| MUMBAI:
Zee TV's hopes of overhauling Star Plus in the Hindi GEC space have received a
major setback with the long-time leader picking up the pace over the last few
weeks.  The
latest Tam ratings data (week ended 5 April, CS 4+, all day, HSM) show Star Plus
at 361 GRPs, well ahead of Zee TV, which is at 232 GRPs.
 This
is a huge gain by Star Plus, particularly if you take into account the fact that
in the week ended 16 February, Zee TV had narrowed the gap to as little as 4 GRPS
(Star Plus 291, Zee TV 287).
Zee
TV could not hold on to the momentum it had built up though and in the weeks that
followed, Star Plus steadily built up its lead. Even with the grand finale of
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs (on 1 March) fetching 6.73 TRPs, it was not
enough for Zee TV to bridge the widening gap.  Star
Plus GM Keertan Adyanthaya says, "With a firm line-up in the prime-time and
afternoon and strong schedule we have garnered great GRPs. Besides our old shows,
over the weeks, even our newly launched shows have shown good TRPs."
What
is interesting to note is that the widening of the gap has come about despite
Zee TV's Banoo Main Teri Dulhann, Saat Phere and Lakshmi Ghar
Ki Betiyaan giving more than a run for the money to soap factory Balaji's
long running K- serials. And
the reason for this is the fact that Zee TV's new talent hunt show Rock n Roll
Family, which replaced Li'l Champs in the weekends, has not been able
achieve the kind of traction that the channel was hoping for. Average ratings
of around 4 TRPs has proved a dampener for Zee TV.  And
what of Star Plus? Are the low TRPs of the Balaji shows sending out alarm signals?
"Absolutely not," says Adyanthaya. "Fiction shows have high and
low points; Star is not unduly worried about it at all," he asserts.
Having
said that, Star Plus recently got back Smriti Irani in its flagship show Kyunki
Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi as a TRP boosting exercise. It
is also launching its big ticket show Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?
on 25 April to be hosted by Shah Rukh Khan. Scheduled on weekdays, the show is
doling out Rs 50 million as prize money. Sony
edges ahead of NDTV Imagine for 3rd spot
Much
further down the road in the Hindi GEC space, meanwhile, Sony Entertainment Television
(Set) and NDTV Imagine have been battling it out for the third spot.
In
the week ended 5 April, Set with 88 GRPs is just ahead of NDTV Imagine, which
has pocketed 82 GRPs. On the back of reality shows, events (Filmfare awards) and
a blockbuster film (Chak De India) Set managed to up its GRP to 110 in
the week ended 1 March but in the subsequent week it slipped again. According
to an industry observer, "Set is in the middle of transition and revamp.
After losing the foothold with reality and music shows, Set is trying to get back
its health with fiction based shows." "Set
experimented far too much. It has not been telling stories for which it lost connect
with the audience," says the observer. Set
is currently consolidating its fiction based shows. From 14 April, it is launching
a women centric daily soap Sujata followed by Waqt… Set will
be synergising Indian Premier League (IPL) matches on its sister channel Max to
promote its shows. Besides,
it has also roped in Salman Khan to host a reality show based on the international
show Power of 10 to be launched soon after the IPL tournament.
A quick look at the lastest GEC space scorecard: Indrani and Peter Mukerjea's
9X stands next to NDTV Imagine with 72 GRPs, Sahara One 70, Star One 66, Star
Utsav 40, Sab 32 and Zee Next 9. | 
