Excellent post and points, Natasha. đł
And agreed. Ideally, they should have aired the promo later.
But presumably they were unable to anticipate adequate increase in TRP in the track that was ongoing, and may have been concerned about getting an early start on rebuilding viewership.
But by airing the promo, and releasing a slew of articles that give details of the events leading up to the promoted wedding, they are giving mass-audience reason to at least plan on resuming viewership, even if not starting right away.
None of the episodes ever hint falsely that VD's character will be arriving during that episode. Nor do the precaps promise that for the next episode.
But the promo reassuringly shows that whatever is being shown in the episodes will culminate in the marriage of the popular pairing.
This same manner of track-switching was done at least twice already - for Sultan's genuine death and for Ria's ouster - with detailed announcement much in advance of (1) what would be happening en route to the highpoint, (2) the highpoint end-result that sponsors, channel and PH could count on to be pleasing to the mass-audience, and also (3) some further information of the events and situation beyond that mass-pleasing highpoint to reassure that the highpoint would definitely occur without doubt.
A track is given a little while to start off and pick up in viewership, if those with two decades of experience from the very start of satellite TV channels in India feel that the track has potential to be appealing to the mass-audience and thereby gradually garner adequate millions of viewership watching primetime TV in India.
Every track has been done in some variation to some extent at least a few times - sometimes many times - in the dozens of serials on the many Hindi serials channels in the 20+ years since satellite TV started.
We are presumably not actually expected to watch now, though it would be nice for the serial's financial viability and worth if at least a slight rebuild of lapsed viewership were to happen in the interim before the promised highpoint.
The purpose of the promo airing for many days in advance is presumably simply to gloss the intervening weeks of episodes, bridging the gap from the demise of the popular couple to the upcoming renewal.
It has been almost two months since the new track was started. So a few days of repeatedly airing the promo much in advance - rather than wait until the last couple of days - so that when the highpoint occurs, it will have had maximum advance notice. Viewership will not be expected promptly and massively even then. For almost a year, every track has been almost entirely clean-slated as demonstrable evidence of the mass-audience's distaste and/or disinterest, with a new track starting that ignores most of the events of the mass-unappealing previous track.
If the series is primetime, then it needs to get enough millions of viewership. It can be permitted weeks in which to build up that needed audience amount, but the sponsors have several decades of having seen every variation of tracks and the expectable success or failure of each.
If you see a street dotted with posters for a restaurant's grand re-opening, and you have no taste for its current cuisine, you will walk past. But if you have to walk past those posters everyday for many days, the chance is much increased that you will be amenable to at least have a look at the new version, if not on its re-opening day then thereafter.
Sticking to the restaurant analogy, it's not generally a good idea to mislead the customer by saying the dish is ready and about to arrive within minutes, if it's actually going to take more than an hour. The delay may ensure that when they leave, they may not return for repeat patronage of the establishment.
If a promo airs during every serial on a channel, besides also airing online, each passing day ensures that exponentially more people see the promised highpoint in the promo, and note that no episode falsely promises that highpoint immediately.
We don't have to watch now. The lapsed mass-viewership only needs to get to know via the promo airing during other serials and online, and also detailed articles, that they can start watching in some days.
Mass-audience is mostly not fandoms. They may not know the actors real names, or who the PH or CVs are. But they are enough millions of viewers watching at the requisite time everyday to make their preference crucial.
The sponsors who back the income of the channels screentime, serials budget and actors pay do so because that huge expense everyday is a profitable investment, vis-a-vis the profit endgame they garner as consequent to enough millions of people watching the episodes everyday on TV at the set time without changing the channel.
The more people change the channel or simply don't watch, the less viable the serial's financial worth and the actors pay. Lead actors and actresses are paid on an extremely high scale because the sponsors, channels and PHs feel those actors to be a massive factor in getting mass-audience to sit through each episode if the track doesn't hinder. If enough millions of people don't sit through each episode, then the expense on all fronts ends up curbed to be commensurate with the viewership amount, or the serial gets closed so that a series with viewership more commensurate with its budget and actors can take that timeslot. In the end, the money invested needs to be worthwhile, with the expense-scale on lakhs and crores each week and considered profitable when things work out to the tastes of the mass-audience.
Edited by leelaa9 - 11 years ago
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