A sad resposne and miserable TRP ratings of 3- 5 in target markets due to the popular Indian Premier League, Star Plus has decided to air repeat telecasts of Shah Rukh Khan-anchored quiz show Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hai? till June 1, the day the Twenty20 league ends.
The programme with Bollywood’s reigning mega-star Shahrukh Khan as the anchor was conceived by Star Plus to win over prime time viewership from Sony’s IPL cricket telecast.
The Episodes of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer, which is the Indian clone of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, was aired on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (8 to 9 pm), but now will be repeated Monday to Wednesday (11:30 to 12:30 pm) and again on a back-to-back slot on Sunday (1 to 4 pm).
Commercials aired during the original show time will also be re-run without charging advertisers additional fee, said sources. In other words, an advertiser will get three times more air time on Star Plus for the same amount it had paid originally.
Like in our earlier editorial in which we thanked IPL for putting and end to the the Saas Bahu Saga, this ratings prove once again that a realty show or a original format can easily drive the blues out of any programmes currently aired in Indian Television.
IPL has been gaining daily popularity and is now the most popular event not only in India but in many places. The supporting of teams will very soon reach cult proportions. The greatest benefit we think is getting rid of the staple diet of saas bahu type serials and soaps served to Indian Viewers since long. When the entire world is moving towards realty shows and innovative formats we saw Indian Television dishing out a whole bunch of rotten and stinking serials based on age old family melodrama with predictable twists and turns and with a simple intention of pulling it towards infinity.
The viewers could do nothing except digest that over rotten food similar to the food handed over to prisoners who have no other option but to gulp it down. Yes, occasionally we saw a breeze of fresh air like an ugly betty or a American idol clone but the saas bahu type survived given the long standing nexus between the producer, programming head and a bunch of plastic actors. Even scripts and sets were guided by advertisers and TV channels old or new always wanted to tread the proven path and no one ever had the guts to step out on the road less traveled.
IPL came in such a scenario and captured all hearts, minds and eyeballs irrespective of age, class or sex. Starting from the housewife to the office goer, the college and school kids, girls, women, men everyone got crazy and waited anxiously with crossed finger for the next match. Cricket and Movies have always ruled the Indian mind and is a prime driver. So with IPL, all popular channels and particularly those whose dependence was most on this over-rot serials got washed away pretty fast.
As of now every one is effected — be it Sony, Star or Zee - all of them and Star is trying desperately to break away with a Quiz show with SRK which will probably succeed provided there is no time clash with IPL . Of course channels will claim that they are not affected - but a close look at the fine print will always show that such data is for a insignificant span of time over an insignificant mass and an insignificant age-group and based on something called TAM which operates the people-meter here with even less than 0.1 percent coverage of the TV viewing public. Indeed funny how such a thing can be even be considered as a benchmark.
We sincerely believe that IPL will break all records mostly due to the format of the Game which is as close to a Realty show as possible plus the band-wagon of Bollywood stars attached with the event.
There is a possibility that we will have the real option to put a finishing nail to this stinking trail of Indian Television Soaps finally.
IPL’s first match played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers of Bangalore saw the maximum audiences (10.56) at the latter’s home city Bangalore.However after the initial debacle the viewers seem to take less interest in IPL as the figures came down to 3.83 and 3.65 for the next two matches played in Mohali and Delhi.
The TAM Media Research data, on the first three IPL matches, recorded an average rating of 8.21 across the six metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai on that day. However, after the first match, the subsequent ones played at Mohali and Delhi showed average viewership dipping to 4.97 (Chennai Super Kings Vs Kings of Punjab) and 5.58 (Rajasthan Royals Vs Delhi Daredevils).
A comparison of the six metros shows that Chennai viewers did not seem to enjoy the IPL matches as much as the others as its average viewership for the first three matches was the lowest. Besides, the Bangalore viewers’ interest in the IPL matches nosedived from the initial match at 10.56 to 3.83 and 3.65 for the next two matches played in Mohali and Delhi.
While there is a possibility of interest waning in the future matches, advertisers are not unduly perturbed as they expect the owners of the teams to sustain the entertainment value in the game. Claims Mr Harit Nagpal, Marketing and New Business Director, Vodafone Essar, “We got the returns that we had anticipated. It has got the format of a reality show and is backed by the world of entertainment and not just the world of cricket. And even if there is a slowdown in viewership, the people who own the teams will make sure there is enough entertainment to draw in people.”
Main sponsors Vodafone and Hyundai seemed to be happy with their officials confirming that they got the desired results. The format of the matches are close to a realty shows. Tam executive officer LV Krishnan also confirmed that the viewership was almost similar to 20Twenty World Cup.
Sony meanwhile informed that majority of the ad inventory has been sold at an average price of INR 200,000 per ten secs while they intend to double the price for some additional inventory as the tournament is expected to get hotter as it progresses. Both the format and the timing of the tournament which runs on prime time helped in a successful sales performance.
SET Max which has go the right for IPL telecast is
charging rates on a par with last year’s Twenty:20 or even World Cup.
This, they say, doesn’t justify ad rates charged by SET Max, adding that
it has created a significant divergence between expected TRPs and rates SET is
charging. Traditionally, heavy advertisers on cricket such as LG Electronics and
Airtel have chosen to stay away from the event. Also, franchisees say returns
will not come at least for the first couple of
years.
Major Media buying
agencies forecast that IPL matches will deliver ratings anywhere between 2-3.5.
Ad rates charged by SET Max, in contrast, are on a par with last year’s
Twenty:20 tournament aired on ESPN-STAR or World Cup also on SET Max which
delivered ratings as high as 10-14 per match. SET Max, meanwhile, is charging
anywhere between Rs 1.8 and Rs 2 lakh per 10 seconds for the IPL, and inventory
is now touching even Rs 2.5 lakh per 10
seconds, as reported in Economic Times.
Only and if IPL delivers TRPs
between 6-8 then SETMax current ad-pricing can be
justified.
Industry
analysts believe that given the expected TAM ratings in the first year, local
team sponsors, who are rumoured to be shelling out Rs 15-20 crore are in all
probability overpaying.
