Bigg Boss targets 30% jump in ad, sponsorship, as cricket stays off the field this festive season

TV shows like Bigg Boss to see higher advertiser traction due to absence of major cricket properties.

With no cricket lined up for the festive season, the pitch is clear for entertainment properties on TV networks to hit a sixer with advertisers.

The room for a clean sweep this festive season is driving brand interest for properties like Bigg Boss, said Mahesh Shetty, head of network sales at Viacom18, who is aiming at a 30 percent uptick in advertising and sponsorship revenue for the property this year.

"If you look at the festive season last year, we had one of the biggest cricketing properties - the ICC Cricket World Cup - happening in India. Such properties suck away a lot of money. Now, that is something which is not there this year and I expect from that standpoint the spends on entertainment properties to gain far higher traction in terms of advertising and sponsorship," he said, pointing out that such a situation happened after three years and this has freed up advertising budgets for the big TV shows.

Festive cheer

Around 60 percent of the advertising inventory will be sold by the time the show will go on-air, Shetty said. "In October, the percentage would be far higher because we have a lot of festive campaigns. In October, I think, the ad inventory will be sold out completely."

Shetty is hoping for a good festive season in terms of ad spends after a good monsoon. "I expect the spending to be very good this festive season. Also, this time we are going to have the biggest wedding season ever as the number of auspicious days are far higher. So, I expect that starting now, the festive spends will be far better than last year."

Sponsor interest

'Bigg Boss chahte hain' (Bigg Boss wants)...  these words will soon be echoing in households with the reality show premiering on October 6 with Salman Khan as its host and six to eight brands as sponsors. While the number of sponsors was higher for the last edition of the show, Shetty thinks that by the time of the launch more sponsors will come on board. "Lots of sponsors keep coming on board as the season begins," Shetty said.

The reality show this year has signed up with names like personal care brand Vaseline, food firm Ching's, cosmetics company Blue Heaven, and chocolate marque Mars.

The network sales head expects to take the sponsor count to 10-12 by the time the show launches. "Bigg Boss Kannada, hosted by Kiccha Sudeep, was  launched with about 20-odd sponsors because in Kannada a lot of local sponsors are there. So, the number of brands are pretty high but the ticket size to get into the Hindi show is very large because it goes across the entire Hindi belt. So, while the numbers may be lower than Kannada (for Hindi), the absolute value that any sponsor has to put in is very large in Hindi," he added, noting that for a lot of brands the show has been a springboard to get audience attention.

"Bigg Boss is a platform for upcoming brands. The sponsor list currently includes brands like Blue Heaven Cosmetics or perfume brand Bella Vita which are not particularly in their start-up stage and have reached a particular level but are on their journey to become brands worth thousands of crores. And the show becomes a springboard for them. For instance, Ching's, which has been consistently partnering with the property, visible in the Bigg Boss kitchen. Also, what you will see is that the show will have brands across categories," Shetty said who is seeing new categories partnering with the show like a perfume brand making its debut this year as a sponsor.

New categories

Travel category was new to the show last year with MakeMyTrip joining as a sponsor for the 17th season. "Last year, MakeMyTrip launched their own vertical homestays and offered people to stay at the Bigg Boss house as part of their homestay category promotion. We kept the Bigg Boss house open for people to book homestays on the travel platform," he said.

Audience interest

The show last year had recorded a reach of 168 million viewers with 105 billion viewing minutes on TV while digital recorded 2.5 billion views and more than 89 million viewers on JioCinema.

Shetty said that the show's growth on digital has been higher because the base on digital is smaller versus television. "The growth on JioCinema from a percentage standpoint is far higher than on television. But television's base is far larger," he said, adding that the show's other versions in different languages are performing well.

"While Bigg Boss Hindi works across Hindi-speaking belts, the Kannada version is primarily a Karnataka product. In that market, the show is huge with high ratings on TV. Bigg Boss Marathi too has done well, hosted by Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh. The show is still going on with the finale on October 6 and it has recorded good ratings. So, I cannot compare Hindi and regional, but in each of the regional markets, the show is performing well," Shetty said.