SAB ready to experiment with its first non-fiction show

SAB TV, the family comedy entertainment channel from MSM, is ready to test new grounds. The channel will launch its first non-fiction property by the end of this month. Till now, the second general entertainment channel offering of MSM has limited itself to fiction comedies.

Christened 'Nanhe Superstars', the show will host child artists from the television and film industry. The talent show will be based on dance, vocal music and acting. The show will be hosted by Raju Shrivastava, Satish Kaushik and Apara Mehta.

Meanwhile, it is also learnt that the channel will air the show on the weekend primetime slots in an attempt to up its weekend viewership. The network has also upped the weekend programming of its general entertainment channel, Sony. The channel extended its flagship crime and thriller shows, CID, Crime Patrol and Adaalat, to Sunday primetime.

Ideally, SAB charges Rs 20,000-25,000 for a 10-second ad for the prime time slots, as per market sources. The marketers believe that the rates for this property, if on weekend primetime, should not be over Rs 40,000.

Marketers also believe that the show may do well for the channel and that fiction does pay well, at least in the sampling viewership.

Deepak Netram, vice-president, Lodestar UM, says, "The channel may be experimenting with the non-fiction property, since it has already established itself as a fiction comedy channel. It hasn't tried something like this before. There are certain expectations due to the kind of content being offered."

Though the weekend scheduling is tentative, Netram adds that it is wise to launch it for the weekend slots since traditionally there isn't much to watch on the weekends.

L S Krishnan of Amagi Media Labs says that TV viewership in the Hindi genre has grown more as compared to the regional genre over the past one year. He adds, "It seems to be a reality show. It is likely that the channel may be looking forward to create a spike in its viewership by garnering higher share of GRPs."

The planners add that the channel will have to align the content of the show to be in line with its positioning of a family comedy entertainment channel. "The positioning of the channel is an added advantage," says Krishnan.

Citing the examples of DID Little Masters, Saregamapa L'il Champs and Chhote Miyaan, Piyush Srivastava, media director, Carat Media, says, "Kids generally fair well on television. Considering SAB's lighter programming, the show must work. As it is the weekend programming of the channel is not very strong. It mostly has repeats on the weekend slots."