I just broke my heart!

GK interview parts on US!

Currently, with the new boom in digital space, do you think your target audience has changed and you have to make tweaks to cater to both digital and BARC audience?

The online audience is very limited as a lot of people don't understand this concept much yet. And what still counts is BARC ratings as that's what distributors make a count of and that's the criteria for makers to do well. So digital is very irrelevant because it doesn't count. We don't earn anything extra becauseIshqbaaazis topping the charts on Hotstar. We have to perform on BARC. Maybe eventually it (Hotstar) will count after a few years, but as of now, we can't focus on it until it is translating into money.

But, doesn't digital give you a better audience reach?

They are not the audience since they are not counted in the ratings. They don't watch it on television timings. They watch it on personal devices, now whether they liked or disliked the content, does not contribute to the ratings. We are not making shows for the digital audience, we are making the shows for BARC audience and we are very clear.

For example, we started Ishqbaaz with a very 'Dil Chahta Hai' feel...like there was this Mallika track, the bromance track where the three brothers would cook together and talk about women in their lives. While people online went gaga over it,Star Plustold us that if we did not cross a certain rating, they will shut the show. So while everyone was thoroughly enjoying the whole story line, the show was on the verge of shutting down. That's the level of disconnect between online and television audience. BARC is the only criteria for a show's success.

Do you think that success should be focused only on BARC ratings, or will it eventually widen to other platforms?

I don't think that will happen anytime soon in India. Star shares a lot of data. And as per that data, BARC is going progressively interior. They are facing a problem with paid channel. So, people in India have a problem with paid content. And till they do not pay and watch, digital will never work. People are used to watching free Television, so that is a huge roadblock for us to get into that space.



I seriously got a chest pain reading some of it, ya but she is right too. This is no social service, this is business!
She is right and wrong, I watch on Hotstar but I keep my she top box ON from 10 to 10.30. I voted from 50+ ids for SPA.
"Truth hurts" 😭 😆

I agree with Gul.She is so clear !

Originally posted by: --geny--

I agree with Gul.She is so clear !

Me too *cries like Mahi*

She is right. The audience which contributes in the TRP is the TV audience, so naturally they are the ones who should be happy and satisfied in the end.

i'm sad too, but as an international viewer, i accept what she wrote is true too.

Its true.She said na that even when a track was appreciated by the online audience,it didn't get good trps.
Sadly this is how the industry works,they have to follow a fixed formula otherwise they r shown the doors.
No wonder we have such regressive content bcos the audience themselves don't want to c something new and different.

I don't completely agree with her

As always, she seems to twist facts as per her advantage. Digital is a huge medium for making money - beautiful destinations - excuse me made multi millionaires in 5 years with digital content! I can give a lot of examples like that but on my phone so can't type much

Watch sarabhai producers interview or ekta's - 80 million Indians living in india are watching digital
content and this is not counting diaspora like us - digital translates to money woman, under which rock are u living

SO yes barc might be more important don't deny but her totally disregarding the audience that is responsible for her fame is typical gul - arrogant and misinformed. Also this is the easiest way for her to cover up the lack of storyline- oh we are doing it for BARC, so story who cares. Doesn't she always start with a bang, has a good cast and then boom it goes down

^ I agree, Ruzie...Digital is the next big thing. That is why Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Netflix are fighting for a share of the viewership in India and are coming up with premium content.Even Ekta has come up with that new app of hers.

Truth always hurt we don't count and it's the harsh truth