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.
From April 18, all cricket lovers are in for a bonanza, till the final
on June 1. The viewers will get to see a lot of high-on-adrenaline
action on the field. It’s already been announced that the inaugural
Indian Premier League (IPL) match will be between SRK’s Kolkata Knight
Riders and Vijay Mallya’s Bangalore Royal Challengers at the
Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore.
Quite obviously then, in a
cricket crazy nation like ours, everything else will take a backseat.
Even movies, our other everlasting love and teleserials. With 59
matches, all played during late afternoon and evening coinciding with
prime time TV, the event may well spoil some good parties in Bollywood.
In
the words of Lalit Modi, Chairman and commissioner, DLF IPL, “The live
in-stadia entertainment, combined with on-field action will hook
viewers onto this new adrenaline packed live family entertainment
format. It’ll also be attracting a younger fan base, including women
and children.”
The general entertainment television is pulling
out all stops to ensure that the audience does not abandon them. The
Twenty20 matches will start from 4 pm onwards, with the day’s last
match starting at 8 pm. While 4 pm to 6 pm is crucial for music and
kids channels, 9 pm to 11 pm is prime time for channels Star Plus, Zee
TV , NDTV Imagine, 9X and Sony Entertainment Television.
April
is the peak season for advertising agencies flush with funds at the
beginning of the new fiscal year. With summer and vacations a step
away, it is also the season for aggressive advertising for summer
products.
Most channels are launching new, big budget shows to
keep viewers from switching loyalties, with big buck celebrities being
roped in. Star Plus is all set to launch ‘Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez
Hain?’, a game show with Shah Rukh Khan. Zee Entertainment Enterprises
Ltd has recently launched ‘Rock-N-Roll Family’ with actors Kajol and
Ajay Devgan as Judges, while INX Media will launch ‘Chak De Bachche’,
yet another talent hunt show.
Cricket experts also feel that
the Indian team’s T20 triumph and their victory in Australia will
further boost the TRPs for this first-of-its-kind tournament. Also, the
tournament will stretch for almost a month and a half – 44 days to be
precise. And cricket enthusiasts will try their best not to miss a
single evening. Does that send a shiver down Bollywood’s collective
spine? What will happen to the new releases falling within this period,
or for that matter, the weekend business?
“It will surely hit
the Box Office in a big way. Whenever there is something big like this
happening, the curiosity levels are high and that will have people
glued to their TV sets. The same happened when Big B and SRK hosted
KBC. Later, of course, it’ll all depend on who’s playing against whom,”
says trade analyst Taran Adarsh.
Producer Ravi Chopra’s film,
Bhootnath, is to be released during the same time. He says, “How
popular it is going to be will be known only once it kicks-off. ICL per
se has not been a run away hit but considering there are big stars
involved in IPL, it can be popular. Our release date, as of now, is May
9. We will assess the situation and take a call by then.”
Adds
producer Mukesh Bhatt, “The amount of money riding on it, the presence
of Bollywood stars and the tremendous media hype has already made IPL
an exciting concept. Frankly, it will be suicidal to release a movie in
the first week and the last week of IPL. But as it is said in
Bollywood, you don’t know the fate of the movie until it’s released.
The same goes for IPL.”
Television ratings may be low, but advertisers aren’t writing off pyjama cricket just yet
THE recent corporate intervention in Indian cricket has
changed for good the perception of the common man towards the game.
Even though businesses are trying to drive home the point that their
objective is to find cricketing talent from small towns and villages,
it is clear that the initiative is backed by a distinct business
strategy.
After the much-hyped BCCI-led Indian Premier
League (IPL) auctions, advertisers are now rushing to buy airtime slots
on Set Max, which is the exclusive telecast partner of IPL.
But privatised overs-specific pyjama league
cricket is new to India and the Essel Group-led Indian Cricket League
(ICL), the first to make the move, has failed to prove the format’s
merit in terms of television ratings. Despite that, in 2008, both the
ICL and IPL have managed to attract big brands that include Airtel,
Vodafone, Reebok, Adidas, DLF, Edelweiss, Dabur Glucose and Intel. More
of their ilk are coming onboard as we go to print. So what determines
the returns on investments of on-air sponsors?
According to aMap, a television ratings agency,
the online ratings of the first three ICL matches in the inaugural
season held in November 2007 and even the combined ratings of all the
25-odd Zee channels for the first hour of the ICL tournament failed to
attract significant viewership. The average time spent on the channels
being just eight minutes. The first three T-20 matches played on
November 30 and December 1 generated peak ratings of only 0.5 on Zee
Sports despite aggressive promotions and appearances by film
personalities. The maximum combined ratings for the first 30 minutes of
the third match between Mumbai Champs and Hyderabad Heroes was 1.0. But
this was because of the match being available across all the 28 Zee
network channels. The stand-alone rating on Zee Sports for this match
was 0.2.
The second season of the ICL has begun and the
ratings of the first three matches have failed to impress. Unlike the
last ICL season, this year Zee roped in Ten Sports as additional
telecast partners for an undisclosed amount. According to aMap, the
combined rating of Zee Sports and Ten Sports (in percentages) amongst
C&S 4+ of the first three matches held on March 9, 10 and 11 and
played between Ahmedabad Rockets and Chandigarh Lions, Delhi Giants and
Mumbai Champs, and Chennai Superstars and Lahore Badshahs, was 3.62,
3.21 and 3.91, respectively.
The combined peak rating of the first match was
0.9, of which Zee Sports garnered 0.2 and Ten Sports 0.7. The combined
peak rating of the second match was 0.5. Of this, Zee Sports
contributed 0.2 and Ten Sports 0.4. In the third match, the combined
peak rating was 0.7, of which Zee Sports acquired 0.2 and Ten Sports
0.4. In terms of GRPs, too, all the three matches failed to draw
inspiring figures. The GRP of the first three matches on Zee Sports was
1.16, 1.04 and 1.40, while on Ten Sports it was 2.47, 2.1 and 2.5.
So, in a situation like this, what inspires on-air sponsors to stick to league cricket and not a soap opera?
Ashish Kaul, executive vice-president, Essel Group,
says, “In a tournament that spans across 34 matches, on-air sponsors
build a significant reach and audiences spend a considerable time.
These past few days have been a fair start for us, considering the last
tournament where we started at 0.2 and the finals delivering 0.8. This
time, our current ratings are equal to a non-India ODI and it’s highly
encouraging. With ground sponsors like Edelweiss, JVC, Bharatstudent,
Dabur Glucose and on-air sponsors like Airtel and Intel, it only shows
that the property has taken-off extremely well and is on its way up. We
are in the process of signing more associates and team sponsors.”
He adds “We have just started off and the response
is getting better and encouraging. With global broadcast partners, Ten
Sports delivering us the required reach, lock-in on-ground sponsors,
team sponsors, on-air sponsors and audiences increasing up after each
match, our clients are only going to benefit as the tournament
progresses.”
The question is: with competitor IPL around and low TV ratings, are sponsors likely to walk out on the ICL?
Says Pratap Bose, CEO, Ogilvy & Mather, “As far
as the ICL is concerned, it is a new format in India and there are two
kinds of advertisers riding it. Some look at it as a long-term
investment and, therefore, even if the tournament fails to deliver the
numbers—those sponsors will stick to it. That’s because once the
property is established, it will start fetching everybody returns.
Secondly, those riding ICL with short-term objectives will most likely
pull out if it fails on TV ratings. Also, with the IPL just a month
away, it will be interesting to see what kind of television rating it
harvests.”
But analysts also say it’s going to be tough for
the ICL if the IPL is successful in generating television ratings.
Since the tournament involves so many established Indian cricket stars
and Bollywood actors, one can bet on the fact that all the brands that
these celebrities endorse will get associated with the IPL in some way
or the other. Of the Indian cricket team, those with maximum number of
endorsements are: Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly,
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Sreesanth, Virendra Sehwag and now
Ishaant Sharma. Brands ranging from Pepsi, Parachute, Canon and Puma to
Adidas, VISA, LG, Videocon, Samsung, Orient and Britannia have these
cricketers as brand endorsers.
Franchise owners like Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla
and Preity Zinta are most likely to attract brands including, Hyundai
Santro, Compaq, Kurkure and VSNL. Besides, owing to franchisees Mukesh
Ambani and Vijay Mallya—two corporate goliaths—Reliance Industries and
UB Group will be backing the IPL.
R Gowthaman, managing director, MindShare, South
Asia, which is a media buying agency, says, “For on-air sponsors, TRPs
definitely matter and it is the only way to evaluate the product.
However, as far as the IPL is concerned, we have certain benchmarks for
the sponsors. Once the tournament begins, any rating between 3 and 4
should be good. A 4 will be very good. As the tournament moves towards
the finals, TRPs 7-8 can’t be ruled out. However, for cricket,
advertisers do not depend on just TRPs. Most advertisers also consider
whether a tournament is giving them the incremental reach or not.”
The battle for control of the 22 yards has begun in the earnest, both on and off the pitch.
