| MUMBAI:
Star Plus' nine-year reign at the top has ended. And pushing it off its perch
is the gung-ho No 2 from the Viacom 18 stable, Colors. At least if one goes by
TV rating agency Tam data for the week ended 11 April. Colors
managed to wear the crown within nine months of its existence. It had come within
touching distance once, with a single GRP (gross rating points) separating the
two, but Star had then bounced back to take control of the leadership throne.
Colors has surged
ahead this time with GRPs of 292 while Star Plus stands at 267 GRPs. "It
feels nice to become the No.1 Hindi general entertainment channel. From now on,
it will be a week-on-week numbers game," says Colors CEO Rajesh Kamat. Interestingly,
Colors had 298 GRPs in the week ended 4 April while Star Plus was ahead with 307
GRPs. "Both the channels saw a fall in GRPs for the week ended 11 April,
but in case of Star Plus the dip was sharper," says a media analyst. Star
Plus believes that the leadership position needs to be held week after week, consistently
and steadily. "We are confident that we will regain our leadership. Star
Plus is a leader and an innovator since the last nine years. Bidaai and
Yeh Rishta are topping the charts of Hindi entertainment and occupy the
top nine slots this week as well." So
what led to Colors' new-found status? A major boost of 50 GRPs came from the movie
line up that included Singh Is Kinng, Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Na, Bhootnaath,
Devdas and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Star Plus, in contrast, managed
just 26 GRPs from the movies that it telecast - Race, My Friend Ganesha
2, Rama Rama Kya Hai Drama and Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya. Colors
ranked top in all-day as well as weekday prime time (7-11.30 pm) slots, although
the top two shows belonged to Star Plus. Says
Starcom MediaVest Group COO - South Asia Sandeep Lakhina, "Colors has done
a spectacular job, keeping in mind that in such a small period of time the channel
has gone up in a big way. But this is just one week data. Given Star's strong
heritage, the challenge before Colors will be to continue with its leadership." Despite
going pay from 1 April, Colors' reach seems to have been unaffected. "This
is too early to say as the hard decisions of switching off the channel from cable
networks are yet to be taken," says an industry observer. MSM
Discovery, the company that is distributing Colors, is, however, bullish that
the IPL will help boost the distribution bouquet. Says
MSM president Rajesh Kaul, "Colors is a powerful channel and it has shown
its programming strength by dethroning Star Plus, which no other channel in the
past nine years had been able to do. Clubbed with the IPL on Max, we have a very
powerful distribution bouquet." Meanwhile,
Zee TV continues to be in the third spot with 236 GRPs. Among
the other channels, NDTV Imagine has once again hopped on to the fourth spot with
90 GRPs. Sony Entertainment TV stands at 78 GRPs, with Star One (60 GRPs), Sab
(49 GRPs) and Sahara One (48 GRPs) following closely. The
newly launched Real, meanwhile, has managed 19 GRPs in the week. 9X, mainly running
on repeats, stayed ahead with 23 GRPs. Also
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