Aggressive Star turns the heat on Colors to move ahead on GRP front. But the issue of leadership is not settled yet.It is not easy to stay at the top anymore. Gone are the days when the leader in general entertainment space ruled the roost for years while others made feeble attempts to dislodge it from the top slot. When Colors had dislodged Star Plus from the number one position for the first time in nine years in April 2009,the then less than a year-old channel was jubilant for achieving a feat that others had attempted but failed. The development was also viewed as precursor to the future scenario where GEC leadership could be vulnerable to new and frequent challenges. Star Plus was then said to be on southwards journey and Zee was considered a strongest competitor for Colors. After weeks of sideways movements and months of consolidation,Colors reached the high of 356 GRPs,leaving behind Star Plus at 229. This was in October last year. Subsequently,while Star Plus recovered from the lows,Colors maintained its leadership. In week 4 (January 17 to 23,2010) Colors scaled another high with 365 GRPs against 293 of Star Plus and Zees 264. The following week,Star Plus fell to 247 GRPs,while Zee notched up an impressive 309 group rating points and Colors remained at the top with 321 GRPs. Four weeks later Star Plus raced ahead of Colors and Zee,only to witness yet another aberration three weeks later. But for the past five weeks beginning March 14,Star has stayed above the 300-GRP mark,while Colors has fallen to the 260 level. According to TAM data for week 16 (April 11 to 17),Star leads over Colors by 48 GRPs - 317 against 269 of Colors. Why has Colors lost about four to five per cent of its viewership share while Star Plus has gained as much during the last four months? Did IPL impact Colors more than other channels in recent weeks? Ashvini Yardi,head of programming,Colors,admits that IPL did impact her channel. We have a lot of male viewership,some of which switched on to IPL, she adds. According to media experts,Colors being a relatively new channel,it has SEC A and B skews,which also happens to be the stronghold of IPL. Last year too among all GECs,Colors was impacted more,and the pattern was expected to repeat this year too, says a senior media professional. However,Ashvini says that while Colors has fallen,Star Plus has not gained much. Lately some of their GRPs are coming from movies and not so much from original content, she observes. Stars head of marketing Anupam Vasudev refutes Ashvinis contention. Our big properties Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Bidaai have been consistently doing well and have bounced back from their recent lows. Bebo is also a strong competitor at 10 pm. Our recent launch Pratigya has risen from 2-odd TVR to 4.5 while Sasural Genda Phool is also doing well at 7.30 pm, he points out. Anupam admits that decent GRPs are coming from movies but says original content is delivering good numbers. While earlier Stars two strong pillars were Yeh Rishta and Bidaai between 9 and 10 pm,lately it is making its presence felt across prime time between 7.30 to 11 pm. This however,is not the final call on leadership issue which will witness even more fierce battle in coming weeks and months. We are not looking at week-to-week or month-to-month leadership but sustained long term growth to stay well ahead of the competition, says Anupam. Ashvini too isnt happy with 269 GRPs and views the fall as a temporary glitch. Our goal is much bigger and we are working on a plan to achieve it over a period, she claims. Both channels will play on new shows in fiction and non-fiction categories besides strengthening their present properties. Post-IPL,Zara Nachke Dikha is the first weekend non-fiction show launch on Star Plus and Anupam says they have a few more fiction and non-fiction properties in pipeline. On the other hand,besides launching Chak Boom Boom on weekends,Colors will have some of its shows like Balika Vadhu,Uttaran,Laado,Tujh Se Laagi Lagan and Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam entering new phases of story telling. Lots of new and interesting twists and turns have been planned to ramp up ratings, reveals Ashvini. With Star Plus having turned aggressive and playing the GRP game as intelligently as Colors,the leadership issue is unlikely to be settled any time soon. But Zee cannot be ruled out either. Between January and April,its GRPs have hovered between 240 and 310. With current GRPs at 268 it is also a strong contender for the top slot. The coming weeks and months will also throw a battle lower down the order for the fourth slot in GEC space. Currently Sony ranks fourth with 150-odd GRPs against 100 of Imagine. The latter has made attempts to overtake Sony and has succeeded in spurts. After recent infusion of fresh funds,Imagine is in expansion mode,both weekday and weekend prime time. With the launch of Sarvgunn Sampann from May 10 at 7 pm,Imagine will have original content on weekdays from 7 to 11 pm. Its weekend band will also be serviced by original content with the launch of Desi Girl from May 21. On the other hand,Sony has launched the fifth season of Indian Idol on weekdays instead of weekends. Also,coming soon on weekdays is Boogie Woggie. Both shows are expected to restore some health to Sonys weak weekday prime time. Maan Rahe Tera Pitaah is a new daily that is also aimed at doing some damage control.Whether it is to be a leader or maintain ones position as the fourth player,its certainly not going to be easy for anyone.
