OMG:SP slips ,kasturi beats Saath phere

Indiantelevision.com Team

(15 June 2007 9:00 pm)

What's more, Zee's top rated primetime driver Saath Phere, which has consistently maintained ratings in the region of 4.5 per cent, has seen a sudden dip, making way for Star's recent addition Kasturi.

While Saath Phere met a 3.5 per cent TVR during the week 3 - 9 June (Week 23, C&S 4+, HSM), Kasturi moved in to occupy a ratings of 3.8 per cent. Coincidently, Kasturi has in fact slipped from a two week rating of 4.2 per cent in the previous weeks (Week 21 and 22) to its current position. Saath Phere fell from its happy posture at 4.9 TVR during Week 22, thus implying that some other programming has eaten into their share.

Nevertheless, Star is singing its praises for giving a blow to its musical counterpart on Zee and for dislodging its rivals top 'saas bahu' saga.

All very well, but the sudden bout of joy from the Star family can only be sustained if these shows are able to deliver the highest numbers week on week. Worth noting is the margin between Star and Zee for both the shows is still quite narrow.

The recent Tam data could well be a one-off peak for Kasturi. Unless, of course, Star overtakes Saath Phere's stronghold on the 9.30 time band on a continuous basis, only then does Zee have something to worry about.

Star India president content and new media Ajay Vidyasagar, "We worked hard to make the shift from a non- fiction show (KBC) at 9.30 pm to fiction. We continue to build hooks to draw audiences to the show and Kasturi's success in the seventh week since launch is testimony to that."

Not perturbed by the spike in viewership that Star is witnessing, Zee TV senior vice president programming Ashvini Yardi said, "We don't go by merely a week's ratings. We are very confident of our shows and have great plans lined up in the coming weeks."

Coming to the tussle for audiences that the weekend music shows are competing for, what gave Voice Of India its break through this week? Vidyasagar opines, "The growth that the show has seen over the four weeks since it launched has been remarkable. We have seen a 60 per cent growth in volume since launch. This is largely due the vast research that has gone into handpicking the superior talent for the show."

"We have already gained category leadership in simply four weeks. We are yet to unleash our firepower in the next week where we move into the studio round. We have also roped in big names for the upcoming episodes," adds Vidyasagar.

Zee is also upbeat. "What has been encouraging for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is the fabulous response we received even during the early stages of the competition, which we have not seen previous editions of the show. Usually the viewers flood in large numbers during the rounds having public voting," Yardi adds.

Obviously, Zee is not sitting passively perched up on the fence. The next week will air a special series dedicated to the mentors, starting with Vishal and Shekar. Following which, the coming two to three weeks will firm up the final 12 contenders, kicking off the public voting rounds.

Star Voice Of India has been in the spotlight more for the fact that it's Gajendra Singh's second supposedly unique offering after shifting to the Star stable from his over 10 year stint at Zee. The show was initially being promoted with an additional 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sha' to its title, which was quickly eliminated after Zee took Star to court on the grounds of a copyright violation over Antakshari, also created by Singh while he was at Zee. The issue is yet to be resolved between the two rivals in the GEC space.

Meanwhile, the battle for ratings supremacy continues as we wait for the next round of competition.