Reality shows, which have become the main staple for general entertainment channels these days, may be winning them eyeballs, but not enough advertising dough, their main source of sustenance. A surfeit of these shows on TV has ensured that ad rates have come down over time even as production costs, including steep fee charged by participating celebrities, have escalated simultaneously.
This is in stark contrast to the scenario a few years ago. Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), the reality game show hosted by Amitabh Bachchan on Star Plus between 2000 and 2002, for instance, was a money spinner for the channel, say people who were closely associated with the production of the show.
A 10-second spot in the first season of the Bachchan-anchored show, launched in July of 2000, cost an advertiser Rs 2.5-3.2 lakh. In the second season, the asking price was as high as Rs 4 lakh, according to media buyers familiar with the situation then.
Today, a 10-seconder on any reality show costs an advertiser an average of about Rs 1 lakh, said Sudhan Deo, investment director at media buying agency Mediaedge:cia. ?The slightly better shows could garner upto Rs 1.5 lakh for a 10-second spot,? says Nandini Dias, chief operating officer at Lodestar Universal.
The ad rates for Bachchan?s comeback vehicle on the small screen ? Bigg Boss 3 on Colors ? are also pegged at about Rs 1.5 lakh per 10 seconds. The show was heavily promoted by Colors across media platforms, which also pushed up the already steep cost of production at over Rs 2 crore for a one-hour episode. And this does not include the steep fee of Rs 25 crore Bachchan is charging for appearing every Friday and Saturday on the show, say people in the know of the deal. ?Normally, a one-hour episode of a reality show costs Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore to make,? says Sameer Nair, chief executive officer, NDTV Imagine.
The Akshay Kumar-anchored season two of Khatron Ke Khiladi on Colors cost the channel over Rs 2 crore per-episode, primarily because it was shot outdoors in South Africa with complicated stunts as a part of it. Contestants had to camp in South Africa, which added to the cost, say sources. Akshay Kumar himself is said to have been paid over Rs 10 crore for the show which ran for 16 days in September-October this year, according to industry sources. According to estimates from senior executives in the media industry, the show just made about Rs 30-35 crore in advertising revenues. The same goes for Rakhi Ka Swayamvar on NDTV Imagine. The show is said to have garnered ad revenues of just about Rs 4 crore even as the per-episode cost for the one- month programme, which began on June 29, was over Rs 25 lakh.
A detailed email sent to Colors did not elicit any response.
Creating high impact calls for a fair bit of promotion which again means that these shows guzzle money. Though promotional bursts are shorter these days as opposed to the time when KBC was launched, budgets could vary anywhere between Rs 1-2 crore for a week?s run, says Harsha Joshi, chief operating officer, media buying & content, Madison Media.
?Celebrity costs, high production values, promotional expenses imply that reality shows are actually loss leaders,? points Nitin Vaidya, business head, Zee TV and chief operating officer, national channels, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. Zee, for instance, has opted to keep costs down by promoting shows that do not have a high celebrity quotient.
Season one of Dance India Dance, which was on air for four months between January 30 and May 30 this year, did not have celebrity anchors. Same goes for the popular Lil Champs currently playing on the channel. ?Notable faces are the jurors on the show, but that is a cost we can manage,? says Vaidya.