Sahara One's ad rate hike comes amid signs of slowdown

Sahara One's ad rate hike comes amid signs of slowdown

Sahara One

MUMBAI: Sahara One, the Hindi general entertainment channel from the Sahara One Media and Entertainment stable, has announced a 30 per cent ad rate hike effective 1 September.

"The channel‘s consistent rise in GRPs and relative channel shares for the past couple of months powered by fresh programming initiatives and an aggressive distribution drive has placed it neck to neck with its closest competitor Star One," Aidem Ventures said today.

Sahara One‘s share is just 2.9 per cent in the Hindi general entertainment channel space with 36 GRPs (gross rating points), TAM data for the week ended 13 August shows.

Aidem Ventures, which handles the ad sales of the channel, believes that a rate hike for the channel is due.

"The channel has been consistently experimenting with its programming. The idea is to offer a healthy dose of drama, comedy, mythology, and fiction based shows to our viewers. The channel management has been proactively working towards presenting a wholesome family entertainment mix. New shows like Jai Jai Jai Bajrangbali and Kahani Chandrakanta Ki have been received very well by audiences attracting existing and lapsed advertisers," said Aidem Ventures business head - Broadcast Media (Entertainment) Gunjan Rege Karkera.

Sahara One recently launched a daily soap, Neem Neem Shahad Shahad, and is soon going to unveil their new slate of programmes.

The rate hike announcement comes at a time when the industry is heading for a slowdown.

"Sahara One will find it difficult to implement a 30 per cent rate hike. The fiscal first-quarter results of several media companies have indicated a slowdown," said a senior media buying executive on condition of anonymity.