Popular actress and model Gauhar Khan breezily swept through the grand finale of television show Bigg Boss 7, beating fellow contestant and rival Tanisha Mukherjee. The two leading ladies have crossed swords on more than one occasion and have met their respective beaus while on the show, leading to the highest ever ratings for the Bigg Boss finale ? 9.6 million viewers (TVT) this year. Reality shows today mean business and result in a lion?s share of ratings, thereby resulting in bumper ad deals. Some reality shows are about song and dance (Nach Baliye on Star Plus and Dance India Dance on Zee). Others thrive on sensationalism, voyeurism and sexuality (Emotional Atyachaar on UTV Bindass and Bigg Boss on Colors). Then there are those that are about adventure and travel (MTV Roadies). ?Life changing moments, cat fights and emotional meltdowns are all at par for the course and lead to a dramatic surge in viewership,? says a media buyer, who did not want to be identified. The greater the controversy, the sharper is the spike in ratings.
Brands spend big money on these shows, which is why most of the reality show formats don?t come with any expiry date. MTV Roadies has completed ten seasons. Bigg Boss, Indian Idol and Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) have completed seven seasons each. Dance India Dance (DID) is now in its fourth season, but has branched out into other avatars (DID Super Moms and DID Lil Champs). Jhalak Dikhla Ja and Nach Baliye are now in their sixth season. At least R2500 crore is spent as ad revenues on the reality genre per year, say media specialists and it is registering a growth of 10-15% annually.
The love for such shows is universal. Participants love reality and talent shows because they come with the promise of big money and an opportunity to interact with celebrity judges. Audiences are interested in shows because they come packed with big stars and controversies. Despite the heavy costs involved, television channels continue to labor on with these shows because of the popularity and hype that they bring. If it?s an international format that is being replicated in India, it comes with the inclusion of heavy acquisition and license fees. If a half hour fiction episode costs R6 -10 lakh to produce, the price tag is anywhere between R75 lakh – R1 crore to produce a single episode of a reality show. A lot of the costs are because of the grand sets, and the celebrities that are signed on. While everyone is talking about the low attention span of viewers, and the fact that there is an overload of information and content- it is intriguing then that these shows are given life extensions and thrive on, season after season.
If a format clicks, run with it for multiple seasons: Reality shows are increasingly expensive to make. Nikhil Madhok senior vice president, marketing and programming strategy at Star Plus says, ?One should ideally hit upon a format which the channel can repeat consistently instead of coming up with something new every time. So, yes, when we do come up with a format that has worked, it should run for at least three years for the channel.? Madhok adds that television viewing is also a lot about habit. Viewers want some amount of familiarity and connect with reality shows.
But when a reality show makes it back season after season, it becomes important to tread the fine line between predictability and unpredictability. While there are sudden tweaks to the formats, the tweaks shouldn?t be such that they dramatically change the personality of the show. Take MTV Roadies for example. The show has auditioned more than 1.5 million people since 2003. It has innovated in format and yet kept its essence alive. Its cumulative reach on television has increased from 60 million Indian viewers in season 7 to over 80 million viewers by the eighth and ninth seasons. In its 10th season, the show crossed the 95 million mark?as per information given by the channel. Sumeli Chatterjee, head?marketing and insights, MTV India, ?Youth has really short attention span, and anything that is non-topical loses interest. Every year Roadies reinvents itself on a new theme that resonates with the youth in that year. Last year, we launched the X-series. The format was designed as a battle between the mentor (Raghu) and mentee (Rannvijay) where every tenet of the format was challenged in a strong battle between ex-Roadies and new recruits.?
This year, MTV Roadies builds on the ambition and confidence of youth who believe in their own ability to overcome hurdles to write their own destiny. Therefore, in the current season, titled X1-series, MTV Roadies will have no vote outs. ?Performance is the only key to success,? she adds. Dance India Dance (DID), the home grown reality show format from Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), is another such example. The show has introduced little twists and turns, and branched out into newer avatars such as Supermoms and DID Doubles. This gives the audiences enough variety to keep coming back to the format and sample more of the original franchise. Ajay Bhalwankar, head-content, Hindi general entertainment channels, Zee says, ?A great differentiator for DID is the fact that it has single mindedly focused on the dancing talent of its contestants. The show has made the common man its? hero. Naturally, the show continues to captivate the audience interest as our spotlight is firmly fixed on one amongst them.? Bhalwankar says that the show was conceived to branch out into multiple seasons and allied editions. The first season of the show averaged on 3773 TVTs. It moved up to 5166 TVTs in season two and after a slight dip in season three, it moved up again to 5040 TVTs in season four. For an allied edition like DID Li’l Masters, the first season of TVTs stood at 5042 while in the second season it recorded as much as 7147.
When Star One was the new kid on the block in the Hindi general entertainment space, it knew that it could bank on the popularity of song and dance formats. It decided to launch Nach Baliye, a dance reality show. It also decided that that the show will feature real life couples who are bound by the thread of matrimony. ?While dancing is great in India, the moment you add a layer of relationship and emotion to that content and bring that into the dance, the connect with the audience increases manifold. So we chose to get genuine real life couples to the dance floor on Nach Baliye. It went on to garner good numbers in those days and became so popular that from season three onwards, we actually moved it to the flagship channel Star Plus,? informs Madhok.
Shows such as Bigg Boss have soared on account of emotional tangles and voracious thrills. Consider this: The minimum average viewership that the show garnered during season 5 and season 6 were 2.6 million and 3.6 million respectively. In season seven the show minimum average viewership was around 5 million. Sundeep Nagpal, director, Stratagem Media, a Mumbai based media agency says that a lot of the shows are being customized for smaller towns, in order to address the fatigue factor. ?When something gets to be a little old fashioned in a metro, it is still considered new in a small town. And this is why the producers of shows including KBC have transformed the appeal of their properties,? he says.
According to him, customisation of content in order to suit the palette of the hinterlands could happen in various ways. In a show like Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) and Bigg Boss, it could reflect in the form of contestants chosen. ?I did not know who Kamaal Khan was. I did not know who Ravi Kishan was,? Napal remarked, adding that reality television brought out these small town heroes on to the national stage.
Reality check: Apart from the financial risks involved, broadcasters cannot improvise or tweak a reality show format mid-way, based on audience response. Reality shows do not run on scripts? at least not as much as fiction does. If a channel launches a fiction show with a particular premise and observes that a particular story angle or character is finding resonance with the viewers, the channel could choose to modify the storyline accordingly. In non-fiction that opportunity to modify is much lesser. Here, if the viewers are able to connect with the reality show then it could become an overnight success. On the flip side, if they don?t connect with the show, the channel is left with empty hands. Most television channels barely manage to break even on reality shows.
An industry executive comments, ?This is a problem peculiar to India. Unlike other countries, India has created this culture of getting big Bollywood celebrities as hosts or participants. The channels pay them obscene amounts of money. Therefore, some of these formats are just not as profitable since a large chunk of the investment goes for talent alone. Also, such shows have a longer duration. They run at least for an hour.?
At the end of the day, investing in a reality show is something of a punt. There are no safety nets. The only way to judge the show?s performance is on the basis of the ratings of the previous season. ?So you place your bet on it and do some calculations to understand the potential of the property. Your expertise as a planner does not lie in the analysis of the viewership data, but how you understand the audience behavior and co- relate it to the content of the programme,? says Nagpal. And once you have predicted it properly, voila! You have just cracked the code.? He adds that reality shows that have mass reach or that target niche audiences are great properties to plan around. ?Key ingredients that a media planner should look at, is the profile of the audience that the show appeals to. Also, the kind of meaningful brand integration opportunities on the show and opportunities to drive digital mileage from the show should be taken into consideration? he says. It is pertinent to note here that one of the key factors that has kept shows such as DID, Bigg Boss and MTV Roadies in circulation are the promotions on digital platforms and social media.
?In fact, MTV has a strong focus on helping build the individual brands of contestants or hosts on digital platforms, and using these influencers to promote their shows. Additionally, behind the scene and exclusive content consumed on video platforms such as Youtube, that lets people consume content on-demand helps in building loyalty. Finally, Twitter is increasingly playing an important role in getting online consumers to tune-in to TV shows, by engaging them in real-time about what might be going on television,? says Suvajyoti Ghosh, Co-Founder and Managing Director Brandmovers India.
Reality shows bring in an interesting blend of audiences: The television universe makes up for all kinds of viewers. Some who swear by fiction and tune in every night. Then there are others who are looking out for something different. Here reality show properties become a good way to attract non-core audiences and keep the channel relevant to a much larger set of people. Also, the inherent nature of these shows is such that it lends itself more to public relations. Media companies, be it television or print, are interested in talking about the property. This gives the show a greater marketing fillip. ?Over the past six seasons, we have witnessed different contestants and year-round speculation about who could be finalized for the show,? says Manisha Sharma, weekend programming ?head, Colors.
Generally, when an advertiser buys ad space on television, many times it is on the basis of an RODP (run of day part) method. This means that the advertiser will buy time on a given channel for a large part of the day?say from 2pm till 10 pm?wherein the spots can appear anytime during that day part. By buying a large day-part, the advertiser tends to negotiate on ad rates. Now, typically when a reality show is launched, it becomes a property that breaks the day-part wise method of buying. The channel launches the reality property as part of the primetime band and packages it separately. And they charge a huge premium for it. Reality shows tend to have a higher bend toward youth and male viewership. So, compared to a regular fiction show where 15-50 females become the core viewers, for non-fiction, the spike comes from the 15-24 male-female audiences. Categories such as telecom, automobile (entry level) and social apps are interested in this age group and get attracted toward the reality format. The benefits for advertisers are manifold. ?Any prime time airing has a definite edge in terms of reach and hence, viewership. Thereby, it delivers better return on interest. Now, when it comes to the opportunity for brand integration, it is a seamless one in a reality show as it is not scripted like the fiction format,? says Ronita Mitra, senior vice president, brand and consumer insight, Vodafone India.
Pratik Rathod, senior investment director of media agency Maxus Global adds, ?Reality shows help in getting differential and premium audiences. So you end up getting a higher visibility and a more targeted reach. Now if a brand comes on board as the show sponsor, they would get promoted very heavily. This is because there is always a huge promotional campaign designed for that reality show. This means, wherever that show goes, the brand goes.?
