Sony dances its way to No. 4 slot

The launch of reality show 'Super Dancer' and the existing 'The Kapil Sharma Show' has helped the channel get impressive viewership numbers

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | September 26, 2016

The viewership measurement numbers of Week 37 have come as good news for Sony Entertainment Television. The channel climbed to the fourth position in the urban markets with 301.005 million Impressions on the back of its new dance reality show, Super Dancer.

The debut weekend of the show grabbed an average 5.144 million Impressions in the urban markets for the Saturday and Sunday episodes (September 10 and 11). In rural markets the show grabbed 3.005 million Impressions.

Though it is yet to be seen if the ratings can be sustained, the fact that the Sunday episode has garnered more ratings (5.513 million Impressions) than the Saturday launch episode (4.775 million Impressions) assures healthy viewership in future too.

The viewership of The Kapil Sharma Show has always been the maximum among the non-fiction properties on the genre. This week, it garnered 6.463 million Impressions in the urban markets. The combined viewership of the two shows helped the channel improve its rankings in urban markets.

Super Dancer is the second most watched non-fiction property in the Hindi GEC genre in urban markets, followed by Dance + 2 on Star Plus with 4.404 million Impressions.

Ashish Golwalkar, Senior Creative Director, Sony Entertainment Television, said, “We have got tremendous feedback on this show. A massive word of mouth is what we have experienced and it will only increase with time. Generally, every reality show goes through a plateau, the viewership increases with time and then it drops for some time before reaching the peak at the finale. There's a classic curve and a minimal dip in the middle. Overall, I have a feeling that it will work.”

Super Dancer is a dance talent hunt show for children between four and 13 years of age.

Weekend 8 pm is generally a difficult slot on the Hindi GEC as almost all the channels have slotted their tent-poled properties at that time. Super Dancer is competing with Dance + 2 on Star Plus, Mazak Mazak Mein on Life OK, Kavach on Colors and a mega awards night on Zee TV (for the weekend September 24-25) at the 8 pm slot.

It is interesting to understand that all of these properties have a male skew and Sony's dance reality show has grabbed the maximum viewership, despite the fact that all the properties are premium for the respective channels.

In addition to this, The Kapil Sharma Show is also going strong, despite all the assumptions about the show's performance. While it is not as much as Comedy Nights With Kapil (the comedian's former show), it still has better ratings than other reality shows in the genre.

Largely almost all dance reality properties work quite well for the broadcasters. Why does dance seem to be a sure-shot formula to grab eyeballs?

Golwalkar feels that while there is no specific reason for the success, but for Super Dancer two things would have worked. “As for dance shows, one is that it offers both good performance and good music to the viewers, unlike singing and other reality shows. Plus, it is kids who work as unifiers and bring the whole family to watch together. And then, Super Dancer is slotted at early primetime which means it's yet not sleep hour for children or elders. This brings inclusive viewership to the channels.”

The tough weekend 8 pm slot will not be left unattended once Super Dancer ends. The channel has already started promos for its singing reality show Indian Idol, which will appear in its seventh season. “We are also toying with the idea of reviving our other non-fiction properties that include Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega, Dus Ka Dum and KBC,” said Golwalkar.

While the channel didn't discuss whether the ad rates on the show will be revised for the later episodes or finals, the fact that the show's performance is strong in the urban pockets means it has got hold of the monetisable SECs. On the other hand, probably, rural markets are something that the network needs to look at closely. Rural is a tricky market, considering distribution, infrastructure and marketing.

(The viewership numbers have been shared with BestMediaInfo.com by one of the BARC India Media Workstation subscribers)

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