Bigg Boss 7 launches with a bang

The celebrity reality show, recorded television viewership in thousands (TVT) of 7,711,000

Bigg Boss 7, hosted by Bollywood star Salman Khan, has arrived and if the launch numbers are to go by, it has arrived with a bang. The celebrity reality show, which launched on September 15, recorded television viewership in thousands (TVT) of 7,711,000, an increase of 1,311,000 TVTs from last year's (Season 6) TVT of 6,400,000.

These numbers are according to TAM data sourced from a Hindi general entertainment channel (CS4+, Hindi speaking market). The leap in viewership is a combined result of the show’s popularity and digitisation. Also, this year, the television audience measurement agency has included the LC1 (population less than 100,000).

The three hour launch episode included an introduction to this season’s show, which is based on the concept of heaven and hell and the contestants of this edition. Some of the contestants performed as well before they entered the Bigg Boss house.

The launch episode also had a section featuring comedian Kapil Sharma and his troupe from the hit comedy show on Colors – Comedy Nights with Kapil. Bigg Boss 7’s launch episode registered a reach of 27,950,000 and the time spent per viewer was 43.3 minutes.

However, the show seems to have failed to sustain viewership through the week as the time spent per viewer was 18.8 minutes. The show is aired 7 days a week in one hour episodes with an elimination episode on Saturday. The previous season of Bigg Boss recorded average season TVT of 3.8 million.

The week saw the launch of another big ticket property on Star Plus, Star India’s flagship GEC – Mahabharat. The half an hour show that is aired from Monday to Friday managed to get average weekly TVT of 6,35,60,00 in its launch week.

Its reach was 1,70,48,000 and the time spent per viewer in the launch week was 13.7 minutes. The show airs at 8.30 pm and replaced Ek Hazaro Mein, a soap about two sisters and their lives through various ups and downs.

The show has given Star Plus a hefty boost bringing its gross viewership in thousands to 5,34,590,000 this week (15 Sept ember to 21 September) from 4,77,02,9000, the week before.

Both the properties have been made at enormous costs. Bigg Boss season 7 is by far the costliest property to hit television screens in India at an estimated cost of Rs 110 to 115 crore for the entire season. Mahabharat, which has been sanctioned for 120 episodes has been made at a cost of Rs 95 to 100 crore according to media estimates.