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MUMBAI:
A grim ratings battle is emerging for the third spot in the
Hindi general entertainment space. INX Media’s 9X has
inched past NDTV Imagine in a week that had Indian Premier
League (IPL) taking away a massive chunk of prime time audience.
 9X
has climbed to the third spot with 80 GRPs (gross rating points),
leaving NDTV Imagine at the closest with 79 GRPs, as per latest
television audience measurement (Tam) ratings data (week ended
26 April, CS 4+, all day, HSM).
This
is the first time that NDTV Imagine has lagged behind 9X since
its launch on 21 January this year.
And
for 9X, the new-found position comes after five months of
existence. Dabbling between NDTV Imagine and Sony Entertainment
television (Set), 9X had managed to be in the fourth and fifth
position with weekly GRPs at around 70 to 72 GRPs in recent
period.
Says
INX Media founder and CEO Indrani Mukerjea, “As a strategy,
we have given enough time for our shows to settle down. We
did not bombard our audience with too many shows, by not launching
all of them at the same time. As a result our older shows
have gathered good loyal audience which has helped consolidate
our position even at a time, when the entire GEC is hit by
IPL matches.”
 Banking
upon a range of shows like Chak De Bacche, Yeh Hai Jalwa,
Mere Apne, Kya Dill Mein Hain and Dahhej, 9X with
TVR between 1 and 1.3 has reached the third spot.
To
keep the channel fresh, Mukerjea says that all the shows are
for a limited number of episodes unlike other GECs. The channel
has allotted 208 episodes to the daily series, while weekly
shows are given a maximum of 39 weeks or six months.
“We
do not want our shows to drag on where we have to do a generation
leap and bore our audiences. We would rather have a seasonal
approach to programming,” adds Mukerjea.
 The
10:30 pm comedy slot on 9X will go off air from mid-May as
all the shows have reached their end. The shows include Remote
Control, Babban Bhai Vs Bimla Tai, Jamegi Jodi and Begum.
9X
has extended its weekday prime time to 8 pm with the launch
of its mythological series Jai Maa Vaishnodevi on 28
April. Produced by Creative Eye, it is a series of divinity
and devotion of Mata Vaishno Devi.
9X
is also gearing up for the launch of the mythological series
Mahabharat by mid-August. Produced by soap queen Ekta
Kapoor, the series will be a bi-weekly beginning on Friday.
 Mukerjea
says, “We will be filling up two more hours of original
prime time programming in the next five months.” Currently
it has two and half hours of prime time programming.
NDTV
Imagine has taken a different route and believes that it is
paying. Says NDTV Imagine executive vice president content
and programming Shailja Kejriwal, "On weekdays, all the
GECs are full of daily soaps because they are doing well.
But there is a kind of fatigue that has occurred. 9X launched
ahead of us and even they had similar shows with which even
they could not go further. We knew that people wanted to breakaway
from the habit and see something different. Identifying it
we offered them that difference."
The
initial scorecard has been encouraging. NDTV Imagine grabbed
the third spot in the very first week of its launch, with
Ramayan being the main puller.
In
the week ended 19 April, NDTV Imagine pocketed 92 GRPs while
Set took the fourth spot with 79 GRPs, followed by 9X (72
GRPs).
Though
NDTV Imagine (82 GRPs) lost ground to Sony (88 GRPs) on the
week ended 5 April, it quickly regained its third spot. While
Sony marginally fell to 84 GRPs for the following week, NDTV
Imagine was up at 88 GRPs. For both these weeks, 9X was trailing
behind at 72 and 77 GRPs.
The
verdict of who will occupy the third spot on a consistent
basis is still not out. Perhaps, it will take longer for the
match to be decided.
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