‘Biggest Loser’ could be a winner for SaharaOne

‘Biggest Loser Jeetega’ is SaharaOne’s maiden effort at reality television and is launching today. The channel has done all it can to create the buzz

SaharaOne will try to fit in sixteen obese people in your television set and mind with its first reality show, ‘Biggest Loser Jeetega’. The show is an adaptation of the internationally successful format, ‘Biggest Loser’. Tonight could spell good news for SaharaOne, which has been eagerly awaiting such a jackpot show.

‘Biggest Loser Jeetega’ will have contestants shedding kilos over sixteen weeks under experts, of course with the indispensable elements – drama and emotions. Every week a contestant will be voted out on the basis of who loses the least weight.

From SaharaOne’s perspective, the channel is betting heavily on this show hoping to turn the tide in its favour.

‘Biggest Loser’ could be a winner for SaharaOne

Actor Sunil Shetty with contestants of ‘Biggest Loser Jeetega’

The marketing initiatives by the channel say it all. It, in fact, has left everybody talking and laughing. Rajeev Chakrabarti, head, marketing, SaharaOne, says, “We are conducting huge on-ground activities in more than seven cities including bike rallies by obese people, and the turn out is overwhelming.”

The channel has also tied-up with the popular 'dabbawallahs' in Mumbai to include ‘Control kar le yaar’ messages on the dabbas they deliver.

Chakrabarti is hopeful that the show will be able to attract a wider audience because of its universal appeal, unlike other women-centric shows on the channel. And if the channel’s research is to be believed, the audience is eagerly awaiting the show.

Senior industry veterans such as Lynn de Souza, director, Lintas Media Services and Divya Radhakrishnan, senior vice-president, TME, also sound optimistic about the uniqueness and refreshness of the show. “What seems real is that the show will showcase people losing weight in reality. That’s a great format with a good mix of exercise and fun,” de Souza says.

They both are also hopeful that the show could provide SaharaOne the required boost in its growth curve. One of the top rated shows on the channel, ‘Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki’ got an average TVR of 1.5 (TAM, C&S, 4+, HSM Week 18). And, close watchers of the industry seem hopeful that the success of the show could bring in positive changes for the channel, if not a drastic one.

But they also put in a word of caution. The biggest hurdle for the show is that it has been pitted against the third series of Indian Idol on Sony Entertainment Television. “It will be a task to get those viewers on to SaharaOne,” cautions Radhakrishnan.

But like de Souza, Radhkrishnan also seems quite optimistic on the format of the show. “Had this been on the top three GECs, the show would have performed better,” she says.

However there are also a few media planners such as Shubha George, Mediaedge:CIA who offers a different take on this. She is of the opinion that to expect a particular show to do wonders for a channel is inappropriate and farcical. “Though I do not doubt of the success of the show, it certainly will not change the fortunes of SaharaOne” she says.

Her rationale: To expect any reality show to do as good as KBC is impossible. Some like Big Brother did reasonably well. Those days are gone when a channel’s fortune could be changed with a reality show. So it would be unfair to expect that it would prove to be a blockbuster for Sahara One.

‘Biggest Loser Jeetega’ could further diminish the gap between SaharaOne and its closest competitor Sony Entertainment Television. Let’s ‘weight and watch’!

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