Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Feb 24, 2006
That's the message
Latha Venkatraman | Talent-based reality shows are bearing the brunt of SMS votes with regional undertones. |
'NG TAKES' on Sahara One is all about trivia in Hindi films. What started out as promising has now turned into a hitch in television programming. SMS or short message service emerged as the Indian broadcast industry's biggest marketing tool. In the past few years, it also opened up the broadcasters' worldview to audiences countrywide. Channel after channel chose the SMS route to reach its audience;
that of course speaks volumes about the telecom revolution sweeping the country. Alongside mobile phone usage SMS use has also taken off in a big way, say telecom analysts. At Frames 2005, the annual media and entertainment conference, Kunal Dasgupta, CEO of Sony Entertainment Television India, said the channel was astounded by the stupendous SMS response to its first edition of
Indian Idol.
But the euphoria over SMS is changing. Talent-based reality shows are bearing the brunt of SMS votes with undertones of provincial interests. Fairly good singers were voted out from Sony's
Fame Gurukul. Star One's
Nach Baliye, a dance-based show, was also similarly affected. More recently, Zee TV's
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa was faced with a piquant situation related to SMS votes. The show has received an unprecedented number of votes in favour of Debojit, a contestant from Silchar, Assam. Debojit is pitted against Vinit, a contestant from Lucknow, in the last leg of the show. Participants, including music directors have openly admitted that one contestant had got this far on the sheer strength of SMS votes coming from his state. They are repeatedly asking audiences to put aside regional considerations and vote purely for talent. Local newspaper reports say the show directors are flummoxed but unable to do anything as audience vote is the sole criteria for adjudging the winner. On
Indian Idol 2, the jury members — Farah Khan, Anu Malik and Sonu Nigam — do not seem too pleased with the audience verdict. The
regional bias of TV audiences was
evident in the
final round of Indian Idol 1. In housing colonies across Mumbai, notice boards akin to those put up by political parties urged residents to vote for the city boy. Pitted in the final bout was Abhijeet Sawant of Mumbai against Amit Sana of Bhilai. Sawant went on to win, backed largely by the huge number of votes coming from Mumbai. Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/life/2006/02/24/stories/ 2006022400230300.htm
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