by the cricket T20 World Cup which kicked off on 18 September. The combined GRPs from Hindi GECs fell to 1271 from 1322 as the T20 matches were telecast live during evening prime time.

  • KBC delivers record debut TVR, advertisers pleased

    MUMBAI: Well, well, we predicted that it would be a runaway hit for Sony Entertainment Television (Set). And sure it has. The Amitabh Bachchan hosted Kaun Baega Crorepati premiered on 7 September and as per TAM data (C&S 4+) provided by the channels, it registered a whopping 6.1 TVR and had an average reach of 19 per cent.

    Those numbers are the best registered by any first episode of a non-fiction show on a Hindi GEC since the start of 2012. The great performance has also rocketed Set to its highest GRP reportcard in 2012 with the number at 244.

    The gambit by the Set management to take KBC to the weekend spot from last season’s weekday worked very well for the show. During the previous season when it aired during weekdays, the debut episode had scored 5.24 TVR. What also helped it achieve those numbers was the fact that it had no commercial breaks in the first hour of its two hour telecast.

    According to a statement by Set, KBC was viewed by over ­­­­29 million viewers across the country. What’s even more pleasing for Set is the numbers it generated in SEC A and B homes: its TVRs with those audiences were 7.7 and 8.3 respectively. Obviously, the well heeled and educated have really taken a shining for KBC.

    Says Set senior EVP & business head Sneha Rajani, “KBC 2012 has had a record breaking opening and has seen the highest opening this year across all shows on GECs breaking all previous records. We were confident that viewers would really enjoy watching this season of Kaun Banega Crorepati. The numbers more than corroborate this. We are really pleased with the opening week results and there is a lot more to look forward to on the show in the days to come. Overall we are delighted at the performance of all our shows and over the next 4 to 5 weeks we aim to further consolidate our position.”

    KBC’s TVRs met the expectations media outfit MEC which had only last week predicted that the show would generate a 5.4 TVR during its opening weekend. It had made this call based on the extensive promotion Set had undertaken across channels and media; the extensive buzz that the show had generated, and the higher base channel share of Set compared to last year.

    Sponsors and media planners and buyers of course are pleased as punch. Take Cadbury which is the presenting sponsor of KBC which is handled by Madison Pinnacle. According to Pinnacle COO Dnyanada Chaudhari what worked for KBC in its previous season was the in-built inherent drama of the underdog winning and the aura of a superstar host who connects audiences in a real sense. Says she, “Sony has retained the real life makeover in the storyline and reinforced the age old Indian belief in the power of knowledge. The challenge in a quiz show in long format is that it can easily get boring; the channel has consciously added auditions to extract elements of entertainment to sustain engagement.”

    “Last year, KBC was the one show that catapulted Sony into market leadership and was successfully used by the channel as a funnel to build their new primetime shows. These new soaps have long sustained on their own steam. It would jeopardize current loyal audiences, if the channel were to launch KBC on weekday. The initial viewership numbers are as good as prime time soaps. We hope that the programme leverages and builds enough anticipation for the Rs 5 crore milestone to sustain viewership on weekends. The opportunity for KBC is the possibility of strengthening Sony’s presence in no man’s land – its weekends. And more important, is whether KBC will redefine audience loyalties on weekends in the long run,” Chaudhari adds.

    Mindshare principal partner – client leadership Anita Kotwani said that the promotional campaign carved out by Sony ensured that everyone eagerly awaited KBC’s launch episode. “A personality like AB has a huge following and the entire promotional nuances touched the masses emotionally getting them charged up to watch the show. Scheduling it on the week end has definitely added to the numbers, and its appeal seems to cut across SEC groups. My sense is that the show will have a good run in terms of ratings. Sony will ensure that KBC’s steam does not run out and its team will go all out to ensure that it sizzles enough to keep the ratings going.”

    KBC associate sponsor Axis Bank CMO Manisha Lath Gupta is all smiles about its decision to partner the show, “Last year KBC had  averaged something around 5 TVR and that’s what we had kept in mind before doing the deal again. We are happy with the opening ratings of the show and also with the brand integration that has been giving us good visibility.”

    For the record, KBC’s second episode which aired on 8 September (a Saturday) saw its average reach shift a little southward to 16.2 per cent and the TVR to 5.3. We will have to wait for next week’s ratings release to find out how it fared in episode 3 when contestant Manoj Kumar Raina pocketed Rs 1 crore.

  • MEC forecasts 5.4 TVR for KBC in opening weekend

    MUMBAI: Some more good news for Sony Entertainment Television. The channel‘s mega game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), which is kicking off its sixth season on 7 September, is expected to clock 5.4 TVR in its opening weekend, according to MEC‘s latest forecast.

    This will be 10 per cent higher than the previous edition of the Amitabh Bachchan-hosted show. MEC, a leading media buying and planning agency and a founding partner of GroupM, has based its estimation among audiences above 15 years from SEC ABC in cable and satellite homes.

    So what will give KBC a big boost this year? MEC believes Sony as a channel has grown its viewership base since the launch of KBC last year. The rise in base viewership for the channel will pump up the show‘s ratings this year.

    The second beneficial factor is the shifting of the show to the weekends this year. This will ensure that KBC doesn‘t clash with the weekly soaps.

    The buzz for the show gathered from search volumes is almost double of last season‘s, according to MEC.

    Says MEC National Director, Analytics & Insight Geetha Shiv, “The performance of this season of KBC will be followed closely by media and clients given that last season had helped Sony displace competition. MEC‘s initiative in estimating ratings of such high expectation properties like IPL, World Cup and now KBC, is part of our endeavour to deliver insights that help our clients in formulating their investment decisions.”

    MEC outlines four key influencing factors: program promotions on the channel, network and also other channels; promotion across other media like radio and newspapers; search volume index as a measure of viewer buzz; and the base channel share of Sony.
    MEC, which had earlier estimated ratings for the Indian Premier League, has again partnered Meritus Analytics India to estimate KBC ratings.

    According to MEC, the approach used for KBC was based on past learning from IPL estimation and the fact that increase in TVRs for a new program is due to a combination of increase in PUT (People Using Television) and people already viewing Television moving to the new program from their regular programming. MEC and Meritus built a statistical model using a set of TV shows to understand the factors affecting PUT and channel share for such non-sports programs.

    Says Meritus Analytics managing partner Sunder Muthuraman, “For big properties where the cost of association is high, the rating the program delivers can be looked at as a very simple measure of ROI. We have used best in class statistical methods to estimate KBC ratings. Our finding that KBC advertising on other channels had the highest impact on the increased PUT of the program time slot seems to suggest that substantial part of the increased rating is likely from viewers of other channels and time bands tuning into Sony during KBC.”