The music shows slugfest

You could not have missed the musical chairs, that talent behind music talent shows, have been playing. After steering Sa Re Ga Ma Pa to the peak of its popularity for over a decade on Zee TV, producer Gajendra Singh defected to Star Plus to create Voice of India. But Singh or no Singh, round 1 of ratings should be sweet music to Zee's ears. It has trumped both Star Plus and Sony in the music show war.

Format Wars

Show	Ratings (TVR)
Zee TV's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge	5.5
Star Plus' Star Voice of India	2.88
Sony's Indian Idol - 3	3.7

 

 

Source: TAM Media Research, HSM CS 4+
Date: 18-19, May 2007

It was touted as the musical slugfest. Zee's decade old Sa Re Ga Ma Pa pitted against Star's Voice of India and helmed by former Zee producer Gajendra Singh. But Zee has proved that the proof of the pudding is in the ratings. TAM figures for the top 5 shows during the primetime band on 18th May places Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa at 5.5 - the highest in that band, above Star's Voice of India and Sony's Indian Idol.

Star Wars: Week 20

Channel	GRPs
Zee TV	232
Star Plus	322
Sony	116

 

 

 

Source: TAM Media Research

What's more, Zee claims that in the primetime band, it is a mere 30 GRPs behind Star and a little less than 100 GRPs behind in the weekly figures. That's reflecting in the rates it can command. Zee is charging Rs 1.5 lakhs per ten seconds for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and plans to charge a premium for the final 20% of its inventory. In comparison, Star's Voice of India charges Rs 80,000 per 10 second spot.

HUL Spends

HUL to spend Rs 70 cr on Zee TV this year Last year HUL spent Rs 27 cr HUL may be back on Star, may consume up to 500 seconds per day Before the standoff, HUL was buying 1,500 seconds per day on Star

Industry Sources

Zee claims that Hindustan Unilever, the country's largest advertiser, has increased its spends on Zee by one-and-half times. Interestingly, it also claims that Hindustan Unilever, who was off Star for the past three months, may now be back on but will be consuming a third of what it used to consume on Star, but the advertiser denied the news altogether.

Ramya Ramamurthy