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Idols is scheduled for an October launch, soon after the
Champions Trophy, Sony's big ticket cricket event for 2004, which
concludes on 25 September.
Talking to Indiantelevision.com, Sony's ad sales and revenue management
head Rohit Gupta said, "The name Indian Idols has been
taken because this show is envisioned as an annual event wherein
each year someone is chosen. It has the possibility of becoming
a phenomenon." Gupta pointed out that in the 25 countries where
localised versions of Pop Idol were done, channel fortunes
had turned around dramatically. It is pertinent to note here that
it is Rupert Murdoch's Fox network in the US that has been the biggest
gainer in this respect. "There is no reason why India should
be different," said Gupta.
"It is a fallacy to say that foreign shows do not work here.
Jassi worked for us and proved skeptics wrong. What KBC
and Jassi have shown is that original format shows work."
Speaking about Indian Idols, Gupta said, "Here, there
is a plug-in for the viewer. He/she decides the fate of the contestants,
not judges and not celebrity guests on the show. That is why Fox
got more votes for the finale of American Idol than the US
elections. Even Singaporeans have gone berserk following American
Idol."
As far as promoting Indian Idols is concerned, Sony is looking
at using the Holland Tourney and Champions Trophy on sister channel
Max as vehicles to create awareness. "It will appeal to people
across India and not only to certain regions. This is because people
from different music backgrounds will pit their talents against
each other. It is not just pop music," Gupta was at pains to
stress.
"It could be a Bollywood singer, a Bhangra performer, some
Tamilian guy, all competing. There will be heavy on-ground activity.
We will visit 12-15 towns. In four to five Metros we will conduct
auditions which will kick off in the July-August period."
As regards the on-ground activity, while Gupta did not provide
any specifics, the information available with indiantelevision.com
is that Sony will be trying to recreate an elections kind of atmosphere
(right down to polling booths where people can log in votes for
the contestants of their choice).
A point indiantelevision.com raised with Gupta was on the technical
backend, which was found wanting in the US with jammed phone lines
preventing viewers from voting. Gupta asserted that would not be
an issue in India, what with the telecom technology available here
being as good as anywhere in the world.
Talking about SET's performance in general, Gupta pointed out,
"If you look at the past two to three quarters, the channel
has grown from strength to strength. Sony's prime time viewer band
has grown by 40 per cent. It is not just Jassi that has done
well. We are able to give the advertiser a fairly large bouquet
of programmes that deliver ratings. We are no longer a channel with
just two shows doing well.
"There are six of them that are pulling in audiences. If you
compare with Star's old shows, none of their new shows have done
well if you use their own benchmarks. Star has had about a 20 per
cent drop in their primetime GRPs which is because we have managed
to eat into their share."
"A year and a half back we were at Zee's level. Now we are
three times them in terms of GRPs. Yeh Meri Life is doing
well in a time band that everybody thought Star Plus could not be
touched. It has been getting ratings of five and six which is huge.
In August we will be launching three more shows. Of course a dramatic
change in the channel pecking order is not going to happen in a
hurry. It will take a year but at least we are on the right track."
And what does the "Indian Idol 2004" stand to gain from
all this other than a possible career in playback singing? How does
lending voice to a Karan Johar blockbuster film as the launch platform
sound? Something on that scale could well be what is being envisioned
by the Sony think tank.
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