Star Plus, which has been struggling to retain its top slot in the Indian television industry, is now betting on a number of new shows to take on rival channels Colors, Zee TV and Sony. Banking on the increasing popularity of reality shows and soaps, the channel is coming up with a reality show, Music Ka Maha Muqabla, which will host popular singers, besides a daily soap, Pratigya. Apart from the new launches, the channel has plans to launch the second series of Sacch Ka Saamna next year.
The channel saw a huge drop in its television rating points (TRPs) and gross rating points (GRPs) in April, when Colors surpassed it by 25 GRPs.
Star Plus, which is aiming for more launches, currently has popular soap Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai to compete with Colors’ well-known hits Uttaran Na Aana Is Des Laado, Balika Vadhu and Chhoti Bahu. Colors’ popular reality show Khatron Ke Khiladi and Dus Ka Dum enabled the channel to record a GRP of 325, surpassing competitors Star Plus, Sony and Zee by 50-70 points approximately. Uttaran also gained a higher TRP of 7 in week 46. Other popular shows of Colors include Bigg Boss, Dancing Queen and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan.
Anupam Vasudev, executive vice-president, marketing and communication, Star India, said, “Since the past few months, we have faced a lot of competition from other channels, but now we are set to win the TRP race. With a current market share of 15.2%, we hope to increase it by growing our channel share in the third quarter of the financial year. We are trying to build a strong network in the country in terms of its content and bouquet of shows.”
Though Star Plus entered into a fierce battle with its rival by airing reality shows ranging from The Perfect Bride with actress Amrita Rao, to Aap Ki Kachehri starring Kiran Bedi, these shows failed to woo audiences.
The channel’s much-hyped and controversial reality show Sacch Ka Saamna, launched in July this year, helped it to gain a TRP of over 4.6. The first series of Sacch Ka Saamna helped the channel to gain higher TRPs, but a slump period followed after the show ended. While earlier speculations said the channel would launch the second series of Sacch Ka Saamna soon, Uday Shankar, CEO of Star India, said the channel is currently in discussion with the production team and plans to come up with the second series of the show only by next year.
?The channel?s current focus is on programming and good content generation. We have not yet gone into the programming of Sacch Ka Saamna. The second season of Sacch Ka Saamna is definitely on the agenda, but nothing has been planned yet. There is a lot of effort that a channel has to make on the production side,? added Vasudev.