The return of Amitabh Bachchan as host of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC-4) has worked wonders for Sony Entertainment television (Sony TV) as the launch episode on Monday generated peak ratings (TVR) of 6.7 and an average show ratings of 5. This was the highest ratings for a Sony TV show in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) genre in recent times. Also, it was the highest first-episode ratings for any reality show aired on Hindi GEC this year, as per data provided by the overnight television ratings agency aMap. According to aMap data, the launch episode of KBC-4 almost tripled the reach of Sony TV on Monday as over 16 million viewers tuned in to watch the cult quiz show that first aired in year 2000 on Star Plus.
However, KBC-3 hosted by Shah Rukh Khan had a better first-episode ratings of 5.3 in January 2007 says the aMap data. The television industry now awaits the ratings from TAM Media which will be released in the next few days.
According to aMap, all recent reality shows on Hindi GECs like Bigg Boss-4 and Khatron Ke Khiladi-3 on Colors, Saregamapa on Zee TV and Meethi Choori on Imagine generated much lower ratings for their first-episodes compared to KBC-4.
KBC-4 has already raked in the moolah for Sony TV with nearly a dozen sponsors and an average of Rs 5 crore per sponsor.
According to media planners, KBC-4 has left behind rival shows like Bigg Boss-4 and Khatron Ke Khiladi in terms of sponsorship money.
?Do keep in mind that the per-episode cost of shows like Bigg Boss and Khatron Ke Khiladi are much higher compared to KBC despite the pressence of Amitabh Bachchan. With sticky eyeballs on KBC, the return on investments for the advertisers and sponsors will be much higher on KBC compared to others,? a senior media planner said.
However, experts want to wait and watch KBC-4 for at least two weeks before taking a call on the popularity of the show.
?KBC-3 and KBC-2 also had great openings. KBC-3 with Shah Rukh Khan had witnessed a gradual decline in reach and ratings over the first 10 episodes,? a media analyst said.