The Goddess Grabs Viewers

[Guest guest]

TV Channels turn to Gods to grab viewers

 

Ashish Sinha

New Delhi, March 11, 2008

Business Standard

 

 

After soaps and thrillers, Star Plus, NDTV Imagine and

Zee TV fall back on time-tested mythological serials.

 

With viewers rallying behind mythological stories like

Ramayan and Mahabharata, broadcasters like Star Plus,

NDTV Imagine and Zee TV, among others, are hoping

to generate at least Rs 150-200 crore from advertisers in

the next year, accounting for about 10-12 per cent of the

total advertising revenue generated between the top six

general entertainment channels.

 

Until recently, only genres like soaps, dramas and

thrillers were attracting advertisers and viewers. While

NDTV Imagine's prime time show Ramayan is already

generating high television rating points (3.3 TVR) for

the channel, Star Plus is gearing up with 150 episodes of

Mahabharata that will go on air in April. Star Plus

already gets high ratings (3 TVR) for Jai Durga Maa

(adaptation from Durga Shaptshati) and Sai Baba (4-5

TVR) on an average, say senior Star television

executives.

 

For Zee TV, Ravan in mythology and Aladdin in the

fantasy genre are driving the ratings. " It may appear that

mythological serials are back but that has always been

the case. [....] " explains Ashish Kaul, executive vice-

president, Essel Group. Other serials like Jai Ganesh and

Jai Hanuman are already filling the prime time slots on

Star Plus, Zee TV and Sony. [....]

 

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