MUMBAI: Steady would be the best way to describe it. The inaugural film of Zee TV's blockbuster block may not have set the TRPs on fire, but The Legend of Bhagat Singh did make it to the top 50 in the ratings just out.
According to research agency TAM, all-India results for the 4+ TG gave Bhagat Singh 38th position on the ratings with a TVR of 3.19 as also the 59th position with a TVR of 2.92. The only other Zee shows that made it to the top 100 are Playwin Lucky 3 which had a TVR of 2.53 and Playwin Super Lotto with a TVR of 2.46.
Zee has only be making sporadic entries in the top 100 shows, with the channel failing to make an entry into last week's ratings at all. The last time it made a splash in the ratings was on 14 August, when Gadar managed a TVR of 5.05 to slide in at 17 on the ratings charts.
A 3.19 rating might seems rather disappointing considering the intense media interest that went into Zee's latest strategy to take it back into the reckoning in the Hindi entertainment channel stakes. Add the fact that Rs 330 million is the reported acquisition cost for the first 16 movies that Zee has bought. However, two media buyers that indiantelevision.com spoke took a different line on the matter.
According to Ravi Kiran, GM, Starcom Worldwide, a 3.19 TVR for the first week was not too far off the 4 or thereabouts that he he was expecting. Asked to offer a time frame within which he would make a judgment on whether this strategy was working as pulling in viewers to sample the other fare that Zee had on offer, Kiran said such assessments could only be made in the sixth or seventh week.
Harsha Joshi, senior director, Madison Communications, also voiced similar sentiments saying that the more popular films like Humraaz (the second of Thursday Premiere series) and Mujse Dosti Karoge would probably bring in higher ratings. According to Joshi, once the concept had sunk in, an average rating of at least 7 could be deemed as satisfactory.
Satisfactory maybe, but way off what would be required to shake up the soap queens that are ruling the ratings charts at present.
