Big B scores again KBC gets year's highest opening rating

The Big B's magic continues to cast a spell on the country's television viewers. The sixth edition of Kaun Banega Crorepati, the game show on Sony Entertainment (SET), has opened with a 6.1 TVR (television viewership rating) – the highest debut rating for any show across all general entertainment channels this year.

This is the first occasion when KBC was launched on a weekend (Friday-Sunday) slot. Even the Saturday episode garnered a 5.3 TVR, show TAM viewership data, provided by SET.

The mood is jubilant at SET. It had been betting highly on KBC, one of its tentpole properties. Sneha Rajani, its senior executive vice-president, said, “It's a record-breaking performance. Over the next four to five weeks, we aim to consolidate our position further.”

The channel, which ended the week at number three, with 244 Gross Rating Points (GRPs), slightly lower than leader Zee TV (251 GRPs) and STAR Plus (250 GRPs), is now aiming at the number one spot. KBC alone added 44 GRPs to the channel this week.

The ratings have also allayed, at least for now, the apprehensions of media buyers who were questioning SET's decision to show KBC on weekends. Advertisers and media buyers were confused as to why SET decided to put its prime property at this time. It now seems a very well calculated risk,a media buyer said.

SET has brought in Cadbury for the third year in a row as presenting sponsor and Idea Cellular as telecom partner. Associate sponsors for KBC 2012 are CEAT bike tyres, Axis Bank, Justdial, Sony Bravia and Aakash. Cadbury has paid Rs 18-20 crore for its association with KBC-6. Associate sponsors such as Idea have been charged Rs 10-12 crore.