Big B surely means big bucks. Last year, the fifth season of Kaun Banega Crorepati became the most watched TV game show, beating Big Boss hosted by Salman Khan by a huge margin. Running in its sixth edition, Sony Entertainment Television is on a marketing overdrive as the show goes on air on September 7.
Sony is sticking to the social spin it gave to its campaign last year — “Koi bhi insaan chota nahi hota” (No person is small). So the focus this year is again on aam aadmi. “It was all about making money a few years back. We repositioned the show from just being a quiz programme to a platform that could change lives. This struck a chord with the audience and now we are taking it to a new level,” explains Danish Khan, vice-president and head of marketing, Sony Entertainment Television (SET).
“It was a tactical move to shift from the greed to the need for money. In our country, every rupee counts. And if you turn the purpose around it can make a big difference,” says K V Sridhar, national creative director, Leo Burnett India, the agency who conceptualised the commercials. Last year, Leo Burnett dwelt on how no individual was too small to sit in the KBC hot seat. The year before, it was about how no question was too small to be ignored.
Produced by Chrome pictures, the ad campaign by Leo Burnett is playing up the aspect of how knowledge is the only thing that counts as it acts as a great leveller to eradicate biases and discrimination. The theme, according to Sridhar, has managed to attract eyeballs. The thought is being delivered through four distinct stories talking about biases of gender, lineage and language, showcasing different characters and their situations in life that will engage, entertain and bring alive the core thought of KBC.
And the marketing efforts have been a no holds barred affair.
Sony promoted KBC extensively during the release of Salman’s Ek Tha Tiger. “We had tied up with several multiplexes and also bought spots during the interval,” says Khan.
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In keeping with its aam admi focus, the channel has launched a huge BTL (below the line) activity, which will promote KBC6 in tier2 and tier 3 towns using the KBC van. There will also be a high decibel outdoor and digital campaign as it nears the launch date.
Although KBC remains the prime property for Sony, media planners are confused about its move to telecast the show on weekends, since viewership especially on Saturdays and Sundays tends to see a drop. “Weekdays are key for a GEC channel, not weekends. I am not sure whether it was the best move,” says another media planner, who declined to be quoted due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Media planners say the asking rate is Rs 3.5 to 4 lakh - in line with what was charged last year. “Don’t forget that KBC 6 is a three-day show as opposed to KBC 5, which was a four-day show. Plus KBC 6 is coming on weekends, not weekdays. In that sense, the rates are steep,” says a media planner who declined to be quoted.
The channel has roped in Cadbury for the third year in a row as the presenting sponsor and Idea Cellular as the telecom partner for the quiz show. . The associate sponsors on board are CEAT bike tyres, AXIS bank, Just Dial, Sony Bravia and Aakash. Cadbury has paid nearly Rs 18-20 crore for its association with KBC 6. Associate sponsors such as Idea have been charged about Rs 10-12 crore for the current season.
Officials at the Mumbai-based confectionary major say the association with KBC so far has aided in brand recall and this year is unlikely to be different. Like HUL, Cadbury is a prominent advertiser on TV, associating with big-ticket properties such as IPL. Its association with KBC is a part of this endeavour, media planners say. Sony is expected to mop up revenues of over Rs 100 crore through KBC 6.
This time, the quiz show will run 56-58 episodes During the first season in 2000, the show had an average rating of 14.1, a feat , which has not been repeated on Indian television. While the second edition notched an average of 11.1, the third season, with Shah Rukh Khan as host, recorded an average of 6.8, according to industry officials who subscribe to TAM data. KBC5 had an average rating of 4.8.
“ Since a TV show with a rating of 4.5- 5 is considered a hit these days due to the increase in the number of channels and viewership fragmentation, there is still a lot of steam left in KBC,” industry observers say.