And the award goes to....

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: The winners have been declared and the stars are done with parading the red carpet in their best designer outfits. As the International Indian Film Awards (IIFA) drew to a close last weekend, another season of Bollywood awards approaches its end. With a constant rise in the number of general entertainment channels, it is almost obligatory for broadcasters to present repetitive film award shows as an integral part of a channel’s programming. Sustaining viewership for these shows in a cluttered scenario is the main challenge for broadcasters.

A media planner says: “There are around six to seven Bollywood award shows every year and it is crucial for a channel to create strong brand awareness in order to ensure stickiness amidst this clutter.” Audiences prefer this kind of content over the weekend and more importantly, these award shows still command prime time space. In such a competitive environment, additional talent categories and fresh star performances are the main differentiators.

The Filmfare awards was aired on Sony Entertainment Television on March 2 this year. The Indian film industry regards the Filmfare Awards as an equivalent to the Oscars and may swear by its popularity. However, the television rating points (TRPs) of the show this year spelt otherwise.

According to aMap, a television rating agency, Star Screen Awards, which were aired on January 27, managed to garner the highest TRPs of 4.33 out of all the Bollywood award shows so far this year. The Filmfare Awards came in a close second with a rating of 3.12, Zee Cine Awards and Max Stardust Awards acquired ratings of 2.37 and 1.29 respectively.

Media analysts point out that uniqueness is the deciding factor for the popularity of any show and Star cashed in on that aspect. “By showcasing the first Bollywood award show of the year, Star managed to have an upper hand in grabbing eyeballs. By the time the Filmfare Awards went on air, discerning viewers had already predicted who the winners would be and that gave rise to a fatigue factor,” mentions an analyst.

However, Prem Kamath, VP marketing and communication, Star India Pvt Ltd feels that a large part of the entertainment culture uses Bollywood as its bedrock and it is the fundamental element of entertainment for any channel. “It is the basic strength of the platform that helps in determining the quality of content as well as the success of a show. Television ratings of an award show depends primarily on the inherent strength of a platform,” quips Kamath.

Some broadcasters believe that film award shows are in danger of being hackneyed and there may be an over run factor of them with the proliferation of general entertainment channels. Since there are around 800 films that are released every year in India, the popularity of TV serials is bound to suffer a decline in viewership around the award season.

Not just in India, Bollywood award shows also have a huge fan base abroad as well. Until a few years ago, Indian cinema acquired one-tenth of its revenue from the international market. The revenue share from foreign shores has now increased to almost one-fourth. This rise in the revenue share shows the global reach of Indian cinema.

Sneha Rajani, executive vice president and business head, MAX mentions, “The TRPs of award shows have certainly dipped over the years. But the downslide is not so dramatic. These shows are a definite cue for advertisers to associate with the event. There is a subsequent rise in the valuation of ad spots as well and as per the popularity of the award show, there can sometimes be a hike of up to100% too. The key lies in marketing your content right.” The value of an ad spot for an award show may usually be upped by around 20% to 30% than the normal sponsorship for a TV series.

“The price tag of actors performing at an award show is soaring and this in turn will result in an increased cost of production. If these costs do not meet the expected return on investment, then broadcasters need to be skeptical about the success rate of airing award shows,” adds Rajani. According to industry sources, actors are known to exploit the medium for their benefit, charging anything between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 3 crore for a performance at the award function.

“Award shows are a great platform for promoting forthcoming films and garnering corporate funding,” says Sabbas Jospeh, director Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd, the organisers of the IIFA awards. This year at the IIFA awards, there were promotional events around forthcoming films like Love Story 2050, Mission Istanbul, Acid Factory, Singh is King etc.