| Afternoon siesta continues | ||||
| A. L. Chougule 9X recently launched its afternoon band with three new shows but if you thought that content on this time-slot got any better, well, think again. After its launch in November with two hours of weekday prime time band which was followed by a two-hour weekend band a few weeks later, 9X recently extended its prime time with daily fiction drama Dahhej at 8.30 pm and also opened the afternoon band for women with three shows that include two daily dramas, Veeranwali and Neelanjana, and a daily cookery show Rasm-e-Rasoi. But what is disappointing about these shows is the absence of any marked difference in the content and treatment. Certainly the rule of the game is to tell the same stories little differently and 9X is doing precisely the same. "We never said that we want to be different. We are a general entertainment channel and our promise is to deliver mainstream content that is fresh, bigger and better," says INX Media's founder and CEO Indrani Mukerjea. The new prime time offering Dahhej is a family drama set against the backdrop of a vibrant Gujarati family. It is the story of two closely bonded sisters whose destinies are intertwined with each other. While Kalyaani believes in hard work, her elder sister Krutika is laidback. Kalyani is ready to sacrifice her happiness for the sake of her family and her world changes when she is reduced to becoming part of her elder sister's dowry. "The story moves from the interiors of Gujarat to the upper crust Mumbai. As it deals with the lives of two hugely-bonded sisters, the show is an outright emotional potboiler," says 9X's programming head Kumud Chowdhary. As the afternoon band is women-centric, 9X's afternoon dailies are designed to connect with homemakers with pan-India Hindi heartland elements and feel. Veeranwali is a story that revolves around the relationship and strong bonding between a sister and her two brothers and describes the journey of a family through all the hardships in life. A tale of strong family ties, love sacrifice, greed and endurance, the show depicts the transition in the life of a woman who loses everything that is important to her and learns to survive on her own. |
On the other hand, Neelanjana, which means the 'blue-eyed' is based on the true story of a simple girl for whom her beauty becomes a bane rather than a boon. Neelanjana's life is filled with darkness when her beauty becomes a curse for her. "Both the shows have lot of outdoors since our effort is to raise the bar of programming in the general entertainment space," says Kumud. Rasm-e-Rasoi which kickstarts 9X's afternoon band at 12.30 pm on weekdays is an informative and entertaining daily cookery show anchored by chef Nikhil Rastogi who will toss up irresistible mouth-watering dishes. The show promises to demonstrate a perfect recipe for direct viewer connect and will also invite viewers to share their secret recipes which only they can make.
9X's decision to launch its various programming bands in a phased manner is a sound business strategy. In an overcrowded cable and satellite homes where there is stiff competition even for established players, it made lot of sense to kickstart the channel with weekday prime time band because that's where the real eyeballs are. Extending the weekday prime-time launch to weekends made equal good sense and it makes even better business sense to extend the weekday prime-time in a phased manner besides throwing open the afternoon band for women. If prime-time is the most widely watched band on any GE channel, afternoon band comes next. Says Indrani, "There was no point in going for a 24x7 launch because it takes time for a new channel to create buzz around its shows and generate response from viewers. With so many channels around, building programme loyalty is a slow and gradual process. But we are happy that viewers have stuck to our shows."
According to Indrani, 9X is on track of delivering on its promise. "It's a long way to go but we have begun well," she adds. So far Jiya Jale is 9X's highest-rated prime-time show with an average of 0.5 TVRs. Indrani says their other daily dramas are also performing well and the daily comedy band at 10.30 pm is also well appreciated. However, according to industry insiders, out of the 40-plus GRPs of 9X, almost half come from films telecast on the afternoon band. In other words, the GRPs delivered by weekday fiction, weekend shows and the afternoon dailies are just around 20.
However, even 40-plus GRPs are not bad for a new channel and these numbers are a result of a massive pre-launch campaign and an equally big marketing, distribution and placement exercise. As a new GE player 9X has so far been the highest spender on distribution and placement to ensure that it gets higher frequency on channel band. However, though 9X is visible on the higher band in the metros and big cities like Ahmedabad and Lucknow, the smaller towns of Hindi belt are still a big concern. Certainly it is a long race for 9X to catch up with well-established GE channels.
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