Will KBC work for Sony? Will AB work again for KBC?

It doesn’t need a rocket scientist to say that Sony has not been seeing the best of days in the recent past. Sporadically though it did experience some highs (world premiere of 3 Idiots), success with specials of CID as well as Aahat. But on the whole the channel needs a long running show to pull it out of the deep end. And so it has latched on to an old success story, read Kaun Banega Crorepati. How successful will this venture be is too difficult for anyone to predict. But let’s do some simple math and try to derive at some conclusion. KBC is a game show. A game show that most of us have played for at least three seasons! And to put it plainly one that we didn’t enjoy playing much in its third run. SRK tried his bestest but it wasn’t to be. How Bachchan will redo all this and add some more of his charisma and charm to bring back lost audiences is his business but he will surely have to work doubly hard at it is all one can say. But Big B during his last stint on TV wasn’t such a big draw. Remember Bigg Boss 3? Next. Game shows in the recent past – Big Money, National Bingo Night, Paanchvi Paas haven’t fared well. If this is any indication of audience preferences then KBC has an uphill task on hand. Are audiences excited with a newer, fresher KBC? It may take some weeks to tell. With so much at stake it’s no surprise that the channel has pulled out all the stops for KBC4. The promos of the show were played in all theatres screening Dabangg. Moreover as the show has moved from Star Plus to Sony it was very crucial for the viewer to register that it will be airing on a new channel and hence the promos began almost four months back. Sony has pumped in Rs 120 million to market it as it eyes to earn revenues worth Rs 1 billion from the property. The launch day, that is October 11 will also see a big print campaign in approximately 35 top newspapers including English, Hindi and regional. To its credit are a few points. First, the show will be giving away 50 million in 60 minutes. For a show that has been watched by families across all towns and cities and predominantly by the middle class this can be a magical amount. Also, according to the channel survey they carried out before the launch, the only recall for a game show was for KBC and obviously for its host, AB. Moreover a revamped edition of the show may do well for the channel as the format is racier now and has some interesting new features. Guess it’s time then that the three-legged race (between Star, Colors and Zee) got a new competitor. Read more...