Crime pays on TV

It may be a murky real world but crime themes bring in steady viewership for GECs

It is not just the news headlines which narrate the tale of a crime these days. The Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) do so too, and have found a success formula in crime-based shows. Networks like Multi Screen Media, Viacom18 and Star India have been dishing out crime-based programmes in different formats, almost always meeting with success.

Currently, MTV, Sony Entertainment Television (Sony), Life OK and Channel [V] offer crime-based shows. Each has taken a different take on the genre, but all agree that in a market like India, it is paramount to have content that the viewer can relate to.

Life OK, which is the second GEC brand from Star India's stable, has three crime shows belonging to different formats, and hence, treated differently. Its latest offering Laut Aao Trisha is a thriller that tracks the events after the disappearance of an 18-year old. The fiction drama is the Indian adaptation of Spanish TV series Dónde está Elisa. In addition, it has Savdhaan India that is a docu-drama and Shapath - Super Cops vs Super Villians that is a fantastical take on the crime genre.

Sony, with its urban-slant, had been early to the party with a fiction show and a docu-drama based on crime. It still has the long-running cop drama CID that has set a benchmark in longevity of a TV fiction show. The show has been on air for 15 years and continues to figure among the top-rated shows on the channel. The docu-drama, which Savdhaan India competes with is Crime Patrol.

"I would not call them crime-based shows. I would look at them as thrillers with crime as a pivotal element. The other element is relationships. Whether it is the team (with Shivaji Satnam) on CID or the connect that the anchor (Anoop Soni) enjoys with the audience on Crime Patrol, it is important to have consistency in the relationships you show and in the relationship the characters and actors share with the viewers," says Nachiket Pantvaidya, senior executive vice-president and business head, Sony.

Pantvaidya says that crime-based shows need to have a good shelf-life, and should be prime for repeat-viewing.

However, the challenge is to keep the shows relevant over a long period.

"In India, the story-line and characters are very important. The media landscape, especially on television, needs to be a reflection of the current scenario. That contemporary edge needs to be present in the content we dish out. That is what we try to do with Savdhaan India," says Ajit Thakur, general manager, Life OK.

Thakur says that crime-based shows serve two needs. On one hand, they have a theme that is relevant since crime news is ever present in our lives, and the awareness around crime is on the rise. At the same time, while news can only inform the viewers of the incident, GECs can take it a step further and provide insight and preventive/precautionary measures as well.

"To make our viewers feel involved and empowered, shows like Savdhaan India not only gives an account of the crime, but also gives veiwers expert opinion on how to tackle a situation where crime has occurred. It's a value addition to the content and the viewer's life in general, we feel," says Thakur.

Life OK has launched a mobile application where users can update localities in a city where crime is rampant. Its sister channel Channel [V] launched the app called V With U which enables users to contact selected friends or family members when in trouble, sending out a distress message and the user's location.

In fact, youth GECs have found a success formula in shows that spread awareness about crime among the youth. While Channel [V] has Gumrah on air, MTV has a show called Webbed. "The USP of crime-based shows is that they are based on true stories and hence, have a bigger pull and the audience can relate to these stories. And a show like MTV Webbed 2 is a useful show as it not only informs people but also empowers them to surf smarter by providing tips and ideas from cyber experts. From an advertising perspective, crime-based shows provide good opportunities for brand integrations," says Sumeli Chatterjee, head - marketing, media and insights at MTV India.

However, Sony recently had another crime show, Encounter, which was anchored by actor Manoj Bajpai but it failed to do very well and is currently off air. Pantvaidya says that the slot alloted also plays an important role. "The Sunday edition of the show did better than the rest. However, apart from being in a tough slot, in hindsight, it emerged that the lack of character-affinity played a role too."