Prominent ads in the two leading pink dailies The Economic Times and The Business Standard today had two key tag lines - One states that when it comes to the fight for the top slot on the ratings charts, there is simply no contest as far as rival channels were concerned. The blurb reads "Kasautii... v/s Kahaani... v/s Kyunki... (It's a tough fight for the top slot.)". Being stressed here is the fact that at Star Plus, the battle for the Numero Uno programme status is a purely internal one.

The other ad hypes the fact that when it comes to delivering prime time ratings, afternoons or evenings makes no difference to Star Plus.

The ads, primarily targeted at corporates and marketing executives, has a slugline just below the Star Plus logo that reads 'The Star of your media Plan'. Also interesting is the fact that while earlier Star Plus' ads carried the base line of 'Just Imagine'; it has been strategically replaced by 'India's No. 1 Network', thus making a strong leadership statement.

With the success of Star Plus' afternooner Kumkum which has recently made it into the Top 20 and registered an all time high TVR of 13.2 in April 2004, it comes as no surprise that the ad in The Business Standard proudly states: "Frankly, even we can't tell what our primetime is... Evenings or Afternoons." The ad also states that the channel's Monday to Thursday afternoon audience base is 1.6 times the Monday to Thursday primetime audience base of both Sony and Zee combined, according to Tam data.

On the other hand, the ad in The Economic Times states - "Kasautii.. v/s Kahaani... v/s Kyunki... (It's a tough fight for the top slot.)" All three serials have been undefeated at the top for quite a while now. Delivering ratings around the 15 TVR mark, these shows claim to command a viewing share of around 50 per cent for the channel. The ad also says that it is not surprising that top brands turn to Star Plus, India's No. 1 channel, when they want to talk to India's heartland.

"Competition? What competition?" is the message that Star is trumpeting out loud.

This does raise a counter question though. Star Plus' leadership status has never been in question these last four years, so isn't it a case of stating the obvious? Or is it that all the media noise rival Sony has been making recently around its activities (especially around new show Yeh Merri Life Hai) was becoming all too deafening?