The idiot box is feeling the heat of the number three race.

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The idiot box is feeling the heat of the number three race. The crown is passing hands almost on a monthly basis. A battle or two is won by every new channel. But who will eventually win the war? Pallavi Srivastava investigates...

‘Everything is transient and it’s unwise to hold onto things, as tomorrow they simply may not be around’ is what Lord Krishna preached in the Bhagavad Gita. Centuries later, the fight for the number three general entertainment channel (GEC) crown on the Indian teletube is becoming equally transient. After the launch of three new GECs – 9X, NDTV Imagine and Colors, GEC rankings are changing on a fortnight to fortnight basis. So what is it that is making viewers so volatile? Why are new channels unable to sustain their high TRPs (grabbed in the first flush of their launch)? And does that means that in the long run the GEC equation will just keep shuffling between Star, Zee & Sony?

Sample this: In May 2008, 9X was at number three with a channel share of 11% while NDTV Imagine and Sony lagged behind with a 9% channel share. In July 2008, NDTV Imagine led the number three race with 10% channel share, 9X followed with 9% channel share, Sony’s channel share was 8% and the newly launched Colors had 4% channel share. In August 2008 (from 1st August till 25th August), Colors jumped to number three with 12% channel share. Sony, NDTV Imagine and 9X followed with 9% channel share each (as per aMap ratings).

The numbers clearly indicate that every time a new GEC is launched it replaces the existing number three. But unfortunately the neonate is not able to sustain it for long and loses to another new kid on the block. Anooj Kapoor, Business Head, SAB attributes it to the novelty factor. “If there are three apple sellers in a market and the fourth one comes and shouts that I have different apples, a lot of people would want to taste his apples. But when they realise that his apples too are just the same, they return to the original three.” In between the hullaballoo created by new channels, veteran Sony has started regaining its lost TRPs, thanks to some innovative programming and some star value (a la Salman Khan in Dus Ka Dum). So much so, the second week of August saw Sony outshine 9X and NDTV Imagine, both in terms of GRPs and channel share.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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