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The
verdict is out.
 The
hopes and hype surrounding the Indian entry to the 74th
Academy Awards ensured Star Movies a viewership for the
live event unprecedented in earlier years. The channel,
which has been telecasting the event for five years, says
this has been the best yet.
Not
surprising. Ratings from the audience measurement agencies,
just in, show that Indian viewers rose early and bright
on 25 March to catch the excitement that began at 6:30 am.
According to INTAM figures, Kolkata led the country's metros
with a viewership of 4.39 (TG 4+, C&S). Bangalore followed
with TVRs of 2.18. Mumbai, the seat of Bollywood, however,
ran a distant third with TVRs of 1.77.
Weekday
and office hour obstacles notwithstanding, the event, preceded
by a nearly month long on air and ground promotional activity,
managed to bring in the moolah for Star Movies. Star had
mass promoted the hitherto niche programme, using Lagaan
as a peg to build the Star Movies brand.
The
ploy worked. All 30 minutes of ad time on the three
and half hour live broadcast of the ceremony were sold out.
Besides, four of the nine main sponsors of the live show
were mass marketers like Pepsi, Parle, Asian Paints and
Bajaj. Other channels like HBO and BBC World ran Hollywood
specials as a run-up to the event; the benefits of which
were cashed in upon by Star.
Other cities have not fared badly either. Chennai with TVRs
of 1.35 and Delhi with TVRs of 1.12 helped shore up the
ratings. One million plus towns in Gujarat, Maharashtra
and Karnataka too scored ratings above 1, a fair figure
for such niche events, say analysts.
Figures put out by the other rating agency, AC Nielsen's
TAM ratings, are not as effusive though. Kolkata leads with
TVRs of 2.8 (TG C&S 4+) and Mumbai follows with TVRs
of 1.14. According to TAM, Oscar viewership was better among
the C&S 15-44 AB category, Kolkata leading with 3.91,
and Mumbai following with 2.2. While the overall TVRs for
the six metros hover around 1.81, most other cities have
not been able to cross the magic TVR figure of 1.
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Lagaan
- the element that sparked Indian interest in the
Oscars
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In the US, though, the picture's not so bright. The Oscars
drew a 25.4 Nielsen Media Research rating on Sunday, the
lowest-rated Academy Awards telecast ever, with just 41.8
million viewers, say reports. Last year’s show had the previous
low record.
Lagaan has just reversed the trend in India. Will
it hold in the coming years?
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