Colors grabs star status

The channel has hit the high notes by using a mix of reality shows and fiction based serials, racing past rivals Star Plus and Zee TV

For the second time in the seven years of its existence, Viacom18's flagship Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) Colors is giving industry leader, Star Plus, a run for its money. The channel has been top of the charts for three weeks in a row, beating Star India's flagship Hindi GEC to the second position by a margin of 33.5 million viewers according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

Colors, part of the Viacom18 family, has six shows in the Hindi GEC top ten, which means it leads the viewership table for most of the prime time slots. The channel attributes its success partly to its content strategy and fortuitous timing and also to luck. Its strategy of widening the prime-time programming slot and not banking on a single genre of programming has worked it says. This has helped grab eyeballs and stabilised viewership patterns (in the prime-time band between 7.00-11.00 p.m.) during weekdays and weekends.

The content mix
Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors says, 'Over the past three years, the channel has seen a bit of up and down. At one time our non-fiction was doing very well, but fiction was not doing that well.' Fiction is a tough game as most broadcasters will vouch for. As Nayak explains, 'once you put a show on air, you can't just pull it off. There is no success formula. One may get everything right on paper, but the show may not take off.' What worked for Colors was a bit of luck, fortuitous timing and a plan to keep the momentum going. And Nayak says, 'So slowly all the shows started firing and now, most of our shows are doing well. The team is also energised and more confident. Both fiction and non-fiction programmes are working and that has been the main driver.'

Getting the fiction strategy right has been key. Traditionally, Colors has been a strong player in the non-fiction space with properties such as Bigg Boss, Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, Comedy Nights with Kapil and Fear Factor notching up big numbers. Analysts believe that to be successful, a channel can't rely on a single genre of programming. It has to have flagship programmes in fiction and non-fiction.

Getting the mix of fiction and non-fiction right is a challenge that all GECs face. Multi Screen Media's mainstream Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Channel has been struggling to get its fiction strategy right, it is currently number six on the ratings chart. Not too long back, the same channel was at second position as it had a couple of popular fiction shows running alongside reality shows like Indian Idol, KBC and Entertainment Ke Liye Kucch Bhi Karega among others. Star Plus on the other hand has not had a consistent flow of successful non-fiction properties and thus has thus depending overly on its fiction line-up, which is a highly competitive space and hence the ratings follow a volatile trajectory.

Keeping audiences glued
Colors has also timed its shows so that they occupy the entire prime-time band. This allows them to get what the industry calls a spill-over audience. It draws in the viewers from one show into another and, in an ideal situation, keeps them hooked to the channel. Nayak says, 'The intent is to slowly try and build a longer prime time on Colors. The way we are looking it is that from 7.30 we have a free run, including leadership in the 10 pm slot.' And now with Big Boss coming on air at 10.30 p.m., the channel expects audiences to stay on even longer.

Colors has the popular Comedy with Kapil show and it recently introduced Comedy Night Bachao on Saturdays which is a roast format comedy show. 'The ratings for the first two episodes are in and they are above 4 (TRP) which is great. It is early days, but we tried something and it seems to be working,' says Nayak. As a genre comedy has worked for the channel and as have reality shows, Big Boss is its flagship reality show, which returns on October 11, in its ninth season.

Every season of Big Boss brings in a completely new audience, which would not consume Hindi GEC content otherwise. Nayak says, 'That's one of the reasons we do the show. There is then a residue effect that stays with the channel.' Apart from the Bigg Boss Nau, the channel has four shows in the pipeline, both fiction and non-fiction, one of them expected to be the second season of the Indian adaptation of the thriller 24.

With six shows in the top 10, the channel is faced with a problem of plenty. And Nayak explains that they are hard at work calibrating show timings so that it does not lose its leadership status. Usually channels bring in a new show to replace an older one or they slot it just after a popular ongoing serial. 'The former is a gutsy call to take if the show is doing well,' says Nayak. It takes confidence to pull a show with a 3.5 rating off air. Usually channels drag their shows till ratings drop and then replace it with a new one. As a result when new seasons of old shows are launched, they do not do well leading to the general perception that the Indian television audiences are not receptive to season-based serials. Nayak believes that it may be a misconception and he says that as leader of the pack, Colors has an opportunity to experiment with show seasons and timings. Will he take the plunge?