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| Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Star Plus, Colors and the formula | |
| Vanita Kohli-Khandekar / April 21, 2009, 0:46 IST | |
 Why do Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) insist on milking a successful formula till audiences run away. The question was valid in the case of Star Plus or Zee TV when they were at their peak. Now the same question is being asked of Colors.
The new channel from Viacom18 Media began with Khatron Ke Khiladi (a licensed version of Fear Factor) with Akshay Kumar playing the host in July 2008. It picked up on the back of shows such as Balika Vadhu, Mohe Rang De and Jai Shri Krishna. According to the TAM Media Research data for the last two quarters, Colors now commands a whopping 22 per cent share of viewership across time bands (12 am to 12 pm) amongst the 13 Hindi GEC channels.
This makes Colors second only to Star Plus, a somewhat weak number one at 25 per cent channel share. Last week, Colors became the number one Hindi GEC for week 15 of 2009. Of course, the long-term trend still favours Star Plus, unless Colors manages to hang on to the number one position.
A broadcaster’s position in the highly-competitive Hindi GEC category is a critical indicator of brawn in the estimated Rs 29,000 crore TV market (pay plus advertising). In 2008, Hindi GECs commanded 23 per cent of all TV viewership in India and a little over one-third of the total ad revenues on TV. And it takes years to build leadership in this category — as Star Plus or Zee TV realised. So for a nine-month old channel to command 22 per cent of overall Hindi GEC viewership is no mean achievement.
Look closer, however, at its range of new shows. Colors seems to be doing exactly what Star Plus did — repeating its successful themes with different languages, costumes or settings at different spots. In Star Plus’ case, rivals started doing the same thing. Before you knew it, almost every channel had six shows centered around joint families and the politics within. So while a Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi or Kahanii Ghar Ghar Kii were fun to watch, the sameness of the other shows on Star Plus and the bad copies on the other channels created a surfeit that became sickening after some time.
Eventually, the change came when Zee TV started Saat Phere, a show about a dark-complexioned woman. (Ashwini Yardi who headed programming for Zee when its ratings-turnaround took place in 2006, is now in the same position at Colors.)
Colors’ success came from programmes which focused on the girl child, child marriage and strong female characters who hail from small-town/rural India. This has now extended to Laado and Uttaran. Add Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya hi Kijo on Zee TV among many other similar shows on rival channels and you can see a surfeit building up.
Is Colors falling into the Star Plus trap? Rajesh Kamat, CEO, Colors (and ex-Star) doesn’t agree. Of the 10-12 shows Colors has on air, Kamat reckons that only two have a social message — Laado which tackles female infanticide and Balika Vadhu which deals with child marriage. None of the other shows take up the same issues. He points out that Uttaran is about haves and have nots.
The only thing common among some of the shows (on Colors and other channels) is a new realism that the Indian viewer seems to find appealing. Also, almost all the shows are women-oriented. “That (having women-oriented shows) is the nature of the category, since GEC viewership is driven by women,” he says.
Colors’ ability to cash in on its success has been questioned consistently because of the slowdown. The slew of copies, from within and outside, simply adds to the doubt.
Kamat’s theory is that Colors can beat the danger by going on experimenting. So shows such as Koi Aane Ko Hai (socio-horror) or Chote Miyan (mimickry) have managed decent numbers on the rating charts. Its next big show. Bhagyavidhaata, is about the kidnapping industry in Bihar. This mix of steady viewership from its successes, plus the ones from its experiments, he reckons, adds up. “For the first time, we are sitting across from the advertiser and saying we guarantee you 25 per cent of the eyeballs and then locking them into our big properties (read shows),” he says. Colors, he adds, is on schedule as far as cash break-even is concerned.
If Colors is able to make money and retain its ability to experiment at the same time, it would have broken an old mould in the TV business. The writer is a media consultant
vanitakohli@hotmail.com
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