A Suraj Barjatya production - ‘Pyaar Ka Dard Hai’ – had occupied the 10 PM slot on Star Plus for the last two years. It finally came to an end last week to be replaced by Ashutosh Gowariker’s Everest premiering last Monday on 3rd November. Everest is touted as one of the most expensive shows by Star Plus, with a director who has a phenomenal rapport with the Indian audience because of his films like Jodhaa Akbar, Lagaan and Swades. With such credibility and an estimated marketing spend of around 7-10 crores, it was widely expected to be a game changer.
Star Plus had been lagging behind its competitor Colors in the 10 PM slot due to the popularity of the latter’s show ‘Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi’. It was widely expected that Everest would tip the scales in favour of Star Plus. The first episode of Everest, however, did not really manage to change the status quo of Star Plus in this slot. Although it did manage to retain the viewership share of Star Plus, Colors continued to lead with their show.
If we look at the viewership data for the 10-10:30 PM slot for Everest’s launch night, compared to the previous week, we see that there is no consequential impact on the viewership of Star Plus with 12.5% reach in this slot. A drop of ~3% is noticed in the viewership reach of Colors, from 18.6% to 15.8%, but it is not to the advantage of Star Plus or any of the other Hindi GEC channels. Other Hindi GEC channels are way behind the top two giants and are competing with each other for a distant 3rd place in this slot.
Why did Everest fail to make a dent on its premiere night? Is it because of the loyalty of the audience towards other channels or did the show promos fail to appeal to the masses? Only time will tell as the show progresses.
Will Star Plus manage to command this slot in the coming days of Everest? Follow us to know the answer to this, and for numerous other interesting analyses on Indian television viewership.
Source: This blog is based on comprehensive TV viewership data crowd-sourced from people across 1000+ villages, towns and cities of India. For any queries, please contact us at feedback@zapr.in.
