It's rearguard action time at Star Plus. Edged out after a nine-year life at the top, Star Plus is making moves to shed off the "saas-bahu" image that stuck on to the channel.
What followed is a flurry of differentiated content. While Kiran Bedi played judge on social issues in Aap Ki Kachehri, matrimonial show Star Vivah gave a platform to many prospective brides and grooms.
Star Plus also experimented with shows like Paanchvi Paas that made no major impact on its ratings.
The big show now is Sach Ka Saamna, an adaptation of the bold and sensational The Moment Of Truth.
In an interview with Indiantelevision.com's Anindita Sarkar, Star India EVP marketing and communications Anupam Vasudev talks about Star Plus' road ahead as the channel takes up the challenge to regain its leadership position and widen the gap with its rivals.
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The first half of the year has really been interesting with the GEC space witnessing the rise of three strong players at the top. Does this mean the absolute end to the Star monopoly? |
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So how do you plan to break away from the top three league?
We will also continue to strengthen our existing offerings and products that have the potential to grow like iconic shows Yeh Rishta... and Bidaai and recent launches such as Mitwa and Laadli.
So we are bringing across a lot of innovative content to fight competition and ensure that we retain our leadership with consistency - and with enough gap from everyone else. |
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Though you have a loyal base of 200 plus GRPs coming in from fiction and non-fiction show, content like events and films are also impacting a further 30 GRPs. Does this mean that you are also banking a lot of such content to push up your GRP grades? |
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From the time you first began ruling the number one slot to now, what kind of shift in audience taste have you witnessed? |
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Was that the primary reason to do away with Balaji's saas-bahu sagas?
Star Plus, anyway, still continues to source a few shows like Tujh Sang… and Kis Des Mein Hai Mera Dil from Balaji and they are still a part of the producers list who work with us. |
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It seems whenever audience starts responding to a certain kind of show format, the other players follow suit. So is there any differentiated content actually existing? Of course there is! Everything has to be differentiated if you want to drive in viewers. |
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Are social issue-based formats driving the current GEC programming? |
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So what kind of changes have you brought in to your programming strategy? Our shows have always been about hope, optimism and family values with a further support from a high level of romanticism. So there has not as such been any drift in our strategy. Thus, Star Plus will continue to target the women-oriented mass India audience between the age group of 18-35. Family will, of course, remain our secondary audience that will be driven in by reality shows and movies. |
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What are you doing to beef up your afternoon band? |
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Can you elaborate on your marketing strategy? |
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