|
Joe
Millionaire, the reality show that raked in good ratings for Fox
in the US recently, is perched to launch in India on Star World
this week.
But will the show, now that audiences everywhere know the falsehood
it was based on, catch on with Indian viewers? The reality genre
in India has always been a hand-me-down from the West.
Primarily
designed as a means to escape reality, television here largely focuses
on fiction rather than reality. While niche Hindi entertainment
channels do not really have any reality programming, music channels
seem to have picked up cudgels to promote the genre in the country.
Why
is the reality genre appealing to music channels?
After the universal appeal of music, reality shows are the ones
that are an ideal means to reach youth.
B4U Music creative head VV Yugander says reality TV is something
that a music channel cannot walk away from. "It is what gets
the ratings and interactivity. Whether we are a music channel or
not, interactivity is, by and large, most important - and elusive!"
The channel recently launched two reality shows, eXpress
and adlibb.
Cyrus
Broacha - host of the granddaddy of reality shows MTV Bakra |
Till
recently, the only stray shots made at the reality genre were talent
hunts and the Candid Camera spin offs, but music channels
are now taking reality seriously. The Miditech-produced Bum Mein
Dum on MTV was ranked the second highest rated show among all
music channels in July this year, ahead of many popular music shows.
Channel [V]'s Popstars and MTV's Roadies are also
on the road to becoming popular shows in themselves.
MTV
creative head Cyrus Oshidar offers that the reason why the reality
show craze has caught on relatively late is because reality works
at a challenge level. For music channels, the reality shows is just
a means to reach the masses. Rather than embarking on a voyeuristic
journey, reality in India works only when channels make people's
dreams come true.
Popstars,
a Cinderella story |
Former
Channel [V] vice-president and current Star News brand director
Keertan Adyanthaya agrees. Popstars, he says, succeeded because
it offered much more than stark reality. An Indian doesn't like
to revel so much in the reality genre, like in the US, but we definitely
are interested in seeing how people's lives can be transformed.
In
many ways, Bakra (a spin off of the 1948 CBS show Candid
Camera) jumpstarted the reality genre in India, but it wasn't
till recently that the channel roped in dare devil hunt Bum Mein
Dum and Love Ke Liye. While MTV succeeded with Bakra,
Channel [V]'s initial programming initiative V Dares, met
with little success. After years of programming overhauls, the channel
finally hit gold with Popstars. It now also has Panga
and Reality Express on board.
So,
what stops mainstream channels from indulging in reality?
Mainstream channels have tried their hand at reality but have not
met with as much success, perhaps because the target audience is
the middle class housewife. Zee did make a honest try with RAAAH
last year but failed miserably. While a previous attempt India's
Most Wanted on Zee (a clone of America's Most Wanted)
did meet with a good response when aired initially in 1998 but failed
to sustain interest after anchor Suhaib Ilyasi was dropped.
Despite
topical issues and pithy camera work Sony's 'Crime Partol'
failed to strike a cord with the viewers |
RAAAH
producer and Miditech CEO Nikhil Alva, has a different point of
view. RAAAH, he says, was a brilliant concept and it was
executed just as brilliantly. But unfortunately it had no marketing
push, no real publicity and no hype created around it. Zee was definitely
bold enough to launch a show like RAAAH, but it could not
match it with equally strong packaging. Be that as it may, the fact
is that the show just did not click with viewers.
Sony
too, continues to experiment with reality. The stark Bhanwar
and the short lived Missing were based on real life issues.
Currently
on air is a crime watch Crime Patrol, aimed at offering a
viewing
alternative for the male audience, the show has not so much as made
a blip on the TRP radar. Deriving its inspiration from the popular
Fox show Police Videos, the show compiled with help from
the police department, has failed to strike a chord with viewers,
despite topical issues and pithy camerawork.
Glitzy
talent hunt seems to go well with the audience |
On
the other hand, Sony's talent hunt Boogie Woogie has enjoyed
a great run for eight years, ditto for Zee properties like Antakashari
and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. The recent star hunts on Star Plus like
Kucch Kar Dikhana Hai, Kismey Kitna Hai Dum also seem be
working. The channel is now set to launch a magic show Jaaduu.
While
Sahara's plans to launch musical talent show Groove continue
to be in limbo, it has the critically acclaimed reality based show
Haqueeqat to its credit. Then again, the star hunts are not
truly reality shows.
What's
special about reality?
Bakra
has become synonymous with MTV |
Although
music channels have a minuscule share in the TRP pie, the reality
programmes help push the TRPs of the channel, bag popularity and
carve a niche for themselves. A good example is Bakra, which
is now synonymous with MTV.
The
main reason behind the popularity of these shows seems to be the
15 minutes of fame and more that these shows have to offer.
Reality
shows offer more than just 15 minutes of fame |
Besides
the surreal experience, the opportunities also offer a lucrative
career. Take for instance MTV Roadies or [V] Popstars
- while the winners have their share of fame, other contestants
were offered scholarships by Rai University to pursue a career of
their choice. The
winners of AXN's Hot and Wild contest have a chance to host
a reality show Extreme Dhamaka.
And
now for the current reality check….
The infotainment and game channels like Star World, AXN till late
did not look at India as the gaming grounds. While the prime reason
being the moolah, the other important reason was the lack of audience
and the stringent safety procedures.
'Mission
Everest' helped fillip National Geographics' TRPs |
Owing
to the growing popularity of the shows the infotainment channels
also seem to have smelt the coffee. Take for instance, Mission
Everest on National Geographic. After taking a team with the
Indo-Nepal Army Everest Expedition for an ambitious adventure programme,
the channel chose five Indians from nearly 30,000 entries to accompany
the Indian army on the well recorded and telecast mission.
While
the show might not have roped in a huge chunk of the total TRP pie,
it did boost the ratings and helped the channel steal a march over
lead infotainment channel Discovery. According to TAM data, National
Geographic moved ahead of Discovery channel across six metros, grabbing
0.7 per cent of viewers while Discovery garnered 0.5 per cent, between
June and August 2003.
Will
Roadies help MTV top the charts? |
While
the second edition of [V] Popstars is currently ruling the
airwaves, MTV is all set to unleash Roadies. Another great
example of success is Popstars, while MTV might claim that
it demands 33 per cent channel share, they cannot deny that the
[V] ratings soar during the Popstars airing. The TAM reports
for music channels in the June 15-August 2 period in the 15-44 age
bracket in the metros indicate that [V] overtook with a 0.16 per
cent viewership share while MTV was at 0.12 per cent.
Besides,
the reality show also manage to rope in sizeable amount of the ad
pie. While official sponsor for Popstars is Coke, two-wheeler
company Yamaha, auto major Mahindra & Mahindra, Motorola, Revlon,
Johnson & Johnson's Acuvue lenses, Atlas Cycles, Henkel's Fa
deodorant and fashion accessory XM tattoos have also chipped in.
As for the Roadies, Hero Honda sponsored the event to promote
the new launch Karizma. Even the prize announced was a Karizma bike
each for the winners.
AXN's
second local venture Action Dhamaka is being sponsored by
Hero Honda in association with Center Shock, Airtel and Nokia. While
National Geographic which spent cool Rs 110 million on Mission
Everest, the Hero Honda, LG-CDMA, Hitachi, Mahindra Bolero,
Parle G, Samay Quartz, Zandu Balm and even Everest Masala shared
the sponsors laurels.
With
Reality TV having made its debut here and advertisers increasingly
attracted to reality shows, it seems the music channels will soon
have some tough competition on their hands. Joe Millionaire,
anyone?
Also
read:
AXN- The other side of action
Phoren
stuff
Interview with
former Channel [V] vice president content and communication Keertan
Adyanthaya
Popadum success
|
