Star TV reinventing rules of earning TRPs; will it work?

Recently, Star TV launched its second regional general entertainment channel (GEC) ‘Pravaah’, that is ‘flow’ in Marathi. This is one of those six channels where Rupert Murdoch's company was looking to invest a USD 100 million this year.

But the big story is what’s happening in the Hindi general entertainment space. While Star Plus is still on top, new kid on the block Colors (owned by CNBC-TV18) is charging in, and long-standing partner Balaji Telefilms has launched a legal battle. This can pose a problem for the channel in the coming month's.

Here is a verbatim transcript of Sagar Malviya's comments on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Post Diwali Star India’s flagship Star Plus will chant a new mantra––less Saas-Bahu drama and more drama in real. That’s because the market leader desperately needs to reinvent itself. With the 323 GRPs at last count, it’s still on top, but the competition is fierce and tough times cough it up measures.

Come November, Star will pull off iconic soap ‘Kyun Ki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ that has run for eight years. The star performer that became synonymous with the channel has in recent weeks turned into TRPs averaging about three.

It will be replaced by a disputed show––Aap Ki Kacheri–Kiran ke Saath––helmed by Kiran Bedi. Also on the cards is a mellower romantic drama and neither of this two are Balaji Productions.

Uday Shankar, CEO Star India, says “We are just discontinuing some shows of Balaji which have been running on for a long time. They have run their course, they were spectacular shows with iconic status but time has come to perhaps replace them with crux shows. In addition to those, Balaji is doing a few shows so the Balaji relationship is pretty intact.”

Shankar said that they are looking to experiment a great deal more in Star Plus as well. He feels that Hindi GEC has been the victim of too much of sameness while the viewership is changing. While the country’s demographics are changing, the content mix has not changed in the Hindi GEC as much as it should have and one can see what Colors has achieved by trying different kind of trends.

Till its new context falls into place, Star has extended its most popular show Bidaai to an hour and brought back new season of dance show Nach Baliye, and the results are showing.

According to TAM, Star Plus has widened the lead over number two Colors over 99 points, that’s the biggest lead it has had in the last nine weeks.

R Gowthaman, leader of Mindshare South Asia, says, “I personally believe consumers watch programmes and not channels and I don’t think it’s a star or a brand as Colors is going to matter; it’s the programme that matters.

Besides fresh content for Star Plus, Star is also looking at reinventing its fortunes by investing in regional GEC. November will see its Marathi Channel, Star Pravaha led by the big ticket series Raja Shiv Chatrapati. Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu and Malyam Channels are also in the pipeline and this shift in focus could be because advertisement spends on regional channels grew by over 22% this year and contributed as much as 41% to the total TV-ad pie.

Gowthaman added that the future is towards getting localized and the next markets are obviously Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab and Gujarat in the longer run. So focusing on regional local channels is the logical next step for any leader to take in the market at this point of time.

Meanwhile, Colors that had a blistering run upto number two is looking up at opening programming on the weekends and in the afternoons.

Rajesh Kamat, CEO of Colors, says, “We consolidated and we got audiences and reached above 200 GRP mark, and now to layer and build on to that platform is exactly what we are working towards so the number of hours of content is going up and a lot of new shows are in the pipeline. So that is pretty much how we will take it.

So audiences can expect lots more coming soon––promos and advertising by both these channels. So Star Plus is looking for life after Kyuki. Will the leader re-invent the rules of the game?