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Star Plus
Leading the pack
I
Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC has steadily outpaced the rest of the pack week after week.
A look at how it has managed the show. By Prachi Srivastava
t has been over a decade since Star Plus
launched an array of ‘saas-bahu’ serials and
took pole position among Hindi GECs. The
icing on the cake came with the Amitabh
Bachchan-helmed Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Ten years down the line - barring a slight
hiccup - Star is doing just as well. Its viewership
ratings are way ahead of the second and third
ranked Zee TV and Colors, respectively.
Taking an average of 24 weeks of 2014, Star
Plus has a lead of 61 per cent over Colors and of
54 per cent over Zee TV, as per TAM data (HSM,
C&S, 4+), provided by the channel. But all this
wasn’t achieved overnight.
Reshuffle
he channel enjoyed a peak period for five
years in the last decade, until Colors, then
a 16-month old channel toppled it in week 46
(mid- to late November) 2008. After that, both
Star Plus and the Viacom18 channel occupied the
top spots (barring one week when Zee TV was
No.1) until week 39, 2009 when Colors took over
and consolidated its position for weeks together.
Star Plus had started to lose its sheen. To
counter the blow, the management first made
some structural changes. Sanjay Gupta, COO,
Star India took charge of Star Plus, assisted by
Gaurav Banerjee (then VP and head, content, Star
Jalsha), now the general manager.
Recalls Banerjee, “When I look at that phase
(when Colors overtook Star Plus), I feel that some
amount of jadedness had seeped into the channel.
Colors came in with a different proposition
and they told really good stories.” The team
started speaking to the consumers and realised
that they wanted to see something different and
interesting.
On the mend
s its core consumers, most of whom were
women, started evolving, Star Plus started
mending its programming to be in sync. The
“bahus” were progressing. And while their
families were still important to them, they they
A
gaining the edge
(Viewership share, in %)
Star Plus
12%
27%
14%
17%
12%
18%
Colors Viacom18
Zee TV
SONY SAB
Life OK
SONY ENTERTAINMENT
HSM, C&S, 4+, Wks 1-26, 2014 Source: TAM data, (provided by a subscriber)
T
If fiction is doing so well even
on Saturdays, why do you need
non-fiction?
Gaurav Banerjee
General Manager, Star Plus
had moved beyond just their families.
Star Plus introduced shows like Pratigya (in
December 2009) and Sasural Genda Phool (in
March 2010) which gave a freshness, as well as
confidence, to the channel. Pratigya was the story
of a girl who would go to any lengths to fight
for her rights. Suhani, the protagonist in Sasural
Genda Phool, gets married into a joint family, but
lives her life on her own terms.
“These characters became the first icons
of Star Plus’ new positioning of ‘Rishta Vahi,
Soch Nayi’,” adds Banerjee. While Star Plus
repositioned itself in June 2010, it managed to
dethrone Colors in March. Since then, it has
been a leader for most weeks, barring a few when
leaping ahead
uring the second half of 2013, Star opened
up a huge gap with its rivals - there were
some weeks when Star Plus’ ratings were as high
as Colors and Zee TV put together. The channel
invested heavily on its writers, storytellers,
production and marketing to make a big mark.
The turnaround in fortunes came because of
many reasons. Firstly, the fiction shows were
created after rigorous research (they still are).
It also made sure that the content was relevant.
Secondly, the channel extended its prime-time
offering from four hours (the typical prime-time
band for Hindi GECs is 7-11pm) to five-and-ahalf hours (6 pm-11.30 pm). Then, it extended
its strong fiction programming to Saturdays too.
The news shows made their mark too.
When Mahabharat was launched last year,
backed by an extensive marketing campaign, it
went on to become the 8.30 pm slot leader and
also found a huge male and youth following
despite it being the fourth version of the epic on
Indian television after BR Chopra’s Mahabharat
(1988-1990), Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s Ek Aur
Mahabharat (1997) and Balaji Telefilms’ Kahaani
Hamaaray Mahaabhaarat Ki (2008).
Star’s version was the only one to come close
to the hit that BR Chopra’s serial was. While
the core story remained the same, the channel
introduced Krishna as a sutradhaar (narrator) who
linked the stories to issues of the day, making it
more relevant for the audiences.
D
Twists and turns
ccording to Danish Khan, programming
head - fiction, Star Plus, the channel
conducts qualitative and quantitative research to
understand its consumers. Khan believes that the
channel brings in novelty in the stories. “Every
couple of days, you’ll see that the story is moving
and it is dynamic.” Rahul Satoskar, ‎partnerClient Leadership at Mindshare, agrees, “Star
Plus ensures that there are a number of “high
points” in the shows so that the audience comes
back to watch the next episode - and not just on
Fridays and Saturdays. They introduce twists or
high points mid-week too, to keep the audiences
intrigued.”
The channel also started to focus on younger
women. Star Plus, according to Nikhil Madhok,
senior VP, marketing and programming
A
strategy, is popular across age-group and gender.
However, when the content is conceptualised
and created, “a 22-24-year-old is closer to the
person who we want to talk as our TG. We are
female oriented as a brand because you can’t
be all things to everybody. Women are the
glue that binds the family together,” he says.
Women’s empowerment, their independence,
their strength and their role in the family and
society started reflecting in the channel’s stories.
Akshara, the lead protagonist of Yeh Rishta
Kya Kehlata Hai, who was earlier shown as a
housewife, transformed herself into a professional
businesswoman, Sandhya from Diya Aur Baati
Hum trained to become an IPS officer, Veera
(in the show of the same name) too grew up to
become a smart, ambitious girl.
T
Of people and time bands
alking about the audience, R S
Suriyanarayanan, AVP - Initiative, explains,
Star Plus reached out to
its audience in many ways
runaway success
(Star Plus’ratings vis-a-vis competitors)
Star Plus
Zee TV
Colors
800
600
TVMs
either Zee TV or Colors occupied the spot. Since
January, 2013, there has been no looking back
except two weeks (week 4 and 43, 2013), when
Zee TV gained a marginal lead.
400
200
0
Jan 13 Apr 13
Jul 13
Oct 13 Jan 14 Apr 14 May 14 Jun 14
HSM, C&S, 4+, Source: TAM data, (provided by a subscriber)
The big performers
Monthly TVMs of Star Plus’ shows in 2014
Serial
March
April
May
June
Diya Aur Baati Hum January
12.8
February
12.5
11.7
13.3
9.9
9.3
Ek Ghar Banaunga 4.7
3.6
3.6
2.9
2.8
2.6
Mahabharat 7.3
7.1
6.1
7.7
6.1
6.4
Pyaar Ka Dard Hai 6.6
7.0
6.1
6.1
5.9
4.9
Saath Nibhana Saathiya 10.2
9.8
10.7
10.0
8.4
8.1
Veera 5.4
6.1
6.4
6.8
6.0
5.3
Yeh Hai Mohabbatein 3.7
4.7
5.3
5.9
6.4
6.2
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 8.4
8.3
7.9
7.6
6.6
6.2
HSM, C&S, 4+, Source: TAM data, (provided by a subscriber)
A 22-24-year-old is closer to the
person we want to talk to as our
target group.
nikhil madhok
Senior VP, marketing and programming strategy
“Star Plus does well with female audiences. But
later, in the evening prime-time band, male
viewership improves through shows like Yeh Hai
Mohabbatein. Also, India is largely a single TV
household and the control of TV before 10 pm
largely lies with the women of the house. For
other Hindi GECs, Sony is male dominant while
Colors has a mix of audience. Zee TV is popular
in Tier II cities.”
Apart from Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, the channel
also gets good male traction for shows like
Mahabharat and Diya Aur Baati Hum. The malefemale ratio on the channel is around 40:60. Yeh
Hai… is the only original show at the 11 pm band
in the Hindi GEC space (weekday slot). The
other channels air repeats of their fiction shows
at this slot.
Says Shekhar Banerjee, SVP, Madison
Pinnacle, “The repositioning of Star Plus and the
high decibel marketing campaign for its shows
has helped.” Elastic prime-time scheduling too
helped in no small measure.
While other channels have limited their
programming within the 7 pm-11 pm time band,
Star Plus went ahead to launch shows on either
side of prime time. The second season of Iss Pyaar
Ko Kya Naam Doon?...Ek Baar Phir (August 2013)
came on at 6 pm and Ek Ghar Banaunga (April
2013 to June 2013; replaced by Suhani Si Ek
Ladki) in the 6.30 pm slot. At 11 pm, the channel
airs Yeh Hain Mohabbatein.
Colors airs four hours of original content
on weekdays. Zee TV, 4.5 hours of original
content, starting from 6.30 pm to 11 pm. The
cost of investment is one factor that prevents
other Hindi GECs from going in for longer time
bands. On an average, for a regular daily soap, the
production cost of one episode is Rs 8-10 lakh.
The next big move from Star Plus came in
February, when it extended its weekday lineup to Saturdays. After Star Plus went six days a
week in week 6 2014, it had a growth of 11 per
cent (Week 1-5: 2512 TVMs, Weeks 6-10: 2597
TVMs).
Star Plus has been the leader in all slots from
6 to 11.30 pm (in Hindi GECs), except for 8 pm
which is ruled by Zee TV’s Jodha Akbar. Colors
airs three of its shows - Sasural Simar Ka, Balika
Vadhu and Madhubala on Saturdays as well. Post
that, it has non-fiction/reality shows lined up.
The other leading Hindi GECs depend highly on
reality shows on Saturday and Sundays. But Star
Plus broke the clutter with more strong fiction
offering.
Says Banerjee of Star, “If fiction is doing so
well even on Saturdays, why do you need nonfiction?” Explains Madhok, “Sustained success
depends on two factors - content and the way it
resonates with the society and how the channel is
able to market and position itself. The marketing
of the shows has also helped attract lot of viewers.
Mahabharat was one of the most talked about
campaigns last year. From the 3D print ads, to
changing the name of Maharashtra Times (to
Mahabharat Times), the channel had several
innovations. There was an extensive digital
campaign when Sandhya of Diya aur Baati…
became an IPS officer.
Veera took a time leap in November last year.
The track was driven by the marketing team. The
show, which was widely followed by old women
of rural India, wanted to shift the focus to young
women of urban India. Radio spots were used to
introduce Veera as a cool girl and a fashion icon.
Weak link in the chain?
f fiction has been the strong point for Star - in
the past six months, at least six of Star Plus’
shows made it to the top 10 list of most watched
Hindi GEC shows - non-fiction did not actually
stumble. The second season of Aamir Khan’s
Satyamev Jayate (SMJ 2), in March, helped build
the brand further. In five weeks, SMJ 2 rated an
average of 4.1 TVMs, compared to 4.5 TVMs
(during the first five episodes of season 1).
The channel had also had successful season
of Nach Baliye with Sajid Khan, Terrence Louis
and Shilpa Shetty. The channel aired Masterchief
India’s kids’ special for the first time ever titled
Junior Masterchef. Ashish Golwalkar, non-fiction
programming head of Star Plus says, “Our
I
constant endevour is to challenge the status quo.”
There were failures too.
Mad In India (featuring Manish Paul and
Sunil Grover, who achieved fame as Gutthi on
Colors’ Comedy Nights with Kapil), went under
because of the lack of novelty and good script.
Survivors India was another reality show that was
a disappointment for the channel. It hasn’t given
up though.
A reality show with Yo Yo Honey Singh, India’s
Raw Star is on the cards. The show is a platform
to find the “ultimate” performing artiste who can
bring in a visual experience to music. And it has
to be someone who can go beyond singing and
create a distinct style of music, irrespective of
language or genre. Somewhat like Star itself. n
prachi.srivastava@afaqs.com