Cooking up TRPs

Gone are the days when one would have to bitterly vacate one’s seat in front of the television because some relative (who was usually female) wanted to watch a cooking show,desperate not to miss even a single minute. Almost two decades ago,that’s how it used to be – a man in a white cap would invade the house and dish out ‘secret’ recipes to women. But today,cookery shows go way beyond that. With two food channels already on air and others on the way,these shows have entered a new dimension.

December 8,2010,marked the launch of the first 24-hour exclusive food channel on Indian television. Zee Khana Khazana became an instant hit with the audiences; however,it required some guts to be the first – the risks involved were huge. But,for Anurag Bedi,business head,Zee Khana Khazana,the decision to start such a channel was a no-brainer. “Just look at the stats – there are roughly about 116 cooking shows on air at present,and the average Indian viewer watches two hours of television per day. Forty-three per cent of the population is female,and cooking shows attract them. There is obviously a demand – people want to watch food on television,thus it was high time for a cooking channel to come.”

Karthik Lakshminarayan,COO of Food Food,the second food channel to premier on Indian airwaves,says,“Usually a channel takes time to pick up steam,but the response from the audience has been tremendous,which shows that the decision to enter the market was a correct one.” Sanjeev Kapoor,who has associations with the channel,adds,“It has been a dream to have a channel completely devoted to food. When I discussed the possibilities seven or eight years back,I was ridiculed. Today,in a space of a few months,two channels are already on air!”

And the airways are not restricted to these two channels. Rumours are abound that a third channel,Food First,will be launching soon. Lakshminarayan welcomes the move,saying,“A bit of competition will help keep us on our toes and will ensure that we produce quality products.”

Television,of course,also depends on advertisers,and according to Bedi,the advertisers are gung-ho about the whole idea. “A lot of ads deal with food and food-related appliances. What better place to reach your target audience than through a food channel?”

Leela Bhatia,a retired schoolteacher,welcomes the move. “I love watching cooking shows,so much so that I even watch the shows on ETV Telegu,despite not being able to understand the language. I love to be able to learn new dishes by watching the masters at work; cook books can only take one so far. Now with whole channels to choose from,cooking is going to be so much easier!” Shailendra Kekade,executive chef at Stone Water Grill,adds,“I have a busy schedule,and usually miss all these cooking shows. However,with a 24-hour channel on air,I can always catch a good show whenever I am free.”