| In a cluttered television environment with over 200 channels vying for shorter and shorter attention spans of a younger and younger audience, programmers and marketers both pursue the same Holy Grail - the blockbuster programme that delivers big family audiences, quickly, immediately, across demographics - with the ability to captivate a fickle viewer. And to create a viewing habit that spills over and sticks to the staple programming, once all the hype is over! KBC with SRK, launched on January 22, jumpstarted 2007 with a bang! With all the hype that anyway surrounds KBC, the introduction of SRK as the new host opened a virtual pandora's box of comment, comparison and critique. A daily show, running Monday through Thursday, 9.00 pm, sandwiched between high performing soaps, a marketing blitz for launch and great initial ratings, it delivers on its promise - and with a short 13-week burst, fulfills the objectives of regaining (for STAR) leadership in the 9.00-10.00 pm band, attracting attention to the channel and boosting revenues. Next in the calendar, comes the World Cup. And with the recent improvement in India's performance, a blue billion hopes are sky high, as always. Again, cricket, when India performs, becomes a blockbuster that attracts viewers across demographics. And the World Cup is the Holy Grail of the cricketing world. The time difference (between India and the West Indies) means that all matches will begin in India prime time and then continue into the wee hours of the morning. Critical to sustained viewership will be factors like who bats first, the score being chased and of course, the teams competing. Both-the tournament and KBC-are an attractive advertising opportunity to reach consumers. It is inappropriate to compare two very different blockbuster properties for an advertising opportunity. Both KBC and the World Cup come with their unique advantages and disadvantages, and the reasons for picking one over the other is really driven by audience objectives, average price, launch versus sustenance, budgets available etc. That said, here are a few things event marketers and planners need to keep in mind. As far as the World Cup event is concerned many of the matches in the early stages of the tournament would be "minor" events-in the sense that they may not generate the kind of viewer enthusiasm as those towards the later stages. Needless to say, non-India matches may not really notch up the kind of viewership or rating points as those featuring India. Last but not the least, because of the time difference, for Indian viewers to keep their eyes wide open and catch the action would mean India has to bat first or chase a "doable" target. All said, in my opinion, both the properties are equally "big ticket", and both come with the special ability to "create" a draw that attracts and holds a "widespread mass audience". How these are imaginatively exploited by clients, agencies and programmers is really the key to unlocking their true value. —The author is the outgoing CEO, STAR Entertainment |
