MUMBAI:
Well, Star India seems to be on a roll these days. No sooner had the
euphoria dimmed after it outwitted others with a masterstroke $ 2.56
billion global bid for India’s premier cricket league IPL, it’s now time
to savour the success of rebranded-cum-rechristened channel Star
Bharat, which is rubbing shoulders with category leaders in terms of
ratings and reach --- and that too within a short period.
On
28 August 2017, Life OK was revamped with a new name, logo, tag line
and, of course, a lineup of fresh original shows. It debuted on
free-to-air DTH platform DD FreeDish with its parent having successfully
bid for a place after coughing up a shade over Rs. 160 million. That
Star Bharat continues to be available on other cable and DTH platforms
could be another masterstroke.
Now
sample the data collated by audience measurement organization BARC
India. In week 36, Star Bharat took the second position in the GEC
category garnering 669588 (000s) Impressions and 378234 (000s)
Impressions, respectively, in the urban+rural and rural markets. The
two-week old channel’s reach too had gone up by 15 per cent from week
35-36, while the ratings or impressions grew by 29 per cent.
In
contrast, in week 34 of BARC India, Life OK (the earlier avatar of Star
Bharat) was placed at 10th spot in the urban+rural market with 328571
(000s) Impressions, while in the urban market it did slightly better at
sixth position with 213162 (000s) Impressions.
Cometh
week 35 of BARC India. After an overhaul in name and programming, Star
Bharat in its first week of operation climbed to the fifth spot in
urban+rural market with 519743 (000s) Impressions. It also made an entry
in the rural market at the fourth spot with 278785 (000s) Impressions
and in urban market occupied the sixth position with 240958 (000s)
Impressions.
An
independent observer of the TV industry, having seen many a channel
strategy gone awry, admitted that Star’s planning and research regarding
distribution and programming does seem to be working. Primarily the FTA
platform approach, though audience data provided to indiantelevison.com
regarding Star Bharat
doesn’t specify whether the viewership and reach is coming from DD FreeDish or elsewhere.
TG: HSM, 2+
Top 10 Channels pre re-branding and post:
Top 10 Hindi GECs In week36:
Here
the equation becomes interesting. According to information collated by
Indiantelevision.com, a 10-second ad rate for Star Bharat is presently
estimated at around Rs 10,000, whereas Life OK commanded a higher price
in the range of Rs 30,000-40000/10 seconds.According to the BARC India
data, the four-week average for Life Ok (Week 31-34) was 345621 (‘000s)
Impressions.However, the average for weeks 35-36 shows a growth of 72
per cent in the viewership of Star Bharat with figures of 594666 (‘000s)
Impressions.
“The (sponsorship) rates will pick up
once the ratings come. At present, it is just two weeks data. If there
is stability in the ratings over the future weeks, there is a
possibility that Star Bharat may increase its ad rates. Right now the
marketing buzz and hype is pushing the channel, but after a few weeks it
will not only stop, but may even out too,” a senior media planner told
Indiantelevision.com, adding that the channel, as also the advertising
world, will have to wait for at least “four to six weeks” to fairly
evaluate the viewership data.
Old shows such as ‘May I come in
Madam’, `Sher-E-Punjab Ranjeet Singh’, ‘Ghulam’ and `Chandrakanta’ have
been taken off the air by the channel management of Life OK/Star Bharat,
though crime series ‘Savdhaan India’ continues on Star Bharat. The
channel in its new avatar has unveiled a content line up that is aimed
at living up to the brand’s philosophy of ‘Bhula ke darr, kuch alag kar’
(forget the fear of the unknown and do something different).
So, Star Bharat now flaunts shows like
`Om Shanti Om’, `Kya Haal Mr. Panchaal’, `Nimki Muhkiya’, `Saam Daam
Dand Bhed’ and `Ayushman Bhav’.
Reach ‘000s for week 35 and 36
Star
has three other channels on the DD FreeDish platform including Star
Utsav, Star Utsav Movies and Star Sports First. The last one, which
debuted earlier this year, again is a new FTA offering of sorts that has
been riding the kabaddi league wave.Indiantelevision.com tried to reach
out to Star India for its comments, but could not elicit a response
till the time of writing this report. However, if we get some comments
on Star Bharat from the channel owner, it’d be updated.
The big question is: will this
rebranding and repositioning strategy work for Star Bharat? To use a
cliché, only time will tell… oops, sorry, BARC India will tell.
Resource : http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/gecs/star-bharat-debut-ratings-and-reach-impressive-170915
