Indian Idol ad rates 50% higher than Super Dancer's

This season marks the comeback of its original trio of judges, Farah Khan, Sonu Nigam and Anu Malik, who are together on the platform after 12 years

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | December 21, 2016

Sony Entertainment channel's 12-year-old singing reality show Indian Idol is back. The current season will be launched on December 24, replacing the popular dance reality show Super Dancer on weekend 8 PM slot.

While channel officials chose to remain tight-lipped about financial details, sources close to the channel confirmed that the show is commanding about 50 per cent higher ad rates than Super Dancer, as the singing show is comparatively an established property with a loyal audience base. The channel expects 50 per cent more revenue from the show as compared to Super Dancer.

The logic for this is that Super Dance was in its first season in 2016 and though the channel was confident about it there wasn't much track record for the advertisers to agree on the higher prices. While both the shows are premium properties for the channel, Indian Idol is being sold at a much higher rate.

Launched in 2004, Indian Idol is now coming back in its ninth season, considering the two kids' variations -- Indian Idol Junior -- telecast in 2013 and 2015. This season marks the comeback of its original trio of judges, Farah Khan, Sonu Nigam and Anu Malik, who have come together on the platform once again after 12 years.

The show will have 26 episodes and the finale episode. NP Singh, CEO, Sony Entertainment Television, said, “The journey of Indian Idol has been a very special one for us and we are confident that this season will be much above the expectations of the audience. The quality of talent that we have seen in this season is immense.”

While the contestants impress viewers with their talent, the judges will mark them on three most important factors that define the Indian Idol platform – Riyaaz, Awaaz and Andaaz. The show will begin with audition episodes from across the country; episodes that witnessed lakhs of talented singers competing to make it to the top 110.

Danish Khan

Danish Khan, EVP and Business Head, Sony Entertainment Television, said, “It has taken about nine months to come and it is visible in the quality of contestants and the show presentation.”

The show is being launched on the weekend 8pm slot, in which Super Dancer has garnered good traction. Vidyuth Bhandary, Business Head, FremantleMedia, said, “The slot is ready for the show since the audience are already habituated to seeing a talent reality show at the weekend 8pm slot. The global phenomenon of the Idol format is already launched in 52 territories worldwide. We are proud of our strong partnership and collaboration with Sony Pictures Networks India for this show.”

While the channel is replacing a dance show with singing show, is the audience for the two sub-genres same? Khan explained, “Not demographics wise, but yes, psycho-graphically, the audience sets for the two are slightly different. Dance shows attract a little younger audience, while singing shows bring on-board a lot of older and senior audience to the channel. However, both audience sets are quite big in size. The composition changes in terms of markets too, but it's a very mainstream genre of programming, so to say.”

The channel has an understanding of the challenge of replacing a kids show (Super Dancer had kids as participants) with an adult show (Indian Idol has adult participants). The cuteness factor in the kids' shows force the audience to be less judgemental than the other talent hunt shows, mentioned Khan. He added, “An adult show is a bigger challenge, it's purely about talent.

The channel has got aboard Vivo Mobiles as the presenting sponsor, while KUV 100 has come on-board as a 'co-powered by' sponsor along with Quick Heal. The channel has also sealed a few associate sponsors for the show but the names are still in the finalisation stages.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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