Star Plus

From being a distant ‘third’ to Zee and Sony, Star Plus is today the undisputed # 1 among Hindi channels in India. After Star Plus switched from a part-English channel to a full-time Hindi channel, it desperately needed to snatch viewership from both Zee and Sony. That Star Plus had a tough target (70 percent of Star India’s revenues were to come from Star Plus) did not make life any easier for the troubled flagship channel of Star India.

Star Plus focused its efforts on creating one killer program that would transform the channel from its upmarket image to one that clicked with the masses in India. They needed the program to be a ‘King Kong’ of a program and not one that would grow slowly on the audience. By launching KBC, Star Plus achieved just that.

According to data collected by A.C. Nielsen from nine cities, in the first eight weeks after KBC was launched, the show attracted a peak minute viewer share of 60 percent on Thursdays across the cities and peaked at 84 percent in Kanpur on Mondays. For the same timeframe, Star Plus, as a channel, recorded a higher viewer share than Zee and Sony – as high as 93 percent among cable-owning households in Kanpur and 83 percent in Mumbai. Today, Star Plus has settled down as the undisputed leader among Hindi channels in India. According to the INTAM ratings published in February 2002, out of the top 50 programs aired on TV, 42 belong to the Star stable.