Posted:
Kahani attention economy mein saas-bahu soaps ki
unconnected incidents recently set me thinking. The first occurred mid-air over the Delhi airport. Bored and flipping through an old issue of a business magazine, I learnt that the US 'Attention Industry' was its 6th largest! (Attention industry loosely clubs the industries of movie-making, print, TV, radio, Internet, OOH, advertising, etc.)
It further said that in 2003, the average American "consumed" the products of the 'Attention Industry' for an average of 10 hours per day, up 30 minutes from 1998. (The size of the Indian 'Attention Industry' has been pegged at $8 billion in the recent PwC report.)
The second incident involved my mom-in-law, who hijacked the TV remote during prime time in my double-income-single-TV home. Having gotten off the K-Soap bandwagon some two years back, I was privy once more to the world of bizarre plots and characters over the last fortnight.
What amazed me yet again was how the K-Factory can hold half the nation's attention with so little input. Or was I missing the big picture?
So I delved a little deeper. Savvy media strategists have traversed the topic and it's a wee bit too late but nevertheless I don't think we give enough recognition to the modern soap makers for their sinister hold on our attention!
They say physical force was the engine of the agricultural and industrial economies and information was the driver of the knowledge economy. And now, if you didn't already know, as our collective brains and hard disks get clogged with more gigs of information and data, the force that is driving our economy is ATTENTION. Davenport and Beck in their seminal book, 'Attention Economy', defined 'Attention' as the understanding to work despite an over-abundance of 'information competition'.
Now, TV without doubt is the biggest societal influence inflicted on our nation. And I believe within TV the K-Soap-Factory knows how to manipulate viewer attention better than many marketers and advertisers. They have realised that in an attention starved economy, viewers watch in snatches of attention. So even if the quality of programming drops – from an endless menu of childishly trivial soaps to more degenerate storylines – the viewer will be addicted if one follows the rules of the attention economy.
Well, it isn't exactly rocket-science. The rules are simple. And do forgive me if my bias against the K-Factory spills over in the analysis!
Low Entry Barriers. The K-serialised short narratives have plots that have low entry barriers. Even if one misses a few episodes, the story rarely moves ahead. So, one never misses a plot because of dip in attendance. You can still participate in kitty party conversations with a small blip.
It's this combination of continuity, regularity and familiarity that glues viewers to the K-Soaps. They are like 'ritual pleasures', which can be indulged in same time, every day, everywhere. All the viewer needs is the call of the 'theme tune'.
Research* tells us that the popularity of the soap opera appears to rest on its undemanding nature. So, while the world moves at warp speed, the K-Soap axis is in slow motion.
If you have watched a prime time K-Soap recently, you would have seen how a one-sentence conversation between an animated 'saas' and an equally animated 'bahu' can take up to two minutes. Each twist of the head is done in a minimum of three jerks with amplified background music, accompanied by multi-coloured flashes of light depending on the actor's personality type! Most popular characters – especially the scheming vamps – have a sort of 'ring tone' to them as well. (Remember Komolika in 'Kasauti Zindagi Kay' ver1.0?)
The melodramatic aesthetic of the K-Soap is designed to catch the attention of the viewer. Extremely low levels of concentration are needed to comprehend the individual episodes. The emphasis on talk and not action ensures that a busy housewife can get the gist of what's going on even from the kitchen while preparing a meal. And hence, week after week, the vacuous-viewer-friendliness of the slow soap ensures high TRPs.
Generational Fast Forward. However, while the speed of the average K-Soap is less than 20kmph, occasionally it hits the expressway. This is when the story suddenly zooms ahead by a decade or two. It allows space and logic to retire not-so-popular characters, an occasion for 'makeover' mayhem and selective purging of family members.
The grand mommy of all soaps – KSBKBT – once again zoomed ahead by 20 years in June, the second such fast-forward since the soap began in 2000. Smriti Irani took over the mantle from 'Baa' and 'Krishnatulsi' is the spanking new 5th generation daughter-in-law!
While watching soaps, viewers gain pleasure from forming active 'parasocial relationships' with the leading characters. And while there cannot always be much change in the real life of the viewer, fast forwards bring pleasurable changes in their parasocial relationships. They also help in shrugging off familiarity and predictability in the soap.
I guess in an increasingly re-mixed society, where not just tunes and songs but genres and singers mix and match their product, fast-forwards allow for a 're-mix' of the soap – old plots with new faces.
Multiple Plot Lines. To keep the story going, the K-Factory invents plots and sub-plots even if they turn bizarre. On an average, a K-Soap has three-four story lines running parallel to each other at a given time. One is the 'meat' of the soap; the others are 'fillers'.
This gives the viewer the option to control what she wants and the freedom to gloss over the sub plots that she finds uninteresting.
The K-Soaps continue to command high TRPs not because they are better storytellers but because they have mastered the art of engaging the attention on the back of one bizarre sub-plot after another. These ensure that the viewer never gets the time to get bored.
No sooner has a viewer understood and empathised with one character's reaction to an event, than the focus changes to the next sub-plot.
Almost all plots are designed to appeal to women. Each centres on everyday domestic life, family and gossip, making it both comforting and appealing to women of all ages and social strata.
Men very often take static positions as 'head' of the family and are deliberately deprived of the stereotypical powerful image inherent in action thrillers. Again, research* suggests women enjoy seeing them suffer and their authority undermined.
The continued high TRPs of KSBKBT, KGGK and now 'Kkasam Se' and other newer 'K-Soaps' over now off-air saner soaps like 'Astitva – Ek Prem Kahani' (Zee), 'Saans' (STAR Plus), among others, prove that a high BQ (bizarreness quotient) and multiple plot-lines are directly proportional to high TRPs.
And, lastly, another potent attention-grabbing-tactic is the overt use of lifestyle marketing in K-Soaps.
Lifestyle Marketing. In the K-Factory, the accessories shown in the soap are all part of the standard storyline. It's about bindis, bangles and band galas. Often the soaps are watched as much for their fashion and furniture as the plot.
This lifestyle marketing appeals to the fantasies of middle-class homes around the country. For housewives, K-Soaps are not just a window of aspiration but also a visual catalogue of future shopping items! Maybe the 'Future Group' should invest in producing 'soaps-as-retail-catalogues'.
This last trend is a storehouse for in-soap advertising and brand placements. Many leading brands have already latched on and many more are hopping onto the bandwagon!
So, I guess while we sweat and pant, honing strategies to get to the hard-to-get consumer eyeball, the K-Factory is already a decade ahead in this attention race.
In a glued-to-my-soap nation that often cares more about the fanciful drivel of reality shows and saas-bahu soaps than farmers' plights in Vidarbha and Kalahandi, the K-strategy works!
They know the principles. Practise them mercilessly and make money in the attention industry!
I am not very sure if the lessons can be exported in their entirety to other related 'Attention' industries. But it sure helps to keep track of them as soaps are a proven success formula globally, be it the British – Brookside, Coronation Street, Crossroads and Eastenders – the American super soaps such as Dallas and Dynasty or the Australian Home and Away!
That's all in this 'Kahani Attention Economy Mein Saas-Bahu Soaps Ki' episode. Milenge break ke baad, now that the remote is back with me!
* Gleanings from media research papers done on soaps
Manish Sinha
Brand David
November 24
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It further said that in 2003, the average American "consumed" the products of the 'Attention Industry' for an average of 10 hours per day, up 30 minutes from 1998. (The size of the Indian 'Attention Industry' has been pegged at $8 billion in the recent PwC report.)
The second incident involved my mom-in-law, who hijacked the TV remote during prime time in my double-income-single-TV home. Having gotten off the K-Soap bandwagon some two years back, I was privy once more to the world of bizarre plots and characters over the last fortnight.
What amazed me yet again was how the K-Factory can hold half the nation's attention with so little input. Or was I missing the big picture?
| Manish Sinha |
They say physical force was the engine of the agricultural and industrial economies and information was the driver of the knowledge economy. And now, if you didn't already know, as our collective brains and hard disks get clogged with more gigs of information and data, the force that is driving our economy is ATTENTION. Davenport and Beck in their seminal book, 'Attention Economy', defined 'Attention' as the understanding to work despite an over-abundance of 'information competition'.
Now, TV without doubt is the biggest societal influence inflicted on our nation. And I believe within TV the K-Soap-Factory knows how to manipulate viewer attention better than many marketers and advertisers. They have realised that in an attention starved economy, viewers watch in snatches of attention. So even if the quality of programming drops – from an endless menu of childishly trivial soaps to more degenerate storylines – the viewer will be addicted if one follows the rules of the attention economy.
Well, it isn't exactly rocket-science. The rules are simple. And do forgive me if my bias against the K-Factory spills over in the analysis!
Low Entry Barriers. The K-serialised short narratives have plots that have low entry barriers. Even if one misses a few episodes, the story rarely moves ahead. So, one never misses a plot because of dip in attendance. You can still participate in kitty party conversations with a small blip.
It's this combination of continuity, regularity and familiarity that glues viewers to the K-Soaps. They are like 'ritual pleasures', which can be indulged in same time, every day, everywhere. All the viewer needs is the call of the 'theme tune'.
Research* tells us that the popularity of the soap opera appears to rest on its undemanding nature. So, while the world moves at warp speed, the K-Soap axis is in slow motion.
If you have watched a prime time K-Soap recently, you would have seen how a one-sentence conversation between an animated 'saas' and an equally animated 'bahu' can take up to two minutes. Each twist of the head is done in a minimum of three jerks with amplified background music, accompanied by multi-coloured flashes of light depending on the actor's personality type! Most popular characters – especially the scheming vamps – have a sort of 'ring tone' to them as well. (Remember Komolika in 'Kasauti Zindagi Kay' ver1.0?)
The melodramatic aesthetic of the K-Soap is designed to catch the attention of the viewer. Extremely low levels of concentration are needed to comprehend the individual episodes. The emphasis on talk and not action ensures that a busy housewife can get the gist of what's going on even from the kitchen while preparing a meal. And hence, week after week, the vacuous-viewer-friendliness of the slow soap ensures high TRPs.
Generational Fast Forward. However, while the speed of the average K-Soap is less than 20kmph, occasionally it hits the expressway. This is when the story suddenly zooms ahead by a decade or two. It allows space and logic to retire not-so-popular characters, an occasion for 'makeover' mayhem and selective purging of family members.
The grand mommy of all soaps – KSBKBT – once again zoomed ahead by 20 years in June, the second such fast-forward since the soap began in 2000. Smriti Irani took over the mantle from 'Baa' and 'Krishnatulsi' is the spanking new 5th generation daughter-in-law!
While watching soaps, viewers gain pleasure from forming active 'parasocial relationships' with the leading characters. And while there cannot always be much change in the real life of the viewer, fast forwards bring pleasurable changes in their parasocial relationships. They also help in shrugging off familiarity and predictability in the soap.
I guess in an increasingly re-mixed society, where not just tunes and songs but genres and singers mix and match their product, fast-forwards allow for a 're-mix' of the soap – old plots with new faces.
Multiple Plot Lines. To keep the story going, the K-Factory invents plots and sub-plots even if they turn bizarre. On an average, a K-Soap has three-four story lines running parallel to each other at a given time. One is the 'meat' of the soap; the others are 'fillers'.
This gives the viewer the option to control what she wants and the freedom to gloss over the sub plots that she finds uninteresting.
The K-Soaps continue to command high TRPs not because they are better storytellers but because they have mastered the art of engaging the attention on the back of one bizarre sub-plot after another. These ensure that the viewer never gets the time to get bored.
No sooner has a viewer understood and empathised with one character's reaction to an event, than the focus changes to the next sub-plot.
Almost all plots are designed to appeal to women. Each centres on everyday domestic life, family and gossip, making it both comforting and appealing to women of all ages and social strata.
Men very often take static positions as 'head' of the family and are deliberately deprived of the stereotypical powerful image inherent in action thrillers. Again, research* suggests women enjoy seeing them suffer and their authority undermined.
The continued high TRPs of KSBKBT, KGGK and now 'Kkasam Se' and other newer 'K-Soaps' over now off-air saner soaps like 'Astitva – Ek Prem Kahani' (Zee), 'Saans' (STAR Plus), among others, prove that a high BQ (bizarreness quotient) and multiple plot-lines are directly proportional to high TRPs.
And, lastly, another potent attention-grabbing-tactic is the overt use of lifestyle marketing in K-Soaps.
Lifestyle Marketing. In the K-Factory, the accessories shown in the soap are all part of the standard storyline. It's about bindis, bangles and band galas. Often the soaps are watched as much for their fashion and furniture as the plot.
This lifestyle marketing appeals to the fantasies of middle-class homes around the country. For housewives, K-Soaps are not just a window of aspiration but also a visual catalogue of future shopping items! Maybe the 'Future Group' should invest in producing 'soaps-as-retail-catalogues'.
This last trend is a storehouse for in-soap advertising and brand placements. Many leading brands have already latched on and many more are hopping onto the bandwagon!
So, I guess while we sweat and pant, honing strategies to get to the hard-to-get consumer eyeball, the K-Factory is already a decade ahead in this attention race.
In a glued-to-my-soap nation that often cares more about the fanciful drivel of reality shows and saas-bahu soaps than farmers' plights in Vidarbha and Kalahandi, the K-strategy works!
They know the principles. Practise them mercilessly and make money in the attention industry!
I am not very sure if the lessons can be exported in their entirety to other related 'Attention' industries. But it sure helps to keep track of them as soaps are a proven success formula globally, be it the British – Brookside, Coronation Street, Crossroads and Eastenders – the American super soaps such as Dallas and Dynasty or the Australian Home and Away!
That's all in this 'Kahani Attention Economy Mein Saas-Bahu Soaps Ki' episode. Milenge break ke baad, now that the remote is back with me!
* Gleanings from media research papers done on soaps
Debate Mansion
