Yash Chopra’s television debut — Yash Raj Films TV (YRF TV) — is expected to fetch Sony Entertainment Channel nearly Rs 50 crore from five shows.
The first show, Lift Kara De, will hit the tube on January 1. It will feature 20 celebrities, including such biggies as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan, among others. The show is expected to earn the channel almost Rs 22 crore from the title sponsor Neutrogena and six associate sponsors, including Nokia, Vodafone and Suzuki.
According to sources, seven sponsors for Lift Kara De itself will fill nearly 60 per cent of the show’s commercial inventory. Media buyers feel that if the Karan Johar-hosted Lift Kara De garners television viewership ratings of around 4, Sony may consider selling ten-second ad spots for Rs 1-1.5 lakh.
Each of the four fiction shows have roped in a title sponsor for almost Rs 2 crore each. “Most advertisers are waiting to see how the fiction shows perform in the first week, after which they will either buy ad spots or be associate sponsors,” says a source from a leading media buying agency.
Powder, a thriller serial based on the narcotic trade in Mumbai, has signed on Head & Shoulders as it title sponsor and the sci-fi show Seven has Tata Photon as its title sponsor. While Rishta.com, based on a couple’s matrimonial agency, has Alpenliebe on board, the title sponsor for Mahi Way — a serial centred around the girl Mahi’s life — is Good Knight.
If the shows clock a good rating, media buyers believe each ten-second spot will be sold for anything between Rs 60,000 and Rs 70,000, while associate sponsorship may be sold for almost Rs 70 lakh each. As of now, prime time shows on Sony earn the channel between Rs 30,000 to Rs 45,000 per 10-second ad spot.
“Sony has always tried some form of innovation in its format. The channel is putting all its efforts in breaking though the clutter of other leading channels. Bollywood is big in India and they have found the right fit in YRF, which should help Sony come back in the race for the top three Hindi general entertainment channels,” said Nandini Dias, chief operating officer at Lodestar Universal.
All the five shows will be broadcast during prime time (8-10 pm) on either of the days between Friday to Sunday. Currently, prime time shows on the No 1 channel Colors command Rs 70,000-80,000 for ten seconds of commercial time, while Star Plus fetches Rs 40,000-50,000. Zee TV Rs 45,000-50,000 and NDTV Imagine Rs 10,000-15,000.
“Brands want to be associated with shows because each show caters to a different genre of programming. The quality of production is never seen before on television. We are hopeful that this will help us scale up the channel,” said Rohit Gupta, president of Multi Screen Media, the company that owns Sony Entertainment Television.
