STAR Plus has faced some heat from its nearest rival ZEE TV lately but with the introduction of new shows in place, STAR Plus is now fighting back.

STAR Plus' musical talent show 'Voice Of India' (VOI) has overtaken its rival 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa - Challenge 2007' for the first time. Furthermore it new soap 'Kasturi' has come up trumps with large amount of viewers switching on between the 21:30 - 22:00 slot.

According to Ajay Vidyasagar, President, Content and New Media, STAR India, the mood the organisation was already a little high with these successes.

Is STAR Plus really treating one week’s rating as a big achievement? "We are not talking about one week here at all," clarified Vidyasagar, adding, "The numbers in this week are surely something that the teams at STAR India are happy about, but this is not just a chance rating. The trends of these shows are positive ones. We have re-engineered our operations and the effects of this new-improved machinery at STAR is now beginning to show on our overall performance. There is a general sense of forward looking here."

He added that some of the changes in the programming were thought through in the new competition age and believed that recent numbers indicated that the efforts were working out. He informed, "VOI has seen a huge 59 per cent growth in ratings from the launch week, and has seen a growth in 16 out of the 18 markets. What is even better is that the studio episodes break now, which means that the ratings will only get better from here."

“VOI is the leader amongst these kinds of shows because any consumer who has been watching these products has come back to us based on the quality of talent, and a talent show is only about that,” added Vidyasagar.

Speaking on 'Kasturi', he said, “When we transited from KBC-SRK to the new shows in that block we knew it would be an interesting tap dance of sorts. We had to move from a very big platform and we also knew that at 21:30, we have 'Saat Phere', which has been doing well for ZEE TV. The task was to build out a new franchise that we can start growing from there."

"In seven weeks, there is a clear trend line of growth week-on-week. We have really gone and acquired viewership at the cost of the rest of the GEC, and that is an achievement," said Vidyasagar.

ZEE TV is not the one to be taking it lying down - plans are already in place to spruce up schedules for other day parts. Keep it with BizAsia.co.uk for the latest on the ever changing TRPs saga!

Meanwhile, STAR Network is currently in negotiations over copyright to bring 'Voice Of India' to the UK. More on this once we have concrete information.

Article from Exchange4Media

Related link:
Biz Exec: Nick Thind - STAR Network UK