Sony eyes Rs 240 crore ad revenue from KBC Season 6

Market sources also reveal that the latest season of KBC will be a weekend property. The show will be aired from Friday through Sunday for 90 minutes during prime time (58 episodes). Many believe that the channel has taken the decision in a bid to preserve the prime time viewership of its existing fiction properties.

According to industry sources, Sony is eyeing Rs 240-260 crore advertising revenue from the third edition (on the channel) of the much popular game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). For the record, KBC generated ad revenues of about Rs 200 crore for Sony during its fifth season on Indian television.

Sony eyes Rs 240 crore ad revenue from KBC Season 6

Much like last year, the channel has already roped in Cadbury as the presenting sponsor, while the show will once again be powered by Idea. While Sony remained tight-lipped on the financial details of the sponsorship deals, media experts state that Cadbury is shelling out anywhere between Rs 25-30 crore for the association, while Idea is paying about Rs 30 crore. It is pertinent to note here that Idea is also the telecom partner of the show, wherein the deal is based on revenue sharing as well. Overall, the channel is looking at getting 8-10 sponsors on board for KBC Season 6, and the channel is asking an estimated Rs 16 crore for associate sponsors.

The industry consensus is that KBC is currently the biggest GEC (general entertainment channel) property on television, besides cricket in non-fiction; the show's delivery across all age groups is almost consistent and therefore, it is one of the biggest attractions for advertisers on television. Consequently, the channel has also decided to increase its spot rate from an estimated Rs 3.5 lakh for 10 seconds (last season) to about Rs 3.75 lakh for the latest edition.

And, it's not just this! With the first episode of KBC6 anticipated to generate enough appointment viewing, Sony is also expectedly targeting a differential pricing for its opening episode, wherein the 10-second spot buy is pegged at about Rs 5 lakh.

Furthermore, market sources also state that unlike the last season, the latest season of KBC will be a weekend property. The show will be aired from Friday through Sunday for 90 minutes during prime time (58 episodes). Many believe that the channel has taken the decision in a bid to preserve the prime time viewership of its existing fiction properties.

Meanwhile, as part of the marketing initiative, Sony has chosen knowledge as the latest theme for the marketing and communication campaign of the upcoming season.

Titled

'Sirf Gyaan Hi Aapko Aapka Haq Dilata Hai'

, the theme makes an attempt to explore the various biases that India is plagued by and how knowledge can play a pivotal role to eradicate those biases.

The campaign

is conceptualised by Leo Burnett, the creative agency for Sony.

Elaborating on the campaign, Danish Khan, senior vice-president and marketing head, Sony Entertainment Television, says, "This year's KBC campaign celebrates the power of knowledge, a great leveller in our society and also a potent change agent. Our brief to Leo Burnett was to bring this thought alive with real people in the real context. The campaign's philosophy is a common man's philosophy and is relevant to today's India. The campaign thought captures the core value of the show. We aim to reach out to a larger set of audience and provide the common man a unique chance to change his destiny."

KBC6 is expected to be launched on September 7 and run till January 26, 2013.

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KBC Danish Khan