Notching up 14.02 TVRs in the C&S 4+ Hindi speaking markets and over 20 million tune-ins is what Star, quoting TAM data, says the show achieved. The event, hence, seems to have lived up to its debut performance last year when it was the highest rated event ever on Indian television.

In a comparative analysis to last year's performance, though this year's TVRs seem to be status quo; there was a marginal drop in ratings with a negligible difference of 0.05 in the C&S 4+ Hindi speaking market and 0.2 in the all India rating's list.

Ranked No. 10 in an all-India ratings list, the show notched up the 10th rank with a 9.7 TVR. The normalised GRPs for the event at 30 minutes touched 115.5. The peak viewing levels touched 19.5 TVR at 10.08 pm.

However, it would be interesting to see the reason for even a marginal drop in ratings , considering the amount of off-air and on-air promotions that were done for the event.

One of the main reasons for this could be that in 2003 the event was a three-hour affair, while this year the whole show was extended by an hour. The dilution effect was imperative. Still, an interesting point is that in the C&S 4+ Hindi speaking markets, the viewership numbers increased from 18,632 in 2003 to 20,052 in 2004 with Gujarat contributing the largest share to the pie, recording a TVR of 21.5. Also, demographically speaking, the age group between 15 to 24 years TG performed the best, registering the highest TVR of 16.6.

Star India's senior vice president content and communication Deepak Segal gushes, "The ratings Star Parivaar Awards has delivered are extremely heartening. Also, we are extremely pleased with the appreciation the event has received for its qualitative innovations and scheduling from journalists, our viewers and, of course, the TVRs. The event has managed to rate higher than film events, which is a significant achievement."

Supported by a massive on-air promotion campaign that delivered 2,738 GRPs through 2,007 spots across the Star Network, the event claimed to be the season's highest on-air promoted product on Star Plus as well as on network.

The strategy to lure viewers included specially conceptualized pre-event episodes, which added to the hype in terms of preludes and included nominations part 1 and 2, Jodi Special, Magic Moments at the Parivaar awards and, finally, the red carpet immediately followed by the Awards themselves.

Apart from on-air promotions, one of the key drivers of the event was the extensive off-air promotion, which hit the streets of six cities, commencing on 1 June.

The 10-day promotional activity was essentially a voting awareness campaign with a series of
custom-made Star Parivaar vehicles playing the tune of the Star Parivaar jingle with professional dancers jiving. Also contributing to the hype was a unique concept of a 25 by 20 ft transparent ballot box trunk, which was seen making its rounds in Mumbai filled,
with votes.

The morning of 19 June, the day the event was aired, saw an extensive print campaign in leading dailies in six cities.

Dwelling on the fact whether the event was taking on an appointment-viewing avatar, Star India's senior vice-president marketing and communications, Ajay Vidyasagar, says, "Star Parivaar clearly is becoming an appointment viewing show as the characters who are being felicitated have become part of the (Indian)
social fabric. The award at hand is not for Smriti Iraani but Tulsi Veerani. This has been seen both in terms of votes as well as in term of the brand loyalty the event has received. It is the ultimate testimonial for a product".

All said and done, this two-year-old baby most definitely seems to be Star Plus's child prodigy.