Salman Khan takes Sony to 3rd spot

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Sony Entertainment Television (Set) has managed to climb back to the third spot in the Hindi general entertainment channel space. On the back of a big ticket reality show and movie premieres, Set has consistently stood firm on the third place for over a month.

According to Tam data (Hindi speaking market, c&s 4+), the channel has maintained its ranking in terms of gross rating points (GRPs) for the period starting from 1 June to 5 July.

Sony's Salman Khan hosted big ticket show Dus Ka Dum should be awarded credit for the channel's improved performance. The first two episodes of Dus Ka Dum, telecast on 6 and 7 June, delivered an average TVR of 3.35 and 2.7 respectively. That week Sony garnered a total GRP of 101 and shot up to the third spot.
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“Dus Ka Dum had a good start and took us ahead. The show got a lot of viewers to sample it and the stickiness on the channel has increased. Our attempt is to build this loyalty towards Set,” says Set AVP Danish Khan.

With GRPs of 95 and 96 respectively on the week 24 (week ending 14 June) and week 25 (ending 21 June), Set maintained its ranking on the GEC chart. However in the week 25, it had to share its third position with 9X.

Still in the third spot, the GRPs of Sony were 103 and 93 for week 26 (ending 28 June) and week 27 (ending 5 July) respectively.

The celebrity hand of Aamir Khan has sparked a TVR of 3.39, the highest that Dus Ka Dum has clocked so far. Khan teamed up with nephew Imran Khan to make an appearance on the show on 4 July.

For the ten episodes telecast so far, Dus Ka Dum has fetched an average rating of 2.46.

Dus Ka Dum has also given a boost to the shows preceding and following it. CID, which follows Dus Ka Dum every Saturday at 10 pm, has seen the biggest hike in ratings.

The channel is cross-promoting several shows through Dus Ka Dum, which is building up viewership for other content as well. Says Khan, “The other gainers are our fiction shows Babul Ka Aangan Chootey Na and Sujata which are aired daily at 9:30 pm and 10 pm respectively. All these factors have collectively augmented our ranking. The viewers who are continuously sampling Dus Ka Dum are now getting habitual and thus tune in to the fiction shows as well, giving a boost to the overall GRP of the channel,” says Khan.

Riding on the back of Dus Ka Dum, Sony plans to launch more shows. "Our plan is to strengthen the weekday programming,” adds Khan.

Set has already gone on a show launching spree. Kabhi Kabhi Pyaar Kabhi Kabhi Yaar, a dance-based reality show, kicked off on 9 July and will air every Wednesday and Thursday at 8 pm.

Arslaan, a fantasy-based one-hour show at 7 pm, has also hit the screens on 13 July.

Sony is also betting on big movies to boost the channel's ratings. Says Khan, “Our Sunday movie premiere has helped us in further boosting the GRPs. On 22 June, we premiered Hey Baby which delivered a TVR of 2.5.”

Sony has lined up blockbusters to beef up the ratings. "The rooster includes Om Shanti Om that will air sometime in August," says Khan.