Prajjal Saha
Media

Now, STAR Plus targets male viewers

K.Street Pali Hill to replace Kahin Kisi Roz

K.Street Pali Hill is the new series to be launched by STAR Plus by the third week of September at the 11.30 pm slot, replacing Kahin Kisi Roz, which finally meets a long-awaited end.

What makes the new series different from other serials on STAR Plus is that for the first time, the channel will have a programme, which is targeted at males and also have males as protagonists. STAR Plus, historically, always has had a major share of female viewership, and successful serials such as Kyunki... and Kahani... have strong women characters.

Shailja Kejriwal, creative director, STAR Plus, says, "We have been always known as a channel for females, and with this new series, we will not only break this myth, but also broaden our viewership."

Produced by Balaji Telefilms, K.Street Pali Hill is a thriller, which revolves around three friends belonging to the elite society, whose present is haunted by their past

Scheduled late night and targeted at males, will this show have the 'oomph' factor in it? Kejriwal says, "The new K-series will not have any sexual content as STAR Plus is positioned as a family channel. But yes, the titillating factor will certainly be there."

Although the other popular serials on STAR Plus such as Kyunki... and Kahani... revolves around HNIs (high networth individuals), the storyline follows strong traditional middle class values. In fact, this has been the USP of these serials - making them popular especially among the middle class families - both from the metros as well as at semi-urban towns.

In K.Street Pali Hill's case, the storyline is, however, based on the high-society lifestyle, which will certainly attract the urban metro population and especially males.

Kejriwal says, "Being a thriller similar to Kahin Kisi Roj (which had started off as a thriller but later migrated to a Saas-Bahu formula), the new serial will certainly be appreciated by the semi-urban males as well."

Going by Kejriwal's logic, the thrill and suspense in the latest K-series, coupled with titillation, will be liked by males - cutting across geographic location.

Hiren Pandit, general manager, Mindshare, has a different take on the issue. He says, "The channel will certainly relate to the urban male audience but the the small town male population is unlikely to contribute to a large chunk of viewership, except for the college students, who are interested in oomph."

However, he seems confident of the fact that STAR Plus will be successful in extending the prime time band to midnight. He says, "STAR Plus has the platform and there will eventually be an viewer overflow from other time-slots too."

STAR Plus, meanwhile, has also launched another adventure thriller based on a superhero Karma, every Friday at 10 pm. The new show called 'Karma-Koi Aa Rahaa Hain Waqt Badalney' is targeted at the younger audience and will have lots of special effects.

The serial - 'Dekho Magar Pyar Se' launched on STAR Plus last month has also scored well for the channel. While in the launch week, the programme got a TVR of 4.41 (TAM, C&S, SEC ABC, 4+, Hindi speaking markets), the programme has got a new all time high TVR of 4.99 in the second week. © 2004 agencyfaqs!

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com