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SAB goes on-ground with SAB Ka Mela in Ahmedabad

SAB Ka Mela will have attractions such as games, rides, art and culture shops, branded stalls and will be visited by lead actors from the channel

General entertainment channel SAB, in keeping with its brand promise of 'Asli Mazaa Sab Ke Saath Aata Hai', has gone on-ground today with an initiative, 'SAB Ka Mela', a fun and entertainment fair spread over a period of five days, May 5-9.

SAB goes on-ground with SAB Ka Mela in Ahmedabad
SAB Ka Mela will have a myriad of attractions such as games, rides, contests, stalls, art and culture shops, traditional folk dance and song performances. Artists from SAB shows will also visit SAB Ka Mela to enjoy the festivities and reach out to their fans and audiences.

Discussing the event, Anooj Kapoor, business head, SAB, tells afaqs!, "SAB has achieved 300 per cent growth in the past year. Lots of families have come on board and we were thinking of how to go directly to the consumer now and interact with them. We needed to do two things, one is getting families to enjoy together and two, there had to be some entertainment quotient. That's how the idea for a 'mela' came about."

SAB Ka Mela will be spread over more than 3.5 lakh sq. ft at the Ahmedabad Education Society Ground in Navrangpura, Ahmedabad.

SAB goes on-ground with SAB Ka Mela in Ahmedabad
Kapoor informs that the event has been kicked off in Ahmedabad as it is SAB's strongest market, 'Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah' being the most popular show there. He shares that the channel plans to take the event to 15 other cities including Lucknow, Nagpur, Jaipur and Ludhiana. In each city, the local culture and art forms will be brought alive with local artists performing at the events.

Media partners on-board include Radio One, Sandesh and TV9. In addition, brands such as Skoda, Pepsi and St Laurn Hotels are supporting the channel in this venture through sponsorships and brand stalls. Choosing not to share the spends on the activity, Kapoor says, "We are not only looking at breaking even here but this will be a revenue generating platform for the channel as well."

SAB has been trying new ways to garner viewership, including the launch of a silent TV show, 'Gutur Gu'. For the show's launch in January, the channel carried out an on-ground promo where a large group of people held the show's placards outside prominent railway stations in Mumbai, without making any sounds. The channel is now launching a new comedy, Mrs. & Mr. Sharma Allahabadwale, on May 17.

In Week 17, SAB retained its sixth position (after STAR Plus, Zee TV, Colors, Sony and Imagine) amongst GECs with a 6 per cent share, followed by STAR One, which garnered 3 per cent share; Sahara One and DD1 (2 per cent share each); and STAR Utsav (1 per cent share).

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