Unlike last year, when reality shows like Bigg Boss and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa fared badly, 2017 belongs to reality shows. Whether it was the Rohit-Shetty hosted Khatron Ke Khiladi 8, Amitabh Bachchan’s Kaun Banega Crorepati 9 that made a comeback after three years or Salman Khan’s Bigg Boss 11, the shows have posted good ratings. In fact, KBC 9 even turned the fortunes of Sony, much like it did when the first season of the show was aired on Star Plus. Sony, which had suffered a setback when Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover had a fallout affecting the ratings of The Kapil Sharma Show, was back among the top channels with KBC.
Even Sa Re Ga Ma Pa regularly made it to the top-of-the-charts in its nine-month run. What’s more, this was the first time that the musical talent hunt was on air for such a long duration. Super Dancer, which is back with its second season, is also doing well and so is Dance Champions. In fact, fiction and reality shows are running neck-to-neck in the race for ratings with the latter sometimes even beating the daily soaps!
What’s interesting is that none of these reality shows are new — they have been around for some years now — but this season has been exceptionally good for them. The ratings have been closer to 3 TRPs (televison rating points), which is generally what the serials also have been getting. Is it because viewers have tuned out of soaps and are digging into reality or has the quality of fiction shows gone down?
Meltdown in fiction
Ashish Gholwalkar, Sr Creative Director, Sony, says, “Fiction hasn’t done well as before, the soaps haven’t been able to excite as much as they did before. At the same time, most of the reality shows are doing well. And KBC 9 broke the barrier this year. The fact that it returned after three years, the small changes that we made in the format, etc worked big time.”
Agrees, producer JD Majethia, who has made shows like Khichdi and Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, “Fiction shows haven’t appealed to the viewers despite some of them introducing a bit of novelty. The makers are struggling to find the factor that will click with the audience. On the other hand, people have liked the singing and reality shows. Even the budgets and scale of these shows have improved and these are longer in duration — no show is less than one hour. So, whether it’s Super Dancer, Bigg Boss, KBC, Khatron Ke Khiladi, or Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, all of them have done way better than fiction.”
What worked
In case of KBC 9, it was Bachchan’s magic that worked as the show was back after a huge break. It became the talk-of-the-town with even funny memes dedicated to it. The small-town contestants also stole people’s hearts and the host’s warmth and affability made it a winner. In case of Khatron Ke Khiladi, it was Rohit Shetty’s comeback as the host as well as the mix of stunts, humour and soft stories, apart from the celebrity contestants that worked in its favour. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa besides having talented contestants introduced a format change wherein mid-way through the show, they got a new set of challengers. Also, the five-year-old Jayesh Kumar provided great entertainment value, the reason he was retained on the show for a long time.
Reality check
Manisha Sharma, Programming head, Colors, is cautious about saying which of the genres is doing better. “On some networks, non-fiction or reality is working better than fiction and in some it’s doing just as well. Having said that, reality shows are high impact properties which take a lot of investment not just in the show, but casting, promotion etc. In our case, Bigg Boss and Khatron Ke Khiladi have done very well. Reinventions of these brands is a must and that’s what we keep trying. But too much dependence on reality also does not help as the business of entertainment has to have a mix,” she reasons.
No comparison
However, Deepak Rajadhyaksha, Deputy Business Head, Zee TV, feels that it would be unfair to compare the performance of fiction show vis a vis non-fiction formats. “Our homegrown non-fiction show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs has seen a phenomenal success and went on to become the top-rated non-fiction show of the year. However, we have fiction shows like Kumkum Bhagya and Kundali Bhagya doing extremely well in the 9-10 pm primetime slot. Shows like these have levelled the field between fiction and non-fiction, making both viable investment platforms for broadcasters.”
While that may be true, this cannot take away from the basic truth that this year belongs to reality shows!
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Reality shows")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}