Panchvi Pass bowled by IPL, to air re-runs sans ad fees

The programme starring Bollywood's reigning mega-star was conceived by Star Plus to win prime time viewership from Sony's IPL cricket telecast.

Episodes of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer, which is the Indian version of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, which air on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (8 to 9 pm), will now be repeated Monday to Wednesday (11:30 to 12:30 pm) and 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.

"We did not expect very high ratings but given that advertisers have spent high amounts on the show, brands do want value for money. The ratings could have been higher if DLF IPL wasn't on air at the same time," said an executive from a leading media buying agency.

Star Plus executives could not be reached for comment. On the first two days of Panchvi Pass (April 25 and 26), the show clocked television viewership ratings (TVRs) of 4.61 and 3.66, respectively, in the Hindi-speaking markets, according to TAM Media Research.

In comparison the all India TVR for the IPL match on April 25 at 8 pm was 5.0 and on April 26 it was 4 for the second match starting at 8 pm. While TAM does not give out the TVRs for only the Hindi-speaking areas for the IPL matches, that, of course, would have been much higher than the all India TVRs.

The industry is awaiting the second week's viewership data that will be out Thursday. "We will review the data for two or three weeks and if the decline continues then we may have to rework deals with the channel," added a source from a media agency.

As of now media experts said they were pleased that <i>Panchvi Pass</i>' re-runs would provide additional brand exposure for advertisers on board.