Serial bombing

Why television channels are using innovative ways to hook viewers to programmes?

Jassi (right) with model Negar Khan

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi runs four days a week on Star Plus. Well into its fourth year, the serial remains on top of the charts with television rating points (TRPs) of 15-17. Star sells a 10 second slot on the programme for more than Rs 2 lakh.

Annual revenues from the serial could be about Rs 200 crore (according to one conservative estimate) "� putting the serial on a par with a mid-sized fast moving consumer goods brand in revenue terms.

Or take the 10-month old show, Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, a Sony Entertainment Television programme. Jassi... alone may fetch Sony Rs 170 crore in a year. Even regional channels like the Tamil channel Sun TV have their own stars "� the serial Metti Oli, for example. This brings in an estimated Rs 30 crore in a year for Sun TV.

Little wonder, then, that television channels are promoting individual television shows like there is no tomorrow.

This month, general entertainment Hindi channel Star Plus unleashed a huge promotional exercise to tap children in the 4-14 year old bracket (the largest segment of television viewers).

The promotion was meant to build viewer loyalty for three serials "� Son Pari, Hatim, and Ssshhhh Koi Hai "� between 7 pm and 10.30 pm on Fridays.

Children are expected to watch the serials for three weeks and spot the Wonder Car (a high-tech automobile being used in Bollywood movie Tarzan) that is being placed in the serials or during the commercial breaks. The contest involves finding out how many times the car is spotted.

Five lakh children have been provided contest forms through one-to-one contact programmes in places ranging from schools to fast food joints. The contest is being pitched to children with the catch line "Gift your dad the car of a lifetime."

Star Plus is not the only television channel that's thinking up innovative ways to promote serials. Sony Entertainment Television's (SET) serial Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin had below-the-line promotions like "flash mobs" (groups of people gathered at high-density footfall locations like shopping malls or local trains and let out a war cry for Jassi, to create surprise among onlookers).

SET even had people carrying placards at airports welcoming a passenger called Jassi when the serial was launched in 2003.

Sometimes, television stars even come calling at homes. If Jassi visited associations of secretaries (she's a secretary in the serial), Star got the cast of popular serials like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi to visit residential localities in smaller cities through an initiative called "aap ke star aap ke ghar" (your stars in your home).

What is more, television channels are spending on below-the-line" activities (and it's tough to estimate how much because of their varying nature), and have certainly stepped up expenditure on print advertising.

According to estimates by television viewership research agency TAM Media, television channels consumed Rs 168 crore worth of advertising space in publications between January-December 2003 . Importantly, this expenditure has doubled over the last three years.

Why exactly are television channels going to such great lengths to promote progra-mmes? Replies Ajay Vidya-sagar, senior vice president, marketing and communication, Star India: "People watch programmes and not the channel. Programmes are the most important pillars upon which we build our channels."

Sunil Lulla, executive vice president, SET, adds that general entertainment channels provide programming that viewers make a part of their regular viewing habit.

Another industry bigwig estimates that marketing costs of individual programmes have doubled in the last two years. Says R Ajay Kumar, general manager, marketing and sales, ETV networks: "Television programmes have limited life cycles. In this timeframe they have to occupy mindspace."

But as L V Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media points out, "There is a phenomenal degree of difficulty in promoting programmes, as viewers have to keep coming back."

That's because they have an abundance of choices "� 249 channels beam programmes to Indian viewers and every cable and satellite household receives an average of 100 channels. To be the preferred programme, viewers have to be lured to the show.

To be sure, it pays to market individual programmes. Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), the quiz show hosted by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, was backed by promotional and marketing spends of nearly Rs 80-100 crore.

KBC helped catapult a then weak Star network to the top of the charts, making it one of the largest media houses in the country. Even in the case of Jassi..., media buying specialists say that SET's ad rates increased from Rs 60,000-70,000 for a 10-second slot to Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 1.7 lakh after Jassi was launched.

It's also no secret that the marketing is meant to hike TRPs as they have a direct link with revenues. Media buying agency Starcom's managing director, west/south, Ravi Kiran says that there is a direct relation between how heavily a serial is promoted and the TRPs it gets.
 

Spending on print ads
TV channel	Jan-Dec 2003 (Rs crore)
ETV	19.31
Star	18.67
Zee	17.48
Sony	12.28
Sahara	7.10
Sun	1.02

He adds that while on-ground promos build intrigue value, viewership is generated by pre-serial promos that hook an audience which is already tuned into the channel.

But what happens to programmes that flop? One instance is Sahara Entertainment's serials like Karishma, Sahib Biwi Gulam and Mrs Malini Iyer. These were backed by huge advertising budgets, yet got low TRPs of 0.3-0.6.

Market observers point out that the failure was not that of the quality of content but because Sahara's distribution was not in place for viewers to try it out. Clearly, television serials are providing more than a window with a view.