ITV

Tag: Vivek Srivastava

  • Content creators see value in social media data

    Content creators see value in social media data

    MUMBAI: Twitter, Facebook and television go hand in hand these days. The relationship between television and social media has been growing over the years. But does it have the potential to turn into a major revenue stream?

    Discussing this was a panel at TV.Nxt 2014 comprising Viacom18 Media VP and Colors commercial and digital head Vivek Srivastava, CNN International New Delhi bureau chief Ravi Agrawal, Nielsen India MD Prashant Singh, GroupM South Asia managing partner Tushar Vyas and Star India VP and digital marketing and CRM head Venke Sharma. The session was headed by Provocateur Advisory principal Paritosh Joshi.

    Firing up the session, Joshi asked Agrawal to share some insights as to how CNN evolved and now functions with the proliferation of social media since it was one of the early entrants into it. Agrawal highlighted that in the early 2000s, CNN had created a website called ireport.com where it invited people to click pictures and post from places where a journalist couldn’t be. “That’s when we saw that regular citizens can get the story before anyone can. We saw this even in the 2008 attack on the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, when the first few images that came were from the common people which were of superb quality. That became a great tool for us to tell stories from places unreachable to us,” he said. He went on to add that the notion of TV and social media being a new marriage is actually an old one in many parts of the world.

    While the possibility of getting a return path was natural for news, how does it work for fiction makers? Sharma started off by saying that there are people for whom entertainment is defined by buzzing topics and a fear of missing out. Talking about Star Plus’ hit show Diya Aur Baati Hum, he said that although it rates high on TAM ratings, it doesn’t garner the same on social media vis-a-vis Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Du which doesn’t get the ratings but gets the buzz.

    Joshi went on to ask Vyas about the translation of social media into a source of revenue. Vyas said that social media works as a surrogate and is also an incremental data point. “We capitalise on the second screen behaviour and try and reach out to all set of audiences on various platforms. Social media is an incremental data over TV data,” he said.

    Nielsen had recently launched its Twitter TV ratings in the US for calculating data on TV shows on the social networking platform. Said Singh, “In this, we don’t count the number of tweets but rather the impressions. It is the GRP equivalent. Whether the market will decide to trade on it or to use it as another dimension against TV ratings is to be seen. But we believe that being able to measure impressions would be more and more important.”

    Talking about how the medium works in sync with the TV, Srivastava said that it is mostly important from a catch-up stand point in the media space. Facebook was to interact while not watching TV while Twitter was an accompaniment while watching TV. This was agreed upon by Sharma who said that Star had used Facebook to sharply target and get viewers to sample its latest Pro Kabaddi League.

    However, Agrawal pointed out that the capability of knowing how people react to your stories also puts the onus on journalists to be more careful and responsible.

    Joshi said that content makers are worried about the fact that the value of a viewer on TV is 100 times more than on digital. To this Vyas said that although it might be true in terms of absolute value, the audience on a platform like YouTube is higher than many other TV monetisation that is happening today. “If you look at advertising money, then digital is slowly reaching the top of the pyramid,” said Vyas.

    Star has set up its own listening hub to understand trends and draw actionable insights, highlighted Sharma. Agrawal ended the session by stating that drawing data from social media is also a danger. “It isn’t always a reflection of reality. The demographics that use social media are of a certain type and especially globally I would be slightly vary about extrapolating data from there,” he concluded.

  • Anupam Kher gets chatty with stars

    Anupam Kher gets chatty with stars

    MUMBAI: Whoever said what’s in the name hasn’t met Shah Rukh Khan then. The baadshah of the Indian film industry is known by many names, Rahul being the most popular one.

    But would things have been the same if he was named Abdul Rehman as per his grandparents’ wish? The star’s parents went ahead with Shah Rukh Khan which means face of the king, maybe the real reason behind his success.

    It has never been written or heard of. But things are going to change as actor Anupam Kher will ask intriguing questions to the people we idolize and sometimes worship on his latest show, ‘The Anupam Kher Show – Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai.’

    Come 6 July and the show will present viewers with unprecedented glimpse into the lives of their favourite celebrities, as they reveal stories of faith, hope, struggle, victory and success every Sunday at 8pm on Colors.

    The channel synonymous with celebrities, recently through its show, Mission Sapne, got celebrities to live the life of a common man, and with the new show, it will set new heights as celebs will talk about their journey from ‘aam’ to ‘khaas’.

    Produced by Actor Prepares Productions, season one will see prominent celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Alia Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt, Vidya Balan, David Dhawan and Varun Dhawan, Akshay Kumar, Kangana Ranaut, Kapil Sharma, Parineeti Chopra and Aditya Roy Kapur, Sonam Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor, cricketer Yuvraj Singh and Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah on the show.

    The show is an extension of Kher’s popular autobiographical play ‘Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai’.

    Colors CEO Raj Nayak recalls the moment when 10 years back Kher invited him and his family for the premier of ‘Kucch bhi Ho Sakta Hai’. “Those days I hardly knew anybody in Bollywood. Anupam was the first few people whom I knew. The show was exciting and it is then that I told him, why don’t we put this on television?”

    Six months back, they met and decided upon it as they thought the time was right. And from there it all started; however, Nayak wanted the show to be different from his play. He didn’t want Kher to speak about his life, his sacrifices etc like in the play but about others.

    According to Nayak the beauty of the show will be its no fixed format or structure. More so, he didn’t even want it to be scripted.  For him, the show should make one cry or laugh naturally, while giving an insight into the life of celebrities like never before.

    For Colors digital head Vivek Srivastava, Kher has a charming personality and the fact that he knows everybody in the industry proved to be an advantage. “Kher was completely clear in his mind that he is going to chat with people about aspects which are not regular, something which will show a different side of a star. The fact that he is friendly with most of them and the fact that he knows so much about their lives, people opened up automatically,” he says.

    With the set created only for 20 days at Filmcity, all the episodes have already been shot. The team consists of only five-six members including two researchers.

    The biggest challenge for the entire team was what content to keep and what to cut. “Every episode, the conversations went on for hours. So, it got difficult for us to chop it into an hour’s content,” informs Srivastava.

    The channel has got Jyothi Laboratories’ Henko on-board as the powered by sponsor.

    Colors is always known for its heavy digital marketing. Apart from the regular push, the aim is to bring the show alive on the digital platforms. Fans will get to interact with Kher, keeping the spirit of the show live. An application on Facebook called ‘Reading the true sides of the people’ has been created which will through questions try to unravel the kind of personality one is.

    “As the show progresses, one will also see a rise in the amount of engagement activities with the fan,” adds Srivastava.

    The channel expects good ratings for the show, unlike Mission Sapne which did not deliver good ratings despite having celebrities on-board. Says Nayak, “Mission Sapne was a hatke show. But, unfortunately for MS, it came right in the middle of IPL. Had we delayed the launch, maybe we would have got much better ratings. But for us, it was a huge success and profitable because none of the stars charged us to come onboard. And the same is with the upcoming property.”

    Nayak and his programming team know that talk shows do not give ratings, but he is confident that Kher’s show will work wonders for the channel. “For me it is not a talk show, it is an Anupam Kher show. We as a channel have been known for showing cutting-edge content.”

    Nayak believes that today audiences are very demanding and there is nothing like channel loyalty but viewers are more loyal towards programmes. Already expecting a successful season one, the channel has plans to get season two in the coming months. It plans to get new faces on-board every time.

    According to a highly placed media planner, considering it’s a Sunday property, it might not get the ratings it expects. “The concept is nice, something catchy, but viewers are very demanding at the end-of-the-day. Content has to be really strong to keep the audience engaged.”

  • Season 7 promises ‘jhalak’ of unheard dance forms

    Season 7 promises ‘jhalak’ of unheard dance forms

    MUMBAI: Bollywood, jazz, hip-hop, salsa, waltz… if you think you’ve seen it all, the upcoming season seven of Jhalak Dikhla Ja seven, Colors’ popular dance reality show, promises many more dance forms from around the world that you’ve never heard of, let alone seen.

    7 June onward, audiences will be treated to a bigger, better, bolder edition of JDJ every Saturday and Sunday night on Colors at 9pm.

    A premium television property modeled on the international show Dancing with the Stars, JDJ will see 13 celebrity contestants battling it out for the best dancer title. Dancing diva Madhuri Dixit will be back as the judge and will be seen performing some of the new dance forms.

    This season, Karan Johar, who seemed to be the easiest to please judge until now, will take on a no-nonsense avatar focusing purely on performance. Remo will sport a grunge look to go with his surly demeanor and promises to be a hard taskmaster where contestants are concerned.

    Joining the jury will be Ukranian dance expert and winner of Dancing with the Stars Maksim Chmerkovskiy, taking the competition to a global level.

    This season, viewers will see new hosts in Ranvir Shorey and last season’s winner Drashti Dhami. Performances will no longer be confined to the stage but will venture outdoors as well. Upping the ante, Salman Yusuff Khan and Lauren Gotteib will take on the role of adversaries and challenge contestants in an exciting dance combat.

    Popular comic Sudesh Lehri will provide comic relief in the all dance routine.

    About the new season, Colors CEO Raj Nayak says, “We are very excited because this time, we are trying a lot of new things. We have lots of new elements, lots of tadka, and you will see this season leaping to another level.”

    Laughs Dixit, “Contestants have to learn to earn it, and the new anchors will too have to earn it.”

    Says Nayak, “It’s always been tough. But this time, we are going to make it that much tougher. We are going to take contestants out of their comfort zones and India will get to see forms of dancing they have never seen on any other dance show ever.”

    BBC Worldwide India SVP and GM and content head, Asia, Myleeta Aga, who makes it a point to start penning down ideas for the next season as soon as one season starts, “Colors is an amazing broadcaster to work with. They are real supporters of content and they understand the importance of making a production work about scale, think of innovation. It is a great partnership.”

    Nayak says of all the elements, casting is most difficult. “It is the most difficult thing, because people who want to come on the show are the people we don’t want, and people who we want on the show don’t want to come on the show and it takes a lot of convincing,” he laughs.

    This season, the celebrities demonstrating their dancing chops include Kritika Kamra, Mouni Roy, Purab Kohli, Karan Tacker, Sophie Choudry, Pooja Banerjee, Ashish Sharma, VJ Andy, Shakti Mohan, Akshat Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and Kiku Sharda in his avatar as Palak (of Comedy Nights with Kapil) and S Sreesanth.

    Explaining the selection process, Colors digital head Vivek Srivastava says, “Dancing ability is the number one criteria while selecting any celebrity. The other aspects of the casting have to be differentiated. You have to have the best mix people and that is what we have achieved this time.”

    Adds Nayak, “They are coming and becoming vulnerable in the public eye especially when they are all celebrities. For them to come and participate needs a lot of courage and conviction. People who come on the show come to win and that is why you see a lot of hard work going into the show.”

    For Aga, maintaining the standard has been most challenging. “People have an expectation on Jhalak and we can’t afford to lose that. Every season is about re-inventing, adding new elements and yet sticking to the things that work well,” she says.

    As for sponsors, Cadbury Bournvita has come on board as the presenting sponsor of the show for the third time in a row. Besides, Colors has roped in Gionee Smartphones as the powered by sponsor. The latter was also one of the sponsors of Colors’ Khatron Ke Khiladi. The associate sponsors are Ultratech Cement, Liberty Shoes, Ruchi Soya, Johnson & Johnson’s Clear & Clear and Luminous Water Purifier.

    Interestingly, according to sources, the channel has increased its ad rates by 15-18 per cent over the last year. Cadbury is said to have shelled out around Rs 12-16 crore and Gionee a little less than that. The associate sponsors have been charged around Rs 5 crore and the channel is asking for Rs 3- 3.5 lakh per 10-second ad spot.

    Sources from the channel indicate that the show breaks even every season and makes profit. This season, it is looking at 20-30 per cent growth in ad revenue as compared to last year. Industry experts believe that Colors could rake in Rs 70-75 crore ad revenue this season.

    Talking about advertisers’ response, Srivastava says, “The channel like always has got fabulous response from the advertisers. Jhalak never had problems with sponsorships; in fact we had the problem of plenty.”

    Marketing and promotion

    Colors is all set to promote its marquee property in a big way. While the promos are already on-air, the show will also be marketed through other mediums like radio, cinema, digital and ground activations.

    As part of ground activations, the channel is going all out in smaller markets, including LC1 markets. Branded autos with speakers will play the signature tune of the show. The 15-day activity will speak of how the show is different this time.

    “The challenge is to make the new season as entertaining and as challenging as the last one,” says Srivastava.

    Digitally speaking, contests have been designed on a huge scale where viewers will post their take on the show’s best moments. Those who post the best comments will be given an opportunity to meet their favorite celebs and also perform with them. It will be the ‘Do Your Jhalak moment’.

    Says Nayak, “The idea this time is purely about connecting with their favorite contestants and stars. So, it is all about background stories, what is happening in your lives, it is not just about what is happening on Saturdays and Sundays when the show goes on-air, but it is about what happens seven days a week.” Nayak believes that the channel has a great marketing team who is good in spending and getting good hit for the buck.

    There is a website http://colors.in.com/in/jhalak-dikhhla-jaa, where there are various sections where one can come to know about behind the scenes, promo videos, pictures and profiles of the contestants.

    While industry experts reveal that the marketing spend would be around Rs 6-8 crore, Srivastava simply says, “Jhalak is a big non-fiction property for Colors, and year-on-year we spend as much as we think it deserves and Jhalak is our marquee property. We would do justice to our property.”

  • Kapil Sharma creates a laugh riot on FB

    Kapil Sharma creates a laugh riot on FB

    MUMBAI: The hugely popular laugh riot has now gone beyond making a mark on television. We’re talking of Colors’ top-rated non-fiction show Comedy Nights with Kapil (CNWK) which on the eve of 22 May registered a record 10 million fans on facebook.

    Launched soon after CNWK’s on-air launch in July 2013, the show’s facebook page has seen phenomenal growth with over 80,000 fans getting added every 24 hours.

     In the words of Kapil Sharma, creator-producer-host of CNWK, his hobby of making people laugh has grown into flourishing content on TV and social media. “Though we keep hearing people saying how much they love our show but to see it in a number as big as 10 million sends out a loud message to us. In successful collaboration with the Colors team and with continued support from our fans, my little hobby of making people laugh has grown into a flourishing content on television, one that I will strive harder to better even further,” says an elated Sharma.

    The show has a strong male skew with 70 per cent of fans being men and 41 per cent of overall fans being men aged 18 to 24 years. Be it posters of Sharma or other characters like Palak and Didi or typical Sharma jokes or wisecracks by his wacky on-screen family, these get shared about 10,000 times and generate more than 1.5 lakh likes.

    Ask him about the show’s digital strategy and Colors digital head Vivek Srivastava says: “The strategy has largely evolved around engagement. We used jokes and contests for creating engagement with digital audiences. It’s a tough battle because the show comes twice a week and the page has to be decked up every day. So therefore, even if you have to update the page once a day, it must be relevant and engaging every day and make sense day after day.”

    Social media is handled by an in-house team of four members, he informs.

     Replying to a question about what has clicked with Facebook followers, Srivastava answers: “From a content stand point, we have really tried to explore relationships and get humor out of different situations. So whether it was a mother and son relationship, husband and wife relationship or servant and master relationship, we have taken humour to a completely new level.”

    To mark the occasion and ensure even greater participation, the channel had started a contest which starts with the question, ‘Want to be a part of the ’10 Million Likes’ celebration on Comedy Nights with Kapil?, egging on fans to mail their best photographs to colorstv.fans@gmail.com to see themselves on the cover picture of the CNWK facebook page.

    Colors had also created a countdown app which got activated the moment the facebook page hit 9900,000 fans. Upon crossing the 10 million mark, video messages by Kapil, Palak, Daadi, Sumona and Navjyot Singh Sidhu were posted to acknowledge the undying love of CNWK fans across the globe which made this achievement possible.

    “Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who ‘likes’ our page and shares our content with their friends. It’s a signal of approval from the viewers on social media all across the globe that we are creating a product which people love to watch not only on TV but also consume it on other digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and mobile apps,” says Sharma.

    While on other digital platforms, on YouTube, CNWK is the most popular show on Colors since it was first launched with a single episode of the show posted on YouTube receiving about 1.8 million views on an average. On Twitter, most key characters like Sharma, Kiku Sharda (Palak) and Sidhu have witnessed a phenomenal increase in number of followers since the launch of the show. CNWK itself has 1 lakh followers on Twitter. The CNWK mobile application witnesses an average of 1.5 lakh downloads every month, enabling consumption of not only full episodes but also episodic mini-clips.

    While 10 million fans implies that CNWK is popular not only across the Indian subcontinent but also around the world, what is next on the cards?

     “The special thing would be to keep the momentum on and obviously goals will differ. Today, we are at 10 million; hopefully, we will aim for 20 million. So it is not really about the number of fans but engagement. As long as engagement levels are high, we think we would have done the job. As long as we keep entertaining the viewers, these milestones will automatically come through,” concludes Srivastava.

  • It is about extending the television franchise onto the digital medium: Vivek Srivastava

    It is about extending the television franchise onto the digital medium: Vivek Srivastava

    MUMBAI: In its fifth and latest season, Colors’ adrenaline pumping adventure reality show, Khatron Ke Khiladi, has not only grabbed the attention of television audiences, it seems to have made much headway on the digital platform as well.

     

    Ever since the promo went on air, it has sent social media platforms into a tizzy, what with likes, tweets, re-tweets, the works.

     

    Colors digital head Vivek Srivastava says the current season has broken all past records in terms of digital media. “It has outdone itself with over 100 to 150 per cent increase on almost all counts. The effort from our side has also been that much higher. As you look at the content of the show, it is variable. You watch the show for reaction and that is what really catches on in all digital spaces. More importantly, for us, the engagement ratio and the engagement on these pages has been very high,” he informs, adding that engagement has been nearly 60-70 per cent higher than the average engagement that one can see on a fiction show on Colors.

     

    Going by statistics, KKK season five’s official Facebook page has added two lakh fans since the time of launch, taking the total tally of likes to 714,000. The page itself has grown in content, with many more contests, polls, posters, teasers and snippets than before.

     

    Twitter is possibly the best thing to have happened to the show with hashtags including #KKKonCOLORS, #KushalonKKK, #GauaharonKKK, #GurmeetonKKK and #GaushalonKKK trending across India since 19 March.

     

    According to Srivastava, as many as 69,000 unique conversations were generated on one of these hashtags on the day of the launch. In addition, participants interacted with their fans, chatted with them and shared experiences, driving a lot of conversation on the show.

     

    On YouTube, the show featured in the top 10 videos ever since its launch.

     

    The focus has been on two kinds of activity – content-led and talent-led with the former including putting up videos, discussing different phobias with people and celebs interacting with fans. The latter includes contestants interacting with fans and sharing their experiences on the show.

     

    “From our strategy stand point, our role has been to really liven the experience which television is providing in the digital space. Whether the experience comes through a game or from a repeat viewing (on YouTube or website medium), it really is about extending the vision of the franchise onto a digital medium,” explains Srivastava.

     

    “On this show, talent has been a big root. The content itself is meant to be viral so that people want to see it again and again. Strategy has been really to ensure that people can take the experience of television onto the digital space. And at the same time, ensuring the key imperative always is engagement. As long as we can engage our audiences both at a program level and both when the show is on and not on at an experience level,” adds Srivastava.

     

    TVT-wise, compared to the last season, season five has been a blockbuster. While season four opened with 4.4 TVTs, the current season opened at 7.6 TVTs. The average ratings for the first four weeks were 3.2 TVTs and this season, it is 6.9 TVTs. Taking a leaf from 24, for which Colors had introduced an interactive 3D mobile game, the channel has launched Khatron Ke Khiladi – The Game which featured among the top 10 free game app downloads on iTunes ever since the launch of KKK season five.

  • Colors launches Idea presents ‘Khatron Ke Khiladi – The Game’

    Colors launches Idea presents ‘Khatron Ke Khiladi – The Game’

    MUMBAI: Following the successful launch of Idea presents Khatron Ke Khiladi – Darr Ka Blockbuster, COLORS is all set to enhance audience engagement with the launch of Idea presents Khatron Ke Khiladi – The Game. Through this 3D interactive game, COLORS will recreate the Khatron Ke Khiladi experience for the show’s loyal viewers who have been supporting the show since its on-air launch. Idea presents Khatron Ke Khiladi – The Game will be available for free download on the iOS and Android platforms to Indian audiences.

     

    Idea presents Khatron Ke Khiladi – The Game is a reflex-testing challenge addressing the fear of heights amongst players as they balance their avatars on a tight rope above the concrete jungles of South Africa, braving tough conditions like wind force and oscillations. To further engage audiences, the game will feature a special contest wherein the highest scorers will compete to win an iPad Mini.

     

    Speaking about the launch of the game, Vivek Srivastava, Digital Head – COLORS, said, “Digital strategies, today, go beyond the realm of audience outreach through social media platforms and increasingly focus on engaging with them to create a strong brand recall and relationship. We have tasted success when we introduced an interactive 3D mobile game for 24 which was featured as the top game across platforms with over half a million downloads. With the launch of Idea presents Khatron Ke Khiladi – The Game, we are looking forward to bringing the audiences’ biggest fears to their fingertips through a thrilling entertainment experience that is deeply seated in agility and balance.”

     

    Designed by Gameshastra Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Idea presents Khatron Ke Khiladi – The Game is an adventure-based interactive mobile game which allows a player to raise their scores basis the distance they are able to cover while they balance on a tight rope while facing grave weather conditions. Every stage of the game also enables players to earn varied power-ups such as ‘Super Boost’ and ‘Extra Life’ which allows the player to increase their expertise levels within the game. The Game also features some incredible in-app purchases including merchandise such as shoes and track suits for their avatars with the bonus that they earn. During the course of this highly-addictive game, players will be able to gain multiple levels of achievement starting from Baby Steps for the first-time players to Champion, Unstoppable and even Obsessed for more seasoned players. Users can download the Game by sending an sms KKK to 56882* to get the link to download the game or download it from Google play store or Apple Play store.

     

    Commenting on their association with Khatron Ke Khiladi – the Game, Mr. Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular said, “Gaming, on the mobile and digital platform is a key focus area for Idea. The show’s on-air success led us to extend our partnership with the property on the digital medium as well. Idea presents Khatron Ke Khiladi – The Game, fits well in our marketing communication strategy as it offers unique brand integration into the property, and being a digital Game, it offers  a thrilling yet entertaining way of reaching out to our online audiences.”

     

    Idea presents Khatron Ke Khiladi – Darr Ka Blockbuster powered by Gionee Smart Phone is the ultimate stunt-based action reality show which has been entertaining audiences for over 3 weeks. The show features celebrity contestants like Gauahar Khan, Kushal Tandon, Mugdha Godse, Dayanand Shetty, Karanvir Bohra, Teejay Sidhu, Nikitin Dheer, Gurmeet Choudary, Debina Bonnerjee, Rajniesh Duggall, Geeta Tandon, Salman Yusuff Khan and Ranveer Shorey who perform daredevil stunts under the expert guidance of action maestro Rohit Shetty.

  • And now a 3D mobile game for Colors’ 24

    And now a 3D mobile game for Colors’ 24

    MUMBAI: It has been three weeks since Indian audiences have been introduced to a new fictional TV format in the form of real time story telling through the first international adaptation of the American hit 24. With a 360 degree marketing campaign – almost like that used for full length feature films – to help create the buzz around the series, host channel Colors has decided to perk it up by throwing in a sparkling digital ingredient for viewers.

    And it’s coming in the form of a 3D interactive mobile game for iOS and Android phones. Developed by Gameshashtra Solutions, it is targeted at those who want to have the thrill of playing Jai Singh Rathod (Anil Kapoor) – the main protagonist of the show – while on the go. Called ‘Safari Storme 24 – The Game’, it is available for download only in India. It will allow gamers to go through three maps of Worli, Dadar and Parel with 30 levels of two minutes each. As of now only the Worli route is available while the other two will be launched in the coming weeks.The first map of Worli is a rooftop setting.

    Four and a half months went into creating the 3D game. Fans will keep going through levels, scoring points, winning ammunition and then checking scores with others on the ‘leaderboard’ through their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

    “The three locations in the game are also there in the series,” says Colors digital head Vivek Srivastava. “We kept the game in the spirit of the show by taking the concept ‘race against time’ rather than the political drama in it,” he adds.

    Explaining the game technique Srivastava says that players have two ways of surviving – hit and survive or duck and survive. As the game levels progress, the enemies come in hordes and ammunition also stacks up.

    Coming up with a 3D game has probably cost sack fulls of money, apart from what has already been invested in the expensive show. But the channel seems to not be too worried about it.

    Vivek Srivastava is targeting a million downloads of the game

    “For the first season it is not about making money,” says Srivastava who is aiming at getting 1 million downloads for the free game. However, advertisements will be inserted into the game that would give them some amount of revenue.

    24 is Colors biggest fiction property created by Anil Kapoor Productions and Ramesh Deo Productions (RDP). Delly Belly director Abhinay Deo is the series director while Rensil D’Silva is the scriptwriter.

    The show is presented by Safari Storme while Next is one of the associate sponsors. The launch day saw it garner 3.4 million viewers with most of it coming from the urban areas while the second week saw it get an average of 2.6 million viewers.

    “Television executives in India are increasingly understanding that you can take a TV show into other experiences for viewers. Look at KBC which has a game which allows fans to test their general knowledge skills online and on the mobile. And now Colors has developed a 24 game which will allow youngsters and old alike to shoot, and kill while rising up in levels,” says a media observer. “The fact that it is primarily for the mobile will bring in a lot of fans who will play the game when they have a few minutes to spare, whether in the bus or the train or in between meetings. It’s a great move. Hopefully, some of the gamers who are not viewers of the series will be lured to watch it after playing the game.”

    Another media observer says that there is little hope of 24 ever becoming a massy series along the lines of soaps and dramas. “It’s great to flog the horse, but the horse only has that many backers,” says she. “Colors has gambled with 24 and it is to be lauded for the effort especially in terms of taking TV production and narrative to a different level. But it should bear in mind that 24 is going to be a niche affair for some time. So it should not expect too many incremental gains from the game as well.”