MUMBAI: Shahrukh Khan seems to have cast magic on the ratings as he played host for the first time in the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, replacing megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

Putting all anxiety to rest for the broadcaster Star Plus, KBC 3 opened with a market share of 24.36 per cent in the Hindi speaking segment of NWE (north, west, east) India, according to aMap's overnight TV rating system.

In comparison to the previous Mondays of 2007, iin which Star Plus garnered 12.4 per cent, this is not only a much larger share but almost double of the average ratings.
The actual number of viewers that were reached by KBC 3 in NWE India is 9.16 million. On an All India Level 10.29 million people were reached. And with Tamil general entertainment channel Star Vijay also adding up the audiences, 11.3 million people were reached on an All India level.

aMap highlighted a key trend of the programme on its opening day that indicates that 'King Khan' managed to retain the viewers after every break taken. The ratings kept on increasing after each break, and the last sequence got the highest ratings.

The show managed a jump of 91.5 per cent for the ratings per cent of Star Plus and almost all Star channels and genres got impacted due to the show.

In fact, 1.3 million people switched on their TV sets just to watch KBC, in NWE India. In terms of SEC, SEC A and B got higher numbers than the others. The ratings show that the more affluent target groups watched a lot more of KBC. Target groups like graduates, businessmen, self-employed professionals got the highest numbers.

Additionally, people living in small households, four and below, got more ratings than people staying in households with five more people.

Also, among the 20 brands that advertised on the show, Motorola's Motophone advertisment was rated the highest.

Analysts are, however, cautious, saying that the ratings have to be watched over a longer period to arrive at any conclusions.