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Star falls, Zee climbs
Competition amongst the general entertainment channels has thrown up interesting but unusual distribution pattern of eyeballs in the past one year. Not long ago, the leader used to be ahead of the number two GE player by about 250 GRPs and the difference between the number two and three was around 50 to 60 points. Today the gap between the leader and number two player - Star Plus and Zee - has narrowed down to about 50 points. In fact, such is the competition between Star and Zee that a couple of weeks ago the latter was within reach of taking over the leader after nearly eight years. The neck-and-neck fight between the two leading channels has been panning out over the last few months. While the GRPs and relative share of Star Plus has gradually come down in the last one year by as much as 30 per cent, Zee's gain has been as much as 50 per cent during the same period. On the other hand, Sony's relative share and GRPs have fallen down quite drastically. As a result, while the top two GE players are slugging it out for the top slot week after week, there is equal competition between Sony, NDTV Imagine, Star One and SaharaOne for the third position. While Star Plus continues to lead over Zee in all-day share by a whisker, at prime time, Zee is giving the leader a run for its money with shows like Dulhan, Maayka, Saath Phere and Betiyaan. Similarly, ever since its launch on January 21, NDTV Imagine has not only stunned Sony by taking away the third position but the newly launched channel has been consistent in its lead over Sony, baring week 10 of 2008 (March 2 to 8) when it fell behind Sony by 15 GRPs. Media analysts have viewed this development as a precursor to the future scenario where not only the nearly eight-year long leadership of Star Plus could be more vulnerable to new challenges and competition, but an equally competitive edge-of-the-seat situation for other players is also on the cards. But what explains Star's massive collapse from over 500 GRPs one and half years ago to around 300 today and Zee's impressive rise from 139 GRPs to 309 (week 9 of 2008) during the same period? What's the reason behind Sony's come down from being Zee's strong competitor to a fellow traveler of low ranking players and new entrants? Also, why has NDTV Imagine surprised everyone beyond expectations? Put simply, one's loss has been other's gain. While Star Plus continued to bleed, Zee consolidated on its gain and moved ahead rapidly. Sony also gave enough space to Zee in its upward journey. Media watchers and programmers are of the view that Star Plus' undoing has been its over reliance on K shows - Kyunki, Kahani and Kasauti - which lost their ratings considerably. New shows from the Balaji stable like Karam Apna Apna and Kasturi didn't live up to the expectations either. In short, not a single property delivered rocking TRPs for Star Plus, not even KBC 3 which had lost its novelty by the time Shah Rukh Khan took over. Even Nach Baliye which was moved from Star One to Star Plus for the third season didn't create any magic. As high tide lifts all boats, low tide leaves behind many boats at the shore. Once the high tide of eyeballs began deserting Star Plus, the channel didn't have a single property to arrest the slide. "There are several reasons for Star losing its commanding position. But the macro reason is lack of good programmes," feels Shailja Kejriwal, senior creative director, NDTV Imagine. Star's case can be easily compared with what has happened to Indian cricket team time and again. Over dependence on older players and lack of bench strength has often let down Indian cricket. "If you rely on old stalwarts to score big scores and don't give a second look to new talent, you can only win in bits and pieces. There will be some sterling individual performances but the team's overall performance will be disappointing," says a senior marketing manager of a GE channel. Again, as Sony's executive vice-president and business head Albert Almeida says, "You require a lot guts to retire some of the properties which have been your major strength." According to Albert, television business is all about how smartly you handle your properties. "You need one big hit to start your upward journey and after that you need to create more attractions to build around the core performing property for further growth," explains Almeida. Indeed that's what Star Plus did in July 2000 with KBC and Kyunki and followed it up with Kahani and Kasauti a few months down the line. There was no looking back for Star over the next five to six years. Zee started its upward journey with Saath Phere. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and Kasamh Se helped Zee improve its share and other properties that came later turned the tide against Star Plus. The reason for Sony's slide is quite well-known. The third oldest GE player suffered because of its excessive dependence on reality TV. Because of poor performance of its weekday prime time fiction properties, Sony has lost chunk of its relative share and GRPs. It is why, according to Zee's business head Tarun Mehra, NDTV Imagine started with a bang and displaced Sony from the third position. There is no denying that from day one NDTV's major property is Ramayan which has delivered an average of 2.4 TVR with all four episodes in the top 100 programmes for week 10 of 2008. Other shows which are doing well for NDTV Imagine include Radha Ki Betiyaan, Jasuben Jayantilaal Joshi, Nachle Ve with Saroj Khan and Dharam Veer. But as a senior programmer from rival channel says, "This is just the beginning and NDTV has begun well. How they keep with the promise of being fresh and different will have to be seen in coming months." Albert is of the view that the current scenario is a result of the cyclical nature of television business. "The business graphs of different channels are intersecting at some points because one player has lost, the other has gained and new players have entered the fray," he reasons, adding, "A couple of years ago, there were only three or four GE channels. Today there are as many as ten, if one includes Star Utsav." Also, the proliferation of specialty channels - youth, kids, lifestyle and news - has taken away chunk of male, youth and children viewers from GE channels. "Since the options available are too many, viewing time is getting divided over various channels," he point out. In fact, Albert foresees further fragmentation because of growth in other options. "No show will repeat its past performance. The days of double digit ratings are history," he adds. SaharaOne's senior programming and creative head Kalyan Sundaram is also of the view that the current ups and downs are temporary. "If the top two channels are neck-and-neck and so is the case with other players down the ladder, the gap will narrow down over a period of time," he feels. Albert also feels the same, "The cyclical nature of television business will throw up three to four players at the top," he says. Sources in Zee also admit that it's not going to be easy for them to maintain the current growth momentum. "Star has been a leader for eight years and before that Zee also enjoyed leadership for as many years. But in future no channel will enjoy such impressive lead for a long period. Number one and two positions will interchange every three to four months," feels Mehra.
Apparently, Zee's major worry is Star's new property Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain? Keertan Adyanthaya, general manager and executive vice president of Star Plus is quite confident of keeping the competition at bay. "We have delivered on our promise of bigger and better programming over the years. Kyunki and Kahani have been our major and venerable properties for a long time. They have their strengths and weaknesses and we are in the process of taking corrective steps to add more spikes. Our forthcoming properties will redefine television programming. Paanchvi Pass is an iconic show that comes with the promise of being a big disruptive property," says Adyanthaya.
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