WITH THE soap genre working well for Zee TV, they are going great guns with two of their prime time serials edging past Star TV’s fare.
The serials — Kasamh Se and Saat Phere — having the best run, the TAM ratings (May 28 to June 10) ranked Zee ahead of Star in the 9 to 10 pm slot for the first time in five years. An upbeat senior VP Zee Network Ashish Kaul told HT Lucknow Live: “Both these serial have enjoyed very good viewership. We are also leading in the 6 pm to 8 pm time slot and it has been more than six months since we have left Sony TV behind. Top reality show SaReGaMaPa, later dubbed EMAET, and then Business Baazigar also lifted the channel's rating.”
Did the appeal of some ‘raaz’ prove good for the Saloni show? “The ‘raaz’ of Saat Phere and the Park Road thing in Kasamh Se are giving us good mileage since it evokes the curiosity of the viewer. We have succeeded in holding the interest even after the ‘raaz’ was revealed. Rating prove that story went along well beyond the surprise,” he says.
With Star TV now running Ravi Chopra’s mega serial Virasaat on prime time, are they feeling the heat? “Our shows are doing well and we just need to sustain their popularity! We are now working hard on every episode.”
What about the talents hunts? “We got very enterprising talents in Baazigar and we are funding them for their dream venture. SaRaGaMaPa has always been different from all other talent hunt shows due to the strong selection procedure but upgradation is necessary to break the monotony. The jodi thing as expected did pretty ok but we bid a lot on new Little Champs series,” says Kaul.
On failing to match KBC, Kaul said, “KBC is history. It’s like a milestone but our talent hunt shows and now Baazigar has proved that there is life beyond it.”
{{/usCountry}}On failing to match KBC, Kaul said, “KBC is history. It’s like a milestone but our talent hunt shows and now Baazigar has proved that there is life beyond it.”
{{/usCountry}}Zee has also made its presence felt with sports and business channel but considering Star (leading the overall TRP chart) and Sony known for its striking back capabilities, the small screen war is on.