I will only outline the gist of how Satyamev Jayate has been the biggest phenomenon on TV in recent years:
- The FIRST Indian TV show to be simulcast in 9 different regional languages across all sister channels of a network (in this case STAR).
- The first Indian TV show to be telecast both on private channel STAR Plus and public broadcaster, Doordarshan.
- The first TV show to trend EVERY single time of its original telecast, on Twitter! For first month and a half, Satyamev Jayate, its topic and Aamir Khan would take over Twitter trends not only in India but also worldwide. Later worldwide trends did not happen but the show would take over Twitter India's trends completely!
- The first TV show of India whose each and every episode was reviewed by media! It happens only for films, but this was first time publications such as DNA, Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan Times and even foreign publications like Gulf News were reviewing each episode of a TV show.
- The first Indian TV show whose official Facebook page got more than 1 million fans. Satyamev Jayate official FB page crossed 1 M mark around June 3, 2012, just a month after its launch.
- The FIRST Indian TV show to be reviewed and analysed in multiple foreign publications - from The Guardian, to BBC, to American publications like Huffington Post and The Daily Beast to Spanish site Vertele to French papers like Le Parisien and even leading dailies of Vietnam! A feat which only Aamir Khan's show achieved, no other film or non-film personality on Indian TV could achieve this with their outings on TV.
- The only Indian TV show whose issues were discussed in prime time debates on Face The Nation (CNN-IBN) and the News Hour (Times Now). From debating Aamir Khan's way of handling the show to the responses generated by the show...everything was debated on national TV!
- The First Indian TV show to not only raise awareness but also provide ways to raise donations for NGOs working on issues taken up on the show.
- The first Indian TV show to have follow up columns written by its maker-anchor, Aamir Khan in this case. And the first time ever, that a movie star-turned-TV host's column was being syndicated in leading national papers - Hindustan Times, The Hindu, Dainik Jagran and even a UAE paper Gulf Today!
- The First Indian TV show to have follow up program on news channel - Asar, every week on Star News (ABP news) to take the debate on each issue of the week further and share public responses as well as exact amount of donations raised each week for each NGO.
- The FIRST time host and producer of a TV show even met politicians and leaders to speak on issues and call for swift action on issues raised as well as convey people's responses to the authorities! Aamir Khan not only met Chief Ministers of state, but also met the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on issue of manual scavenging and casteism and addressed the Rajya Sabha on issue of medicines and pharma companies - along with his research team.
- The first Indian TV show to provide so many repeat telecasts in addition to multiple simulcasts only so that people can watch it anytime they are free. In doing so, Aamir Khan did make himself vulnerable to criticism of low TRPs (since TRPs are calculated based on time of original telecast) but he still went ahead, compromising on his business aspect only to make his show as available to people as possible, to watch as per their convenience.
Satyamev Jayate is shown many times through the week on STAR Plus, DD, and sister channels of STAR. It's also uploaded online right after its original telecast.
- The First TV show in morning slot in post-2000 years to get ranked among TOP 10 TV shows on its channel and Top 5 TV shows for the weekend on Indian television. Every report has confirmed that Satyamev Jayate did help revive the Sunday morning slot which was considered a ''dead'' slot post 90s!
- The First TV show in India in recent years, to generate so much debate and discussion on issues, be it on TV, Radio or print media. It also translated into some real life positive actions as outlined in IMPACT thread of this forum and the IMPACT section of Satyamev Jayate website.
- The first Indian TV show for which post-episode debates were held on radio also, through the week. Aamir Khan scored another first here by taking Satyamev Jayate to both private radio stations like Radio Mirchi to national radio - AIR (All India Radio).
- India's MOST EXPENSIVE reality TV show till date! CNBC-TV18 reported in April, that over Rs. 86 crore has been spent on making and execution of Satyamev Jayate!
- The First Indian TV show to make it to Top Trending TV shows in the WORLD in World Information Tracking reports. Satyamev Jayate was the most discussed TV show in the world for the month of May according to WIT report!
- The first time that issue of manual scavenging and child sex abuse were discussed on a mainstream TV show, on national television in India. Prior to Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate no other TV show took up these issues on national TV.
- The first Indian TV show to generate more than 1 billion impressions online (it's from the official analytics report).
- The first Indian TV show to be endorsed/praised/supported by not only celebrities (from TV celebs like Mini Mathur to Lata Mangeshkar, Resul Pookutty, Dilip Kumar etc.), but also journalists (Rajdeep Sardesai, Tavleen Singh, etc.), politicians/ministers (Shashi Tharoor, Krishna Tirath, Ambika Soni and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh all praised Aamir Khan for this show and supported it) to activists (like Kiran Bedi).
[Of course, it's had its massive share of bashing from purists, leftist media, journos from rival TV networks and rivals of Aamir Khan from film industry]
[More trivia, with links to articles and screenshots to be posted soon! ]
P.S. - The popularity and impact of Satyamev Jayate is also reflected in the fact that some schools in India included this show in their summer holidays homework for students - asking them to write essays on topics raised in Satyamev Jayate every week!
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