Kaajal To End after Indian Idol 3

Sony Entertainment Television Asia is closely observing its waning weekday prime-time schedule by launching a slew of new shows.

The channel has been lagging behind rivals STAR Plus and ZEE TV for a number of months and beside 'Indian Idol', other shows have failed to make a mark on the all-important TRP (television ratings) charts.

According to a report in India's Financial Express, Sony TV performs the worst out of the three big channels in India between the crucial prime-time hours of 20:00 and 22:30.

Once 'Indian Idol' is through, Sony TV plans to axe the underperforming dramas that currently consist of 'Kajjal', Shobana Desai's 'Thodi Khushi Thode Gham' and 'Durgesh Nandini' and Smriti Irani's 'Virrudh' by replacing them with new soaps in the months of August and September.

Rohit Gupta, president-network sales, SET India confirmed the plans to Financial Express, "While the TRPs for these shows have gone down, the focus will be on the new shows which will be launched once Indian Idol 3 is through."

With the way things stand in India:
20:00
'Banoo Main Teri Dulhan' on ZEE TV wins the slot with a rating of 2.9 (according to rating agency aMap)

20:30
Balaji's 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay' dominates this slot on STAR Plus

21:00
Balaji's 'Kasamh Se' rules this slot on ZEE TV

21:30
ZEE TV has been leading the race with 'Saat Phere' in this slot but now faces competition from STAR Plus' 'Kasturi'

22:00 & 22:30
These slots command high TRPs with Balaji's longest running soaps 'Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii' (3.8) and 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' (4.4).

For the entire prime time slot, Sony TV has lowest ratings for all the shows.

None of its shows rating is reaching even 1 TRP, according to the aMap data. An interesting fact here is that none of the prime time shows on Sony TV are churned out from Balaji Telefilms.

Extracts from Financial Express