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Gulshan Verma, Director, Amazon Ads (left)
Kiku Sharda, aka Gutthi from Comedy Nights with Kapil, Arjun Bijlani from Nagin, and Apoorva Mukhija, aka The Rebel Kid, with 13 others, will be competing to climb up the ladder from 'workers' to 'rulers' and stay there in Amazon MX Player's new reality TV show, Rise and Fall.
Inspired by the original British version of the same name, Rise and Fall will be hosted by Indian businessman and viral shark from Shark Tank India, Ashneer Grover. The show will premiere on September 6, 2025, and stream daily on Amazon MX Player, Amazon Prime, the Amazon shopping website, and Sony TV.
The "Rulers", residing in a lavish penthouse, will wield the power to delegate tasks, while the "Workers", residing in a bare-basic basement, must diligently complete the tasks, earning the trust of the "ruling class" to ascend to the top in 42 days. The show’s tagline reads, “16 contestants. Two worlds. One ultimate power struggle.”
The show stops sounding a lot like just another Tuesday in the real world and starts becoming more interesting when the tables turn, and the "haves" fall to the basement, while the "have-nots" rise to the penthouse.
“The concept of Rise and Fall is all about the observation of the struggles between the haves and the have-nots, the elites and the, for want of a better word, the masses,” says Gulshan Verma, director, Amazon Ads, elaborating on the aspirational voyeurism of the show.
The show’s metaphorical rags-to-riches premise is designed to resonate deeply with a young, ambitious India that is constantly striving for upward mobility.
“And then obviously, there'll be interesting scenes, scenarios, tasks, and consequences. All these make for viral social media moments,” notes Verma.
A narrative that mirrors the real-life hustle of millions, Rise and Fall “is for aspirational India”. Verma places equal weightage on both urban and rural India between the ages of 18 and 30.
This audience is not a demographic; it's a mindset. This young and digitally savvy cohort drives a significant portion of India's content and consumption trends. By targeting this group, Amazon MX Player is aiming to capture the country's cultural and economic narrative.
Distribution channels across platforms
Outlining MX Player’s multi-channel distribution strategy, Verma says, “It's obviously available on Amazon MX Player. It'll be uploaded, at the same time, on Prime Video. It'll also be available to watch on our Amazon shopping website.”
“And I think we are also going to be putting it on Sony TV as a daily drop, somewhere around 10 PM, basically after KBC,” he adds.
From streaming-first viewers on MX Player and Prime Video to a traditional TV audience tuning in after a popular show like Kaun Banega Crorepati, the show’s wide-net approach to catch audience attention can potentially blur the lines between digital and linear television.
Explaining Amazon MX Player’s content slate, Verma says, “Our content falls into three large buckets.” The first bucket is "aspirational", resonating with the young, ambitious audience with shows like Mickey (a man who leaves his advertising job to rebuild his family farm), and Half CA (showing the struggles of Chartered Accountancy exams in India).
The second bucket is "excitement", featuring engaging content that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats, which is where the reality show Rise and Fall fits in.
Finally, the third bucket is "show me new worlds", which focuses on foreign content dubbed into local languages, making global stories easy to understand for Indians, such as the K-dramas What's Wrong With Secretary Kim? and My Girlfriend Is an Alien on the Amazon MX Vdesi series.
Made in India, a new series on Amazon MX Player helmed by Naseeruddin Shah, particularly excites Verma, although six more months of work remain before it can be aired. Verma confirms that the series will include the story of how Titan was made.
Amazon’s advertising edge
Despite a long list of reality shows doing the rounds on Indian screens, especially with Bigg Boss recently having aired in multiple languages, Verma is not concerned. “I think there are more than enough partnerships to go around,” he asserts.
MX Player has already secured three sponsors: Haier as the AI Home Partner, Orient Electric as the Official Lighting Partner, and Lux Cozi as a Co-Powered By partner. And their integration is more than just logo placement; Haier and Orient products will be featured in the luxurious rulers' penthouse, while Lux Cozi will provide customised basic as well as premium innerwear for the contestants.
“We have quite a few partners who have bought media around the show right now,” he added.
Speaking of return on investment for advertisers, Verma explains that Amazon has a unique advantage in this space, which he calls a "full-funnel conversation".
This means they can track a brand's impact from the moment a customer sees an ad on the show all the way to a potential purchase that they make on the Amazon shopping app.
For example, Amazon can measure if customers search for a brand's product after seeing it on Rise and Fall, if they spend more time looking at the product page, and ultimately, if sales increase.
This gives brands a tangible way to see how the show directly affects their business, a metric that traditional advertising often can't provide. Amazon also offers other tools, such as brand lift surveys, which measure changes in a customer's perception and intent to buy, to provide a more comprehensive picture of a campaign's success.
Instead of selling traditional ad slots, Amazon MX Player is offering brands an "integrated opportunity".
When a brand is integrated into the show's content, that placement is simultaneously shown across multiple platforms to varied viewers, including a digital-first, aspirational audience on MX Player, a wider TV audience on Sony, or customers on Amazon's shopping platform.
The key advantage for brands is Amazon's ability to engage with consumers not just through streaming but also through shopping, creating a comprehensive cross-platform presence.
Amazon Ads is also leveraging user behaviour data to ensure that “the right ad reaches the right user at the right time”.
This approach enables them to provide tailored solutions to advertisers, whether they aim to target specific demographics, such as parents or young people.
MX Player’s merger with Amazon has led to the culmination of the former’s massive ad-supported user base with the latter’s deep data consumption insights. With the launch of Rise and Fall, Amazon MX Player is aiming to redefine how brands and content interact.
It’s not just Kiku Sharda and Arjun Bijlani competing for the top spot. It's also Haier, Orient, and Lux Cozi vying for a place in your home.
