Star Plus has revamped its weekend programming, in order to hedge its viewership ahead of the World Cup season. The channel, which currently leads the general entertainment channel (GEC) pack on the back of its weekday programmes like Pratigya and Saath Nibhana Saathiya (with average 5.7 Television Ratings each), Sasural Genda Phool (average 5.4 TVR) and Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai (an average 4.5 TVR), has now got three new shows for the weekend.
Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India, said: “I have always wondered why channels never capitalised on the weekend audience, which, in fact, demands more family content on weekends than weekdays. So, we feel GECs were letting down their audiences when it came to weekends.”
The four new shows include a family-based reality show titled Wife Bina Life, a show titled Love U Zindagi conceptualized by film maker Imtiaz Ali and a light comedy show called Pyaar Mein Twist. “We felt the need to stay away from clichéd concepts on weekends because both men and women tend to watch the weekend programming and so the content has to appease a wider set of audience,” said Shankar. Star Plus has already seen relative success with its “maha-episodes” (a longer duration special episode of a weekly soap serial). “We saw a decent number of viewers catching up with these special episodes, that too, on Fridays and Saturdays,” said Shankar. Encouraged, the channel has launched new shows between 7 pm and 10.30 pm.
The relative share of the channel, according to a recent TAM data, was at 27 per cent, just ahead of Viacom 18’s Colors that commands 21 per cent share. But simply being the number one player among GECs is not what Star Plus is aiming for, asserts Shankar. “The change is the fact that we have roped in fresh ideas from content producers like UTV TV content, concepts from Imtiaz Ali and reality shows produced by BBC Entertainment in our programming bouquet. This is what will keep our audience entertained, and thus loyal to the brand. Ratings will follow good content,” believes Shankar.
Commenting on Star Plus’ shows like Bidaai that went off air after three years and MasterChef India which is reported to have done nothing to enthuse the GEC audience, Shankar listed, “MasterChef with Akshay Kumar was a success. I say that because it gave the brand (Amul) and the channel ample exposure among the new age women.” He also confirmed that MasterChef India was set to make a comeback for its second season. “This will prove that we believe in new concepts like MasterChef,” Shankar said.
Playing the “woman at its programming core” card smartly, the channel has unveiled a new brand anthem conceptualised by Piyush Pandey and composed by Vishal Bharadwaj. “Six months ago, Star Plus felt the need to re-tune itself to match expectations of the new woman and family. The new tagline adopted, Rishta Wohi Soch Nayi, was also the part of the same thought. With the new anthem, we simply reinforced what our brand believed in,” said Shankar. The channel has also launched a digital imitative called Tu Hi Meri Star Viewer, where users dedicate their ode to the special women in their lives and make them stars. Users can express themselves through online posts, photos or videos and let other users vote for nominations.
