‘Indian Idol II’ hits the bull’s eye; ‘Deal Ya No Deal’ misses it

Sony Entertainment Television launched two new shows in November 2005. Both these shows, ‘Indian Idol II’ and ‘Deal Ya No Deal’ opened with a TVR of 5.4 and 3.57, respectively (Source: TAM Media Research, C&S, 4+, Hindi Speaking Markets).

Media planners are of the opinion that both these shows have had a good opening by Sony’s standards. But when asked about the future of the shows, they were of the opinion that while ‘Indian Idol’ had the potential to repeat its success, such was not the case with ‘Deal Ya No Deal’, which is anchored by actor R Madhavan.

Anita Nayyar, managing director, Starcom, North India and Pakistan, feels that ‘Indian Idol’ will win through easily as it is interactive and involves high emotions. She says, “What engages the viewer is the participation, the fact that they can vote for their favourite participant and throw out the ones they don’t like.”

On the other hand, Nayyar is of the opinion that the entire concept of ‘Deal Ya No Deal’ is tedious. She says, “There is no variety and it does not even stimulate you intellectually. I think the programme will settle down at a TVR of 2.5.”

Another Mumbai based senior media planner says that the expectations were never very high from ‘Deal Ya No Deal’. The show could only be sold at a premium because of the hype created around it.

She adds, “The show doesn’t have the potential to rock Sony’s charts and the TVRs will hardly cross the 2 mark.”

Other media planners such as Sandip Tarkas, chief executive officer, Media Direction, are also of the opinion that ‘Indian Idol’ will perform well, but ‘Deal Ya No Deal’ will not prove to be very exciting.

Amin Lakhani, director, CTG, Group M, says, “There are many instances of popular international format shows failing miserably in India.” He points to ‘Kamzor Kadi Kaun’ as an example. However, he says he would not like to deliver a verdict on ‘Deal Ya No Deal’ just yet.

Lakhani says, “For such format shows, both the host and the content are important. There should be a balance between the effort and the chance to win.”

However, Tarun Katiyal, business head, Sony, continues to be hopeful about ‘Deal Ya No Deal’.

He says, “It has been observed that any reality show takes time to establish itself. But once it is successful in engaging the viewers, the numbers keep on adding.”

Katiyal also says that it wouldn’t be right to compare ‘Deal Ya No Deal’ with ‘KBC2’ (‘Kaun Banega Crorepati 2’) because the former is a pure game show, while the latter is more of a quiz show.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!