Sony gets the ‘thrills’

Sony Entertainment Television (SET) seems to emerge as the new ‘thriller zone’ of television these days. After ‘Aahat’ and ‘CID’, Sony has come up with yet another thriller programme, this time a ‘supernatural’ thriller to consolidate its prime time viewing. The new show, called ‘Akela’, will be aired every Tuesday from July 4, at 10 pm.

The story revolves around a cop who goes into coma after hurting himself in an encounter and regains consciousness after eight years. From thereon he is bestowed with supernatural powers with which he can see and hear dead people! Sounds similar to Manoj Shyamalan’s Hollywood flick ‘Sixth Sense’.

“A thriller is something that you have to experiment with, you don’t find very original stuff in thrillers, if you observe,” says Anupama Mandloi, senior VP and head, on-air programming, SET India. She is optimistic about the success of this supernatural thriller because Sony has been doing well with its other thriller shows in the past.

Most media minds seem to agree with Mandloi on this. “Sony’s past record with thrillers such as ‘Aahat’ and ‘CID’ has been extremely good and these serials have got top ratings,” says Divya Radhakrishnan, vice-president, The Media Edge. She believes that this thriller will work for SET because it provides variety on television for viewers and breaks away from the ‘me-toos’.

Even Premjeet Sodhi, senior vice-president, Intellect (research division of Lintas media group) feels that there is a gradual shift happening from ‘saas-bahu’ sagas, be it in the form of reality shows or thriller dramas. “There is a growing market for thrillers and Sony’s new show will surely cash in on that,” Sodhi says. He is hopeful that the show will get a lot of male audiences as ‘Aahat’ and ‘CID’ did.

Both Radhakrishnan and Sodhi point out that the thriller genre’s popularity is evident even on news channels which feature thriller shows in the late night time slot.

However, a few media planners such as Basabdutta Chowdhury, COO, Madison Media Plus, say that in the 10-11 pm time slot, it won’t get a large share of viewership compared to other competitive channels such as STAR Plus. But even if it manages to grab 50 per cent of the television ratings as that of the K serials on STAR, then it will do fairly well.”

The channel is leaving no stone unturned to promote ‘Akela’. There will be a full-scale marketing communication plan such as hoardings, train transfers, bus shelters, print, theatres (in between the movie ‘Krrish’), television and online advertisements.

Apart from these conventional routes, the channel will do some innovative promotions for ‘Akela’, such as hiring an empty BEST bus for the whole day and touring from South to North Mumbai with the protagonist as the conductor, stopping at relevant stops and telling the commuters not to enter the bus as it is already crowded, when actually there is nobody in the bus.

“The idea is to make the common man curious about the show. After they are left in disbelief, we will distribute leaflets reminding them to watch the show”, says Nina Elavia Jaipuria, vice-president marketing and communications, SET India. They have also tied up with ‘Apna Bazaar’ across Mumbai, where they will create awareness about the show.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!