Post 'Bigg Boss 8', Colors experiments with duration of weekday fiction

For the first time, the channel is experimenting with the duration of a weekday fiction show by keeping 'Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat' at one hour. 'Khatron Ke Khiladi' fills the Bigg Boss 8 vacuum on weekends

Sarmistha Neogy | Mumbai | February 3, 2015

With 'Big Boss Halla Bol' wrapping up, Colors has brought in two new shows to fill the time slot. Starting February 2, 'Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat' has started airing during week days in the 9 -10 PM slot. From February 7, 'Khatron Ke Khiladi' (KKK) will occupy the weekend 9 -10 PM slot.

For the first time, the channel is experimenting with the duration of a fiction show by keeping 'Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat' at one hour per episode. On being asked if the show has the stickiness to keep its viewers glued, Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors, said, “This is a first of its kind experiment which we have done and we at Colors have been trendsetters in everything. Also, the way the story has gone into the depth, we do require an hour-long time for narration. But, there is a challenge as well, because producing a one-hour show is not a joke. Right now it will be a one-hour show, but if at some point of time we feel that the story is getting dragged, then we will change it to half an hour.”

Colors had earlier tried its hand in historical show with 'Veer Shivaji' in 2011, but it was pulled off air because of slipping ratings. Commenting on this, Nayak explained, “At that time when 'Veer Shivaji' was doing 2.5 in ratings, we took it off air. In hindsight we felt we shouldn't have done that. Because at that point of time, other shows on the channel were doing better than this. Today, when we look back, we realise that we should have had some patience and continued with the show. We have been trying to think of different mythological stuffs, we did not find the subject which fascinated us and also there are a lot of other issues involved. Like, Colors does a lot of non-fiction shows and we spend a lot of money in that and also we had to find a one-hour gap and this is the first time we felt that post 'Bigg Boss', we can have that time.”

He further added, “We also saw that there has been a lot done on Mahabharat or Ramayana, but nothing on Ashoka. Ashoka is known to everyone, you pick up a coin or a note and there is the Ashoka Pillar. It is one of the expensive fiction shows after '24' in the fiction category. Thus, we decided to go ahead with this show, and in fact, if we had the opportunity or the right research two years back, then probably we would have done it then. At Colors, we are always willing to experiment, take challenges and risks. So for the time being, our initial plan is to run Ashoka for six months, but if the ratings are good, we might extend it. Or we can come with a second season as well; it will depend on the impulsive decision. But, right now we have planned it as a finite series.”

The channel has undertaken unconventional marketing activities for both 'Ashoka' and 'KKK'. It has promoted the shows in yatras, where it had organised 'Maut Ka Kuwa' for KKK and an archery corner for people to engage with 'Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat' show. Also, as part of the 'Yeh Woh Raja Hai Jiska Sikka Aaj Bhi Chalta Hai' campaign, Mumbai Metro tokens will be replaced with coin replicas from Ashoka's era. Several school activations are being done, where the attempt has been to teach students about the life of Ashoka in an interactive way.

When asked whether sudden ad breaks disrupt the spontaneity of storytelling, Nayak replied, “Yes, it does and it is one of the biggest challenges that we have to deal with every day. The reason why English movies work well is because there are no dance and song sequences. But in India, it is a task to retain the momentum because, most of the time, after the interval, the story fails to pick up. Now that we have understood the audience, we always leave our story on a high note and in the end there is always a hook.”

According to Nayak, there are three genres that usually don't go wrong – comedy, crime and paranormal, until and unless storytelling, scripting or casting has gone wrong. Expressing his views on fragmentation, he pointed out, “The problem now is that the overall GEC viewership has seen a rise, but because of fragmentation, year-on-year, there will a dip in the ratings, but not in absolute viewership. At one point of time, a show used to get TRP ratings of 24, but now if it manages only 5, it is considered great.”

On January 16, one of the flagship shows of the channel, 'Uttaran', was pulled off air and 'Code Red' was launched, which depicts the inner conflict a human being goes through when faced with a crisis of conscience. According to data sourced from TAM subscribers for Week 3 of TAM 2015 (January 11 – January 17) for CS 4+, HSM markets, Colors was at No. 2. It dropped to 485 GTVM with a relative share of 19.38 per cent.

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