Hindi soaps wash out IPL, Star & Zee say; hogwash, says Set Max
The claim issued by Star and Zee, that their yearlong Hindi soaps have a larger viewership base than IPL, has provoked a sharp response from Multiscreen Media Pvt Ltd, the SET MAX owner. Multiscreen Media asserts that the IPL's reach is wider than that of the Hindi GECs. That view is supported by independent researchers and media buyers, who say that IPL eats into the overall GECs-viewership pie.
The brouhaha began when Star made public figures from an internal report that suggested that Hindi soaps pulled in 30% higher ratings than the IPL. The report was based on the research of TAM Media Research, an independent entity.
The Star report indicates that the average rating for its "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai' is 6.1, and that of "Balika Vadhu' on Colors is 5.8. The report shows that the IPL's average rating is 4.8 in a corresponding time band.
The report also says that the time spent on watching soaps, on an average, was higher than the time devoted to the IPL. Viewers gave 16.9 minutes for "Yeh Rishta...'; 16.4 for "Balika Vadhu'; but only 14.9 minutes for IPL, the study reveals.
However, Rohit Gupta, the president of network sales at Multiscreen Media, has questioned the validity of the study. Gupta has asked why Star and Zee were focusing on Hindi markets when cricket is a pan-Indian phenomenon. Gupta said at the national level, soaps would deliver at least 20-30% less than the IPL.
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