'Amitabh is more popular choice for KBC'

Viewers are clearly going to miss Amitabh Bachchan as an anchor when the third round of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC3) hits the small screen this month.

The big B is uniformly more popular as an anchor across all ages, genders, cities and SECs according to a study conducted by Hansa Research for Optimum Media Solutions (OMS), the media specialist arm of Mudra Communications.

What's the thought on the new anchor, Shah Rukh Khan (SRK)? Almost 58 per cent felt Bachchan would be better, only 15 per cent backed SRK as a superior choice and 27 per cent believed he would be at par with his predecessor.

In a bid to estimate the viewer response for KBC with SRK, Hansa Research on behalf of OMS conducted a research involving 600 respondents (both male and female) across Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata in the age group of 25-44 years.

Some of the key concerns about KBC3 involved the host preference, interest in programme, changes expected by viewers, reaction to time slot, reaction to competitive slots and implication for advertisers.

"We have decided to periodically do such estimation of audience response studies to predict the outcomes of some high-ticket programmes. Typically, viewers for these channels are concentrated in north, east and west, which is why we spoke to viewers from the three cities. And the results amazed us," said Chandradeep Mitra, president, OMS.

Shah Rukh Khan (SRK), however, finds some takers among women, younger audiences, SEC A & B and in Delhi. Bachchan loyalists are among older viewers (40+), in Kolkata and among SEC C.

However, 71 per cent of those polled were willing to give the programme a try initially, while 8 per cent will not watch it at all, 21 per cent will definitely watch all episodes.

The second question was about the kind of change expected. Here 70 per cent were expecting some change in format, however, there was no uniform pattern in mapping viewer expectations.

For instance, Mumbai did not expect much change, Delhi expects easier entry, Kolkata expects more fun and humour. Men and younger viewers expect more fun and humour while women do not expect too much change.

The issue about time slots was also a mixed bag of responses. About 44 per cent of the audience thought weekdays were the best slot, 29 per cent would have preferred a later slot, 14 per cent each would have preferred a weekend or a three-days in a week. Among all audiences, Delhi is most comfortable with the existing plan, while SEC C and the 40+ viewers would have preferred weekends.

Finally, about watching competing channels during the KBC3 slot almost 50 per cent are willing to check out other programmes during the week at the same time slot, while the remaining 50 per cent said they will watch only KBC3. Cricket has clearly emerged as a bigger issue among males, among younger viewers (25-30 years) and in Kolkata.

"So if we have to sum up finding: there will be a huge draw in viewership in the first week, post that it will depend on people accepting SRK and here in lies the danger as many already feel that he will not be as good as AB and the show will have to depend on word-of-mouth publicity to pass the critical test," says Mitra. Also, a couple of cricket matches from the World Cup might coincide with the show's timing.

"This programme is good at the outset for brands wanting to reach women, higher SECs and for companies who consider Delhi a key market," signs off Mitra.