Despite an effort to capture more eyeballs after a content revamp in May this year, Sony Entertainment Television is still in the fourth position when it comes to viewership in the Hindi general entertainment category (GEC).

As per the latest television audience measurement (TAM) data available, in terms of the gross rating points (GRPs) in week 51 (December 13-19), Sony was way behind other channels, grossing 179 GRPs during the period. Colors, the channel from Viacom 18, maintained its leadership position with 303 GRPs, followed by Star Plus garnering 280 and Zee TV, 271 GRPs. NDTV Imagine, at the fifth position, has a GRP of 90.

The mix of seven to eight fiction and non-fiction shows introduced in May recorded poor television ratings (TVRs), as low as 0.27 in the month of June. According to analysts, Sony?s shows did not have a strong impact due to lack of good content.

Commenting on the dull show, NP Singh, COO, Sony Entertainment Television said, ?We did a lot of research in 2008 on the content demand of viewers and laid down a strategy based on the feedback. Yes, we experienced partial success on the shows launched in May this year. We did see our TRPs going down, but got good reviews for only two-three shows. These things tend to happen during the launch of a bouquet of shows.?

In May, the channel launched fiction shows like Chittor Ki Rani Padmini, Palampur Express, Bhaskar Bharti, Ladies Special and non-fiction content like Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega and 10 Ka Dum and Dekh India Dekh. In spite of the huge hype created around the shows, only Dus Ka Dum and Bhaskar Bharti managed to impress viewers.

Sandeep Lakhina, COO, Starcom Worldwide (South Asia), a global media conglomerate, said, ?Sony?s content launched in May did not do well, except for Dus Ka Dum. The channel has maintained its fourth position since a long time and has not been able to take the first three positions post its revamp in May. Sony now needs to bring in new and interesting content in order to bring up its TVRs and GRPs.?

According to industry sources, Sony spent around Rs 30 crore on the revamp and the advertising revenues of the channel in May must have been recovered from its two popular programmes Dus Ka Dum and Bhaskar Bharti. Singh said, ?During the earlier launches, it was a lean period for the advertising market, owing to the recession. It was a low period for us as well in terms of the ad revenues. However, with a few shows witnessing good response, our revenues didn?t slow down to a larger extent.?

Sony spent around Rs 30 crore in the marketing campaign for the May launches, along with a complete re-branding of the channel. While Sony?s Ladies Special garnered an average TVR of 0.42 between June-November, according to TAM data, the highest TVR enjoyed by the show was a poor 0.65.