Zee: A shooting star?

ENTERTAINMENT: For the first time in five years, Zee Television managed to upset Star TV, although the joy lasted only for a week.

Three weeks ago, for the first time in five years, Zee Television managed to get a higher channel share than Star TV in the prime 9-10 pm slot.

The lead, as data put out by TAM showed, was a miniscule 0.1 per cent and lasted just a week. However, for Zee which has been languishing in third place for so many years, it was a glimmer of hope.

True, Zee has been in the number two spot for about four months now on prime time with Sony Entertainment being relegated to the third place. Zee's ratings are coming primarily in the 9-10 pm slot with a couple of its serials Kasamh Se and Saat Phere doing well.

Says Tarun Mehra, Sr.VP, Marketing, Zee TV, "The soaps' genre seems to be working well for us and we will continue to focus on this. Media buyers concede that they are sitting up and taking notice of Zee's improving TRPs (Television Rating Points), at least from a short-term perspective."

Says Lakshmi Narasimhan, National Director, Group M Trading, "Three years back, in general entertainment, there was little outside of Star if one wanted to target a big audience. But, today, there are other channels to choose from."

Media buyers also agree that there is a perceptible improvment in the quality of Zee's content compared to what it was previously, though it may not match up to the best in the industry.

However, they caution the time spent by viewers on programmes is becoming shorter and it would be important to track the stickiness of viewers from here onwards, rather than simply channel share.

Zee has also upped its spend on promotions, especially through barter deals with other media and entertainment groups: the latest is a tie-up with Radio City for twists in the serial Kasamh Se where, for the first time, Ekta Kapoor will speak on the radio.

Mehra says the channel has spent "reasonable amounts on visibility "� at least 50 per cent more than we did last year". As a result, he claims that people who had stopped watching Zee altogether are now watching again.

He adds the channel also has a new audience, with some viewers slightly younger than it had previously "� especially for programmes such as Jab Love Hua. The Zee management also claims it has been able to take hikes in advertisement tariffs.

To some extent, Zee's gain has been Sony's loss. While Rohit Gupta, Executive V P, Ad Sales, Sony, concedes the ratings have dropped, he believes Sony's new crop of serials including Thodi khushi, thodi gham and Vaidehi should do well.

"Besides from August , there will be hourlies from Monday to Thursday, so we see our ratings coming back in a couple of months, because it takes time to launch a show and then for it to pick up," he adds.

Gupta admits there has been a small dent in the revenues, but says Sony has annual deals signed up, so it's nothing to worry about. Moreover, in the last two years, Sony has taken a 20 per cent rate hike for advertisments, he claims.

Says he, "We cater for a progressive audience and companies like that. So much so we are able to price our air-time at a premium and consequently, our share of revenues is higher than its share of viewership."

While Zee may have taken a lead over Sony, it cannot afford to be complacent. The soaps genre mays working for Zee today, but Narasimhan believes the channel needs to be more flexible and try to stay ahead of the curve. Or else, it might just find itself back where it was.