Reality shows change television industry

Reality shows seem to be the new age entertainment recipe for success. Since most of these shows are about real people and real lives, these shows seem to thrive on controversies while cashing on the participants lives. But what cannot be ignored, is that these shows, at the end of the day are the onamites that generate the highest TRPs for the channel.

Bollywood seems to be playing an important role in Television too. Superstar Amitabh Bachchan was the first to have kickstarted reality television as the host of Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2000 and ever since, the trend has just increased manifold. 
Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Madhuri Dixit, Priyanka Chopra, Akshay Kumar, Preity Zinta have already appreared on TV, while Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt will make their debuts soon.

According to industry insiders, celebrities get paid anything between Rs one lakh and 10 million per episode, and this goes up considerably when the celebrity in question is an A-lister like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar who have been a hit with the audience. While channels like Zee, Colors, Star Plus, UTV Bindaas and MTV are the front runners when it comes to reality shows, Zee has consistently topped the charts with its dance and singing based reality shows.

Dance Ke Superstar grand finale which just concluded last Saturday had TRP ratings of TVR- 2.3 on Saturday and 2.0 on Friday. While Dance India Dance and Saregama are the two prime reality shows on Zee, Roadies and Splitsvilla have been crowd pullers for MTV.

UTV Bindaas, in recent times has come up with a host of reality shows, including Emotional Atyachaar, Love-Lock Up, Dadagiri, Big Switch and The Chair. Keith Alphanso, Business head of UTV Bindaas says, “The need for people to see others in situations that are relatable is what reality thrives on. At Bindaas, we do not thrive on celebrities for a show’s success. Our concepts are always fresh and unique, keeping in mind our youth connect and Emotional Atyachaar has definitely been one of our best running shows till date.” Ashvini Yardi – Programming Head, Colors, says, “Most of our shows are well appreciated by the viewers and give good ratings. However shows like Bigg Boss, India’s Got Talent and of course Khatron Ke Khiladi grab more eye balls. Shows without stringent story-lines, soon become increasingly popular with the audience. The viewership pattern keeps fluctuating and reality shows are the most sought after content on TV.”