Bigg Boss Kannada back on Colors Kannada

Colors Kannada hopes to fortify its leadership in the Rs 700 crore Kannada broadcasting market with the reality show's return

Bigg Boss Kannada, a regional variant of the celebrity reality show Bigg Boss, will be back on Colors Kannada after spending a season on Star’s Suvarna (season two aired in 2014). The show kicks off on October 25, airing 99 episodes for the season Monday through Sunday at 9 pm. The show has roped in OLX as the title sponsor with Vini (deodorant brand Fogg), Gemini Oil and Eastern Masala coming on board as sponsors as well.

Apart from this, the show is expected to attract a lot of spot advertising considering its airs during the festive season. The main traction among spot advertisers is expected to come from jewellery retailers since gold jewellery is an important part of religious customs in the South Indian market. The show has a massive advertising inventory considering it airs for 99 consecutive days at the prime time for an hour on weekdays and 1.5 hours on weekends. The format of the show is owned by Endemol India and it's Hindi variant is currently on air on the network's flagship Hindi general entertainment channel Colors.

Of the total inventory for the show, almost 65 to 70 per cent is for the sponsors while the remaining will be for last minute spot-buys. Ravish Kumar, EVP Viacom18 and project head - Colors Kannada, Colors Bangla and Colors Odiya says, “When we had Bigg Boss on the channel in 2013, things were different. It actually gave the channel the impetus to forge ahead. Over the past three years, Colors Kannada (which was ETV Kannada back then) has had an eventful journey from number four to number 1 and Bigg Boss was one of the drivers. This time too, we expect the show to help consolidate our position further.”

He adds that in keeping with the sensibilities of the Kannada market, the show will serve a family viewing purpose. Apart from Bigg Boss season 3, the channel will also be launching three fiction shows by December end.

Colors Kannada, as it was rebranded in April this year, was originally under the ETV brand of regional channels that Viacom18 got under its fold in 2012. At the time, the channel was at number four in a four-five channel market. Since then, Kumar and team made some changes in programming and strategy. It introduced Kannada remakes of popular Colors shows – Baalika Vadhu and Madhubala (the former is still one air) apart from new reality shows and original fiction shows. Over time, the fiction and non-fiction properties developed stickiness, leading to loyal viewership for the channel. it also developed inb-house reality shows like Indian (a road-trip based competitive show).

Today, the channel commands the number one position with a 34 per cent market share (viewership according to BARC data) followed by Zee Kannada with 23 per cent, Udaya TV with 21 per cent and Suvarna with 17 per cent, Suvarna Plus has a five per cent share by viewership of the market. The Kannada industry measures close to Rs 700 crore of which, Colors Kannada commands a significant share. While absolute rates were not available, the channel commands approximately three to four times the ad-rates it used to three years back, and nearly 1.5 times the rates its closest competitor charges on an average.