MUMBAI: What's the secret sauce that has been adding flavour to Hindi GEC Colors lately? For the past few weeks Viacom18's Hindi GEC Colors has been seen in the leading position in the urban market and pay platform of BARC India’s weekly ratings. The channel has been leading with 22 per cent market share and 26 per cent market share in the primetime slot. According to Viacom18 Hindi mass entertainment and kids TV network head Nina Elavia Jaipuria, experimentation, innovation and bold moves have helped Colors in becoming the number one channel.
Jaipuria says that the credit goes to the channel's selection of both fiction and non-fiction. If anyone thought that Colors depended only on Bigg Boss, she says, "We can’t sustain a number one position only on one reality show. We have been bold, we have taken risks and we have experimented with fiction shows too. We've been a pioneer in white spaces; we've told stories that have never been told in the past.”
The channel will continue to invest in content and in properties that deliver reality, but at the same time, it will also ensure that it has a strong primetime line-up in fiction. Right now in the primetime slot the channel is running drama series like Vidya at 7 pm; Choti Sarrdaarni at 7.30 pm; Shakti at 8 pm; Barrister Babu at 8.30 pm; Shubhaarambh at 9 pm; Naati Pinky… at 9.30 pm; Bepanah Pyyaarr at 10 pm (the slot will be replaced by new show Pavitra Bhagya from 2 March) and Mujhse Shaadi Karoge at 10.30 pm. Colors also has the long running strong offering Naagin running on weekends' primetime.
Bigg Boss 13 has witnessed unprecedented success with 200 million viewers on TV, two billion views on social media and 1.5 billion views on VOOT. Japuria says, “Success is not always measured with one metric. I feel it can only be a success if it is a win-win for all stakeholders and to me Bigg Boss is one such property. Not only did it get us the viewers, the relation that viewers had with the show was unprecedented, it also had a phenomenal success on social media and it took the show from television to digital.”
She adds, “The other metric was that in this disruptive NTO phase it ensured that consumers choose Colors over any other channel. And the last stakeholder is our advertiser and this year was unprecedented from that perspective too. We had the largest advertiser support not just on the main show but even on the extension. We had a fabulous top line on the show and a very profitable show and therefore it made sense from the business perspective. Therefore, Bigg Boss to me, was a complete unprecedented success for all stakeholders.”
Taking the baton from one reality show to another, Colors will be lauching Khatron Ke Khiladi season 10 from 22 February. The show garnered 222 million viewers last year and became its biggest reality show in FY 2019.
The advertiser interest despite the economic slowdown bodes well for broadcasters. “Even though there is a slowdown in the economy and it's been sluggish, advertisers are ready to put their money in winning properties. But the biggest example was in the extension of the show where most of the advertisers who had come with us in the original came back for the extension as well. Which means that advertisers are willing to pay for properties that are winning despite an economic slowdown,” says Jaipuria.
“And that is a simple reason why Maruti Suzuki has come back with us from last year to this year as a presenting sponsor. We also have Mountain Dew this year and I don't see any better brand fit for Mountain Dew because the whole DNA of the brand is about taking risk and Khatron Ke Khiladi is nothing but that, so that's a super brand fit. And of course we have Balaji wafers as well now joining the gang, and I'm pretty sure that when the show goes on air on Saturday we will have lots of advertisers. Our team is in Delhi right now signing the deals,” she opines.
With regards to brand integration, Jaipuria says that some of the shows have a challenge on that front because it depends on the kind of integration. "So every show has its own set of challenges and integration. So of course we will try and add value and clutter break as much as we can. But will it be as much as we did for Bigg Boss is a question," Jaipuria concludes.
With the upcoming new fiction and non-fiction shows in primetime slots on weekdays and weekends, the channel wishes to sustain its leading position.
