Game shows make inroads into Tamil households

If megaserials have the Tamil viewers glued to the idiot box during the weekdays, their weekends are packed with game shows.

The recent game show to jump on to the bandwagon is Sun TV's Thanga Vettai, hosted by film actress Ramya Krishnan on Saturdays and Sundays at 9 pm.

Thanga Vettai's rival shows are Kaun Banega Crorepathi II (KBC II) of Vijay TV and Jackpot (only on Sundays) of Jaya TV. All the shows are scheduled for 9 pm slot.

A media expert said that game shows were the flavour of the season as they are different from the run-of-the-mill family soap operas with large prize money to be won and participation of audience. Though game shows have good viewership, their telecast is scheduled for the weekend primarily to avoid competition from serials.

K Satyanarayana, media director, Media Direction-RK Swamy BBDO, said, "game shows are not new to Tamil channels though the Star TV's KBC seems to have been the trigger. The first game show was Koteeshwaran, Sun TV's clone of Star TV's original KBC, but it failed to match the success of family serials. So, it did not run for long."

Subsequently, Jaya TV launched Jackpot and has been running it quite successfully. In fact, the show is the main strength of the channel and commands a premium over other programmes in terms of advertisement rates, added Satyanarayana.

When asked about the objective behind launching a dubbed version of KBC-2 in Tamil in August, Vijay TV general manager Harsh Rohatgi said, "the results of a survey conducted in Tamil Nadu showed that the viewers are game for quiz programmes."

In a move to upstage Vijay's KBC-2, its rival Sun Network screened blockbuster Tamil films during the weekends on its sister channel KTV before launching its own show Thanga Vettai.

"Notwithstanding the popularity of game shows, the Tamil soaps dominate the viewership. So, as of now, game shows are not the first choice for many advertisers except for those who market male products (that too where the planning is done more on qualitative considerations than on quantitative) and the advertisers with limited budgets," added Satyanarayana.

Vijay TV also beams Vassol Rani, an exclusive game show on weekdays during primetime.

According to another media expert, it is seen as a unique strategy followed by Vijay TV to counter Sun TV stronghold on megaserials by screening a different programme rather than a serial at the same time.

Game shows are here to stay with Sun TV getting into the fray and Jaya TV planning to launch another game show between Mondays and Fridays at 10 pm, felt Satyanarayana.