Television, Bollywood a recipe for success

Gone are the days when Bollywood stars used to shun the so-called less profitable small-screen industry. The stars who made an impact on the "bada parda" felt that entering small-screen would harm their money power and thereby reducing their brand value.

That was a decade ago. Things have changed over the past ten years and these days, one can see Bollywood celebrities stepping in to either promote their films, to revive their careers or for pure that the small screen has managed to produce.

These days one can see from Amitabh Bachchan to Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee to Genelia D'Souza, the Bollywood stars are now being seen more often on television rather than in cinema.

Big B was perhaps one of the first superstar to been seen with Kaun Banega Crorpati on Star Plus. Then he also hosted the Colors' reality show Bigg Boss 3. Rani Mukerji was seen as one of the judges on Sony TV's Dance Premier League and Genelia D'Souza is hosting UTV Bindass' Big Switch. Akshay hosted Khatron Ke Khiladi and Farah Khan recently wrapped up chat show Tere Mere Beach Mein and Entertainment Ke Liye Sala Kuch Bhi Karega alongwith Anu Kapoor.

Besides them, the television has also soon people from the music industry too descend to television and be a part of some show or the other. Industry's well-known singers like Himesh Reshammiya, Mika Singh, Shaan, Shaan and Shankar Mahadevan were a part of Zee's musical programmes.

Indian television has seen a sea-change in the past sixty-odd years. India witnessed its first television clipping 60 years ago. Since then India has grown from a single television channel to over 300 satellite TV channels that are seen on a daily basis.

It would be safe to say that since the mega serial Kyun Ki Saas Bhi Kbhi Bahu Thi became a hit, the face of soaps, or in fact small screen industry has changed drastically. And soaps like Jassi Jaise Koi Nahi and Kahani Ghar Ghar ki only enhanced their reputation so much that the TRP soon sky-rocketed to that of a mega block-buster film.

Ask industry experts and they feel that there is no harm in Bollywood stars coming to small screen to promote their films.

"I think it is a good idea to collaborate but not at the cost of running the original flavour of the content. For example in a film if you over brand a particular scene or you force fit a brand on a scene then you will ruin that particular flavour," says Abhijit Avasthi, NCD O&M

"Similarly if there is a TV which has its own flavour but if the movie promotions are overdone and over sell the concepts and are take away from the soul and spirit of the show then again it is a loose-loose situation for both," he adds.

"Every week you see stars coming on television to promote their films on shows”to me it's an over doze. The problem is that these days all of them are running after money. It has become more of a marketing gimmick and to some extent it hurts the film as well.

"There is an old saying in advertising which says, "a good advertising can make a bad product fail faster'. So even if the product, which is supposed to work for a bit longer, would fail as many people would have tried straightaway and would get disappointed if it's not up to the mark," he explains.

Meanwhile Prasanna Sankhe, NCD Publicis Ambience feels that the audience are more sensible these days, therefore, they won't fall for such gimmicks.

"I think such marketing has lost its efficiency. Putting stars on television don't work these days -- maybe it still works, but on a very low scale.

"Like there used to be a common trick there whenever a film was about to be released, you could often see articles in various newspapers that the stars are having an affair. To me that's cheap publicity," he says.

"I think these days the audience have become more intelligent and they don't fall for all this. The audience is more judgemental now. In three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) the fate of the film is sealed. After that it doesn't work," he adds.

However 9XM as its programming head Amar Tidke says that the Bollywoods stars give television the TRPs and it also helps them to promote their films.

But who is riding on whom?

Sankhe feels it's a symbiotic relationship. "The television needs the star power and the stars too get good money without doing any rigorous work ' so it works both ways. Television can generate TRPs with the stars and they in turn get money ' so it's not a bad bargain you see," Sankhe says.

Tidke prefers to term it as a win-win situation. "It's a win-win situation because what it does for the show is that it creates the spike for the show. And it also adds on an additional platform to promote their film," he says.

Besides this, it really creates interest in the viewer's so it works both ways. It connects well with the shows as well for the film, so it's both the ways," he adds.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that with the amount of money that is being spent on both television and films, one could more of stars coming to small screen and vice versa.

Exclusives
@adgully

News in the domain of Advertising, Marketing, Media and Business of Entertainment