BIG TOSS comes to the small screen

Commenting on the tie-up,Jai Maroo,director of Shemaroo Entertainment says,Its the season of cricket and we were looking for something more than the usual score updates that most operators do on the mobile platform. When we came across Big Toss,we immediately grabbed on to the concept. We went to work on it after getting approvals from our content and mobile partners. Also,with 3G coming in the past few months,we thought this will be a good initiative to push video content.

As per the deal,consumers can avail the show through live streaming,video downloads,get voice alerts,participate through contests,get exciting caller tunes,hear voice chats of the participants like Veena Malik and Rakhi Sawant and many more. They can catch the two beauties along with other participants discussingvarious aspects of the games. We have a license fee and a sharing fee arrangement in place but I cannot divulge any more details about the deal. However,the arrangement is beneficial to both partners. India TV gets additional exposure and engagement along with a completely new customer base in the form of mobile subscribers and moves to a new screen while we get to exploit this medium with a different kind of reality show, Maroo added.

He also declined to comment on the expected number of viewership the initiative is expected to grab. We do have some internal numbers that we are aiming for and I think we are reasonably well, he concluded.

The arrangement extends to a period beyond the schedule of the cricket World Cup. We are confident of creating an user base with this show. We plan to bring back the highlights of the show and other important clips once the series has run its course. As with Bigg Boss,this show has a lot of behind-the-scenes moments that we will add to our collection. The possibilities are endless on the mobile platform once you have the content, Maroo said.

While the general estimate of Big Toss,which began airing on February 17 on India TV has been less than lukewarm,Maroo believes the show is doing well saying,The channels projections say the shows popularity is catching on. We have also drawn up plans to cross-promote the show aggressively. While we will promote the show on Internet and mobiles,the channel will run live tickers to facilitate the cross exchange.

Shameroo Entertainment has been looking at various ways to exploit the growing digital medium in the country. Of the various verticals,Maroo believes that mobiles have the power to transform the fortunes of any company. Mobiles reach out to 700 million people versus 40 million on broadband. While 2G has been around for a while,3G is growing from zero subscribers at the moment. Keeping the snacking behaviour of consumers in mind,we feel this sector will see an explosive growth in the next five years or so. Big Toss is an endeavour to reach out to this nascent audience, he said.

Keeping this in mind,the company has tied up with Tata Docomo through which it has an exclusive tie-up for offering 3G services and content from Big Toss. The deal with Tata Docomo helps both parties too. While their fairly large number of 3G subscribers helps reach out to a wider audience,they get innovative content on their platform through which they can popularise the medium further, Maroo added. According to him,audio has a saturation point but video is set to get a fillip with 3G and BWA broadband wireless access services rolling out gradually. Rich video and rich data will soon catch the fancy of consumers. This will become the biggest revenue generator for us in the years to come, he believes.