Hrithik's Just Dance fails to impress viewers

He might have set the silver screen on fire with his groovy dance moves ever since Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, but Hrithik Roshan’s debut on television with Just dance failed to take off the way other reality shows have.

The show got an average TVR of 3.1 on its opening day on Saturday, according to data from TV rating agency aMap. TVRs denote the percentage of viewers who watched the show for a select period of time.

The launch day ratings of  Amitabh Bachchan’s Big Boss 3 on Colors was a TVR of 3.2, while son Abhishek Bachchan’s National Bingo Night on Colors managed a decent 3.9 rating. Shahrukh Khan’s Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se tez hain on Star Plus got a TVR of 3.5, while  last year Amitabh Bachchan’s  Kaun Banega Crorepati 4 on Sony opened with a TVR of 5, as per ratings by aMap.

The ratings of the show are almost on par with other dance- based reality shows with similar format. For instance, Zee Tv’s Dance India Dance had opened with a TVR of 3.1.

“We were expecting a high opening day ratings as the channel had a huge promotion and marketing budget for the show. What needs to be seen is whether the show manages to see an increase in its rating or atleast tries to sustain the ratings going ahead,” said a Mumbai-based media buyer, asking not to be named as her agency had bought ad spots for clients on the show.

For the first time, Star India experimented with simultaneous telecast of the show on Star Plus, Star One, Star Pravah (with Marathi sub-titles) and have deferred telecast on Asianet and Star Vijay with the dubbed content.   Star also is promoting the show big time with extensive print, television, radio and out-of home campaigns. It has also created reality zones in Mumbai, Delhi and Lucknow where viewers get a chance to match their dance moves with Hrithik.

The show is touted to be one of the most expensive television production on any hindi general entertainment channel with costs per episode running upto Rs 3.5 -4 crore.

Other shows such as Khatron Ke Khiladi featuring actor Akshay Kumar, cost Rs 3 crore an episode, while a medium-budget show costs Rs 40-70 lakh an episode, according to officials with Hindi GECs.

Experts, however, are optimistic about Just dance. “Considering the first episode had just shown auditions happening across various cities once the final contestants are chosen there would be huge interest,” said a media buyer.

The show is expected to fetch Star India nearly Rs 100 crore, according to media buyers. The channel has locked in over 12 sponsors for the show.