Fiction serials with smaller budgets and loyal viewers fetch better returns for channels.
Couch potatoes and advertisers may want reality shows on television (TV) to last throughout the day.
TV show producers, however, face a different concern. Reality shows are a high-cost proposition for general entertainment channels (GECs) and few of them make money, if at all.
The per-episode cost for a reality show ranges between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore. People working in TV production houses say the per-episode cost for celebrity shows like Fear Factor and Big Boss on Colors or Dus Ka Dum on Sony is over Rs 1 crore. Non-celebrity shows like Dance India, Dance cost around Rs 40 lakh per episode.
A fiction serial, on the other hand, costs Rs 8 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per episode, depending on the scale and storyline.
Take the case of Fear Factor on Colors. “Fear Factor is a loss maker for us because there are fewer episodes and we do not have the necessary long window for advertisers,” says Ashvini Yardi, programming head of Colors.
Yardi, however, pointed out that the show helped the channel carve a niche among established players. The programme drew a large number of first-time viewers to the channel. “It is like a ‘burst programming vehicle’ that gets us additional eyeballs,” she adds.
The channel started its journey with big-budget reality shows like Big Boss, hosted by Amitabh Bachchan in the last season, and Fear Factor with Akshay Kumar as the host in first two seasons. Both were used as marketing vehicles for the channel.
Similarly for Sony, Dus Ka Dum hosted by actor Salman Khan has been its viewership clincher in the last one year. “Sheer star power and the interactivity of the game show made it appealing to the masses,” says Ajay Bhalwankar, head of programming, Sony Entertainment Television (SET). The show recorded Television Rating Points (TRPs) of 2.2 on the day it launched and an average TRP of 2, which was much better than many of its on-air shows.
Not all reality shows have a poor run in monetary terms. Nitin Vaidya, chief operating officer, Zee TV, says, “Our strategy is to have non-celebrity reality shows, which make good business sense. Though Dance India, Dance had a celebrity judge in Mithun Chakraborty, the participants come from ordinary backgrounds. The show did good business for us because advertisers love the reality format.”
Even so, it is the fiction serials that continue to rule. GECs say the programming mix would continue to be in the 80:20 ratio in the favour of fiction. “Reality shows are just the icing on the cake and fiction serials are the cake,” says Bhalwankar of SET.
However, GECs are experimenting with new storylines. Colors managed to captivate audiences with its show Baalika Vadhu which dealt with the issue of child marriage, Star Plus and Zee TV had loyal viewership for their shows Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Pavitra Rishta respectively.
Fiction serials also attract loyal viewers unlike reality shows that, in absence of a storyline, do not get locked-in audiences. Yardi says Baalika Vadhu clicked because it broke away from the saas bahu mould and addressed a fresh issue.
“The characters in the show found resonance with our viewers and any big event in the life of a character saw TRPs shoot up. The high point in the show was when Sugna (who is not the lead character) was getting married. That particular episode had a TRP of 10.2, which was much higher than any other show on air,” says Yardi.
Uniqueness is definitely the driving point for any fiction content as Vivek Bahl, executive creative director, STAR India, believes. “Yeh Rishta has been the top show on Star Plus. The show’s concept originated from an exhaustive research on day-to-day issues that young women face in India.” He says it’s a show without any high drama yet it had an average TRP of 5.2 in the last year.
Going forward, however, viewers can expect some changes in fiction content as Yardi says channels might revisit the 1990s. “One trend I can definitely see emerging is, unlike the kind of shows that succeeded till a few years ago, today’s shows need to portray characters, settings and situations in a more believable and identifiable fashion. So, no more people dying and coming back to life with different faces, and no more talk of thousands of crores,” says Bahl.
