MUMBAI: India‘s top Hindi entertainment show is coming at the 7 pm slot.
In the last two months, Star Plus’ 7 pm show Saathiya has shown tremendous climb in its ratings with the figure rising to an average of 6 TVR for the week ended 4 December. Saathiya saw a peak TVR of 6.4 during the week, as per Tam data (C&S – 4+, HSM). A special episode on Sunday, pitted against television premiere of Dabangg on Colors, got it a whopping 5.1 TVR.
Saathiya has not only emerged as the slot leader but also the top show among all the general entertainment channels (GECs).
Says Star India EVP – marketing and communications Anupam Vasudev, “Saathiya is a prime example of how strong content can attract audience even at what others call ‘early primetime’. Earlier, this time band was predominantly regional viewership heavy. So we knew viewers are watching television at that time. Why not put great content there?”
Not very long ago, the Hindi GECs were earmarking 8-11 pm as their primetime viewing hours and anything before that was being left by large for regional audiences.
However, as competition in the genre increased manifold with advent of new channels and the fight for the top league became a week-on-week scenario, GECs started experimenting with content scheduling.
Last year the industry saw a show, Chhoti Bahu, waking up the 7.30 pm band with a peak TVR of 5. But that was not the end of the story. It went ahead with the 7 pm slot with Saathiya.
“Not many channels have put original content in the slot. So it has not been exploited,” says Vasudev.
As of now, Colors airs Bhagyavidhaata at 7 pm which has managed an average TVR of 1.6 (week ended 4 December) while Zee TV’s Dil Se Diya Vachan is hovering with a 1 TVR.
So can a GEC command premium advertising rates at 7 pm which advertisers do not consider as the “purple time band”?
Says Vasudev, “If we sustain the reach and ratings, we can command a premium. Saathiya’s current week’s reach was above 12 per cent. Though the quality of audience is not as at 9 pm, sustained ratings can help us get good returns.”
Star Plus claims that the show is also growing slot leadership margin in Delhi, Mumbai, Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, PHCHP (Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh) and other Hindi speaking markets (HSM). The show has also enjoyed 18.8 minute time spent during the week.
Take for instance the Ranbir Kapoor-Katrina Kaif starrer Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. Colors premiered the movie in December 2009, just a month after its theatrical release. The movie garnered a 7.45 TVR (C&S 4+, HSM), contributing 50.2 GRPs to the channel. On the other hand, Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots was on Sony seven months after its release and was a table turner for the channel as it earned 91.8 GRPs (10.88 TVR) to make Sony the third Hindi GEC for that week.
Consider this: average box office office performers such as All The Best, De Dana Dan and Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge along with the box office disaster Veer managed to do favourably well on television with each grabbing an above 3 TVR.
But does this mean that movie premieres, especially the big tickets, always pull in mass eyeballs? Not really. Industry players believe that the TV viewership success of a movie is the functionality of its content and the rigorous promotion that the channel performs. And therefore, a low marketing push for box office hits like My Name Is Khan (Star Plus) and Wanted (Star Plus) on TV did just average as they drew in 2.14 TVR and 3.95 TVR respectively.
3 Idiots, on the other hand, went through an aggressive marketing process. The movie certainly grabbed a historical share of the viewership in the Hindi GEC space but the push also came in from meticulous promotional initiatives. Sony devised strategic promotional activity with the cast of the film and infused it into the programming of the channel which helped in further driving up the viewership.
While newbie NDTV Imagine has grabbed the number three position withRamayan as its content driver, Zee TV has topped the prime-time slot with shows like Banoo Main Teri Dulhann and Mayka.
Star Plus has its top performing shows which have been traditionally doing well for it. The slot begins with Kumkum at 1 pm followed by Bhabhi andKaram Apna Apna at 1:30 pm and 2:00 pm, respectively. All the three shows have delivered well for the channel. The third show is Grihasthi, which was launched last month, replacing Sarrthi at 2:30.
The first to fill this space was Meri Doli Tere Anganaon at 2 pm. This was then followed by the launch ofRakhi at 1:30 pm in August.
On Star Plus’ front, the “K” shows from Balaji Telefilms have been the ruling ragas on the channel. Interestingly, of the present lot of the K shows, one is on the afternoon band ( Karam Apna Apna) while Kumkumfrom Bag Films has played a long innings and still going strong. All these shows are running for long and have consistently delivered well for the channel.
The consistency and loyalty of viewers reflect well in the TRPs these shows deliver. How will Zee break the cult?
“The investments that go into producing the shows are huge but the RoIs have to be equally huge. At this time, we want to establish our prime time. However, afternoon is something that needs to be addressed on our channel and we will focus on it very soon,” says Sahara One programming head Kalyan Sundaram.
9X, which is a new entrant in the genre, launched its afternoon slot in January 2008 with Rasm-E-Rasoi at 12:00 noon. 12:30 pm has a repeat of a prime-time show Daheej. Then comes Neelanjana at 1 pm and Veeranwaliat 1:30 pm – both of which are fresh shows.
“A strong daily afternoon band will only add variety to the offerings of a GEC, which have to be rich and varied because it’s a general entertainment channel. We have two original daily dramas and a cookery show. We wanted to offer our key audiences the best of programming not just in prime time but in the afternoons too,” says INX Media founder-CEO Indrani Mukerjea.
There is still no argument. Star Plus, as has been the case for the last seven+ years, holds firmly onto pole position, despite Zee TV‘s best efforts at tipping the ratings scales in its favour.
Says Joy Chakraborthy, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) president and revenue, “This year Zee TV has done phenomenally well. Every inventory was utilised. We got more campaigns than any other channel. We have traded well and that speaks well of us.”
While Star Plus and Zee TV are currently out of reach for the ‘best of the rest‘, it leaves a lot of room for other channels to slug it out for third position.
Not for lack of trying though. It has launched a variety of new shows like Amber Dhara, Jhalak Dikhla Jaa 2, Khwahish and Kuchh Is Tara but none have really clicked. Even Ekta‘s famous K factor failed to spark any TRP magic. The network went heavy with movie acquisitions, changed the network packaging, but to little avail.
When reality ruled Star Plus, Zee TV, SET and Star One, this channel was not behind either. Sahara One opened its cards with Biggest Loser Jeetega. It then unveiled its second big reality property, Jhoom India, which ended its run last week.
November also saw the launch of 9X. It started well with two per cent relative market share and jumped to four per cent in December.
It is struggling to fill up its prime time with a variety of shows. In the process it also discontinued Sab Ka Bheja Fry, a comedy show which was launched targeting the male viewers.
