AXN gets set for a new season of the 'The Amazing Race'

Action channel AXN has announced the second season of the reality show ‘The Amazing Race‘. AXN will broadcast the first two episodes of ‘Amazing Race 2‘ this Friday, 15 March back to back, from 8-9 PM and 9-10 PM

Subsequent episodes will air every Friday at 9 PM, with rebroadcasts on Sundays at 1pm and 5pm, and on Mondays at 10 PM

Commenting on the first performance of the first installment, Rohit Bhandari, senior marketing manager, AXN, said it did reasonably well with an average share of 20 per cent among the international channels. Ratings were no doubt helped by the fact that participants had come to India for a couple of days, Bhandari said.

The format is the same as the first season. Eleven new couples with a pre-existing relationship race around the world to win $1 million.

‘AXN HAS CORNERED 9 PM SLOT‘: Referring to the channel‘s viewer base, Bhandari said AXN had seen a shift in its demographic profile. When the channel started operating in 1998 the male female ratio was 70:30. Now it is a more balanced 57:43. He said that the two reality shows which recently commenced on the channel ‘Fear Factor‘ and ‘Scariest Places On Earth‘, have cornered the most share in the crucial 9 PM prime time slot as opposed to movie based programs on rivals like HBO and Star Movies.

Referring to other programming initiatives, Bhandari said eight episodes of the new season of ‘Who Dares Wins‘ will be shot in India. This will basically comprise of street dares. The more adventurous will be flown to Australia to compete in the main dares. Bhandari said that the main dares need to take place in Australia as the tasks are complex and require technical expertise to ensure safety of participants.

People can nominate those whom they want to see on the tube. An on air campaigns will be conducted telling people to send in entries and then a lucky draw will be held.

As for the upcoming attractions the channel has on offer, April will see the launch of the second season of Crime Scene Investigation. Besides this ‘The Agency‘, about the manoeuverings of the CIA will enthrall viewers.

May will witness the airing a stunt awards show which will take place in Los Angeles. The aim is to honour people behind action scenes. The channel will organise a marketing initiative around the event. Watch this space for further details.

As far as film-based programming is concerned AXN claims a viewership of 2.33 million for ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon‘ which had its premiere on the channel in December. Films that will air later on in the year on AXN include the Kevin Bacon scare fest ‘Hollow Man‘, the chick action flick ‘Charlies Angels‘, and ‘6th Day‘ with Arnold Schwarzenneger getting cloned.