Indiantelevision.com Team

(22 June 2011 10:25 pm)

MUMBAI: Hrithik Roshan shines on Indian television but not as much as the other Bollywood stars have done. And while his debut performance on flagship Hindi general entertainment channel Star Plus has been commendable, audiences on Star One and Marathi regional GEC Star Pravah have just not hooked on to the dance reality show.

Just Dance's debut episode on Star Plus earned a TVR of 3.7 while the Hrithik-powered show clocked 0.5 TVR each on Star One and Star Pravah (simulcast).

Collectively, the show has mopped up a TVR of 4.7, according to TAM data for Hindi speaking markets (C&S, 4+).

The debut episodes of other reality shows, with popular actors as hosts or judges, have rated higher on the Hindi GECs. Amitabh Bachchan’s return as anchor of game show KBC 4 on Sony Entertainment Television clocked a 6.2 TVR on debut, while Abhishek Bachcan’s entry on Bingo National Nights (Colors) got a TVR of 5.1. Khataron Ke Khiladi 4 with Akshay Kumar got 3 TVR (ratings was much higher in the earlier editions with Kumar as host), while the third season with Priyanka Chopra got a 5.5 TVR on the opening day.

"Hrithik has opened weaker on TV but this may not be a fair comparison. In the other reality shows, the Bollywood stars were right at the centre as hosts. Hrithik is part of the jury in this show. Besides, this is a weekend show. When Khataron Ke Khiladi 4 moved to the weekends with Kumar, the ratings were lower," said a media analyst.

Star India COO Sanjay Gupta believes the strategy of simulcasting the show on three network channels has worked well. “Just Dance has demonstrated its combined impact in the 4.7 TVR that it has collected. It is the highest show opening for any non-fiction property in 2011. For instance, on Star Pravah the slot rating doubled versus the normal average, demonstrating the power of the content to transcend language and geography,” he said.

Several media observers, however, feel that Just Dance has to do much more on Star One and Star Pravah to make it a network success show. "Star One, for instance, has gone up by a single GRP to end the week at 38 GRPs. There has to be a stronger pull for the show on Star One and Star Pravah to term it as a success," a media analyst said.

As for Star Plus, the show added 20 GRPs (gross rating points) to the channel’s kitty. For the week ended 18 June, Star Plus took its total GRPs to 284, up from 247 GRPs in the trailing week.

“We created high sampling of the show with a record 25.9 million viewers in the opening episode supported by a high decibel marketing campaign across multiple touch points and an augmented reality experience event. As the show progresses, we are sure it will attract a lot more interest and involvement, thereby making it the ultimate dance reality show on Indian television,” Gupta said.

The show on Star Plus has attracted 21.6 million viewers. The remaining 4.3 million viewers have come on Star One and Star Pravah.

"The show was aired just once in the week ended 18 June. We will have to give it more time to see where it settles," said a media observer.

A peep into the other GECs: Zee TV, ranked No. 3, added 20 GRPs to its last week’s tally and came threateningly closer to Colors. Zee TV closed the week with 228 GRPs while Colors lost 9 GRPS to end with 230 GRPs.

For Zee TV, Pavitra Rishta did the trick once again. It stayed as the top-rated show with 6.2 TVR, according to TAM data.

Sony Entertainment Television remained stable with 161 GRPs (last week 163) while Sab reported 138 GRPs, a loss of 10 GRPs from the previous week. Imagine TV remained at No.6 with 89 GRPs (from 90 GRPs).

Sahara One fell by four points to end the week with 28 GRPs.