Secret sauce of Star Plus’ success

[Dinesh jain]

The numero uno of the Hindi general
entertainment genre, Star Plus, has been seeing
a golden run since its repositioning. And while
other channels are fighting for the second or
third spot, Star Plus is enjoying an enviable
position far ahead of its peers.

examines the channel’s journey in
the last one year (Oct 2013–Oct 2014) under its
new captain Gaurav Benerjee, and unravels the
secret of its continued success.
The major initiatives that Star Plus took in the
last one year include:

1. Stretching weekday fiction to Saturdays
In February 2014, the channel extended its entire
line-up of weekday fiction shows—all 11 of them
—to Saturday. While in the process, it narrowed
the need for developing weekend properties;
what it achieved was a far greater fruit.
The channel saw over 15 per cent growth in
average viewership after expanding fiction to the
Monday–Saturday routine.

2. Focus on storytelling
While it may sound clichéd, the channel is
sharply focused on storytelling.

3. Opening up 11 pm slot
The channel took a bold move by launching ‘Yeh
Hai Mohabbatein’, a more mature story based on
an English novel (‘Custody’) by Manju Kapoor.
Produced by Balaji Telefilms, the show tells the
story of second chances in love for its two
protagonists.

4. ‘Diya Aur Baati Hum’ and ‘Mahabharat’
The two flagship shows from the channel, ‘Diya
Aur Baati Hum’ and ‘Mahabharat’, were the
highpoints of the year.

Weekend: Biggest challenge
So while the Monday–Saturday programming
looks completely sorted, the biggest challenge in
front of it is the weekend, where it has only
Sunday to offer variety.
The channel airs strong seasonal high-impact
show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ on Sunday mornings,
while in the evenings, it currently has ‘India’s
Raw Star’ and ‘Airlines’, both average on
viewership.
Prior to these, it had dabbled in comedy (‘Mad in
India’) and thriller (‘Ishq Kills’), both of which
failed.

Secret sauce of Star Plus’ success | TelevisionPost.com