TELEVISION: Higher production costs ensure it is not easy to make money on such shows.
Reality shows were supposed to break the clutter of the repetitive and monotonous soap operas that had flooded all the general entertainment television channels in the country — some broadcasters did not even bother to change the bed linen in the various family dramas.
In no time, reality shows themselves have become the clutter. As many as 24 such shows, as well as some re-runs, are currently on air across a dozen television channels. This number will rise further in the near future. Up to 18 more reality shows are in various states of readiness and will soon be launched, industry sources say.
This is, of course, great news for the country’s leading television content creators like Synergy Adlabs, Endemol, Optimystix, UTV, BAG Films and Encompass. Each of them is working on at least 2-3 new reality shows for the various channels. Business today is more than double of last year, executives in these companies privately acknowledge.
“On every episode of a reality show that goes on air, the production house has a margin of about 30 per cent. While the show may or may not work for the broadcasters, the production house always tends to make money on such shows,” says a senior executive of a Mumbai-based production house.
What has really given these content creators a shot in the arm is the success of the recent reality show, Khatron Ke Khiladi, on the new general entertainment, Colors. The show firmly established the channel in its genre and gave it a high brand recall. So much so, Colors has followed it up with a new high-profile reality show called Big Boss, Season 2.
“A good reality show tends to break the clutter very fast,” says Ajit Thakur, the chief operating officer of UTV Television. The company produces as many as six reality shows including a song and dance show called Ek Se Badhkar Ek on Zee TV.
However, on probing a little further, it transpires that it is not an open and shut case. Several broadcasters said that while reality shows might help in getting “sticky” viewers, it is not easy to make money on them.
These shows cost a lot of money to make. Each episode of a reality show that features at least two celebrities costs upwards of Rs 25 lakh, while a single soap episode can cost anywhere between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 12 lakh.
Singer Himesh Reshamiya is reportedly charging Rs 2-3 crore to be a judge for one year on talent hunt show Saregamapa on Zee TV, while others like Ismail Darbar or Sukhwinder Singh charge upwards of Rs 5 lakh per episode for judging such singing talent hunt shows, sources say.
“This time, the participants of Bigg Boss are getting about Rs 2 lakh per week, compared to about Rs 60,000-Rs 75,000 per episode in the first edition of the show. Similarly the participants of Khatron Ke Khiladi got about Rs 1-1.5 lakh per episode,” says a senior executive of a Mumbai-based TV production house.
Bigger the celebrity in the show, higher is the cost of the reality show. Akshay Kumar charged Rs 1.5 crore for Khatron Ke Khiladi; Salman Khan took Rs 80 lakh per episode for the not-so-successful show, Dus Ka Dum.
Also, reality shows run for not more than 3-6 months and therefore have a very limited time to recover the costs. Soaps, on the other hand, typically run for 3-5 years, thereby ending up making money for the broadcasters, experts say.
So, do these reality shows make commercial sense to the broadcasters? “No, they don’t to a number of new channels other than create hype and noise,” says Ashish Kaul, group COO, BAG Films, which produces content for films, television, and radio. BAG Films is all set to launch a talent hunt-based reality show for its channel E24, the first channel dedicated to Bollywood.
Some content developers are only too aware that reality shows could soon become repetitive like the soap operas they sought to displace. “Unless the channels are willing to creatively experiment with various television formats, there will be several me-too reality shows on your television screens soon,” says Roshan Abbas, the managing director of, Encompass Productions, a company that creates cost-effective reality shows like Dadagiri on Bindass.
Get ready for the reality check.
