KBC 3 rakes in Rs 130 cr, still counting

Kaun Banega Crorepati in its third season has raked in Rs 100-130 crore, with a little more than two weeks still to go before it goes on air this month.

The latest to join the sponsors' bandwagon for Shah Rukh Khan's KBC 3 are Pantaloon Retail (Big Bazaar) and Godrej Sara Lee, confirmed Paritosh Joshi, president"� ad sales and distribution, Star India.

The repeat sponsors from last year's show (KBC 2) are Airtel, Hyundai and Cadbury. After the recent bidding battle, Motorola has replaced Nokia, which was on board with KBC 2. The other new sponsors this year are UTI Mutual Fund, Videocon, Godrej Sara Lee, Jyothi Labs, Pantaloon Retail (Big Bazaar) and the UB group.

Star has sold ad slots for the show which goes on air from January 22 at an estimated Rs 10-13 crore per sponsor, said sources.

"The reason sponsors have signed on with us because of the varied audience reach provided by the show. While cricket is high on uncertainty, KBC 3 does not fail to deliver," said Joshi.

Since the show has no title or presenting sponsors, the ten main sponsors will share the same mileage, roughly each sponsor will have 1 to 1.5 minutes visibility for each episode.

"While the sponsors names will appear on on - air tags, all ten sponsors will not appear on each show. Also, the ten main sponsors will get sufficient outdoor mileage," he added.

With less then 20 days from the show, Star is yet to decide on the bank presenting the cheques. Sources said, the contenders are HSBC, ICICI Bank, Barclays Bank and Kotak (which was on board last year).

In addition, the show's 'computerji' is yet to be decided. During KBC 2, Lenovo was the integrated computer brand on the show. This year with Shah Rukh Khan being the host and also the celebrity endorser for Compaq, its a tough call for Star.