Yaar Mera Superstar is a hangout with stars: Sunder Venkatraman, Zoom

It is not common to hang out with stars and get minute details about their lives which they may not be comfortable in sharing otherwise. ZOOM’s new show, Yaar Mera Superstar, the #UltimateBollywoodHangout is the show meant for all Bollywood maniacs who want to stay tuned to everything in Bollywood and even catch their favourite staring divulging personal details about their lives. Zoom, which underwent revamp recently, is taking yet another step for becoming Ultimate Bollywood Destination.

The first episode already went viral on 15^th December at 7.30 p.m. and it featured none other than the Badshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan along with young heart-throbs Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon in sparkling conversations with anchor Garima.

Today, i.e. Wednesday the 16th of December, a fresh episode featuring the star cast of Bajirao Mastani (Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh) will air. Thereafter, there will be one episode every Tuesday at 7.30 pm on ZOOM. 

Sunder Venkatraman, Vice President & Product Head, Zoom says, “We believe Yaar Mera Superstar will further strengthen our portfolio of highly entertaining and informative shows which also include Funtanaatan and Planet Bollywood, among others.”

He further adds, “Ten years back, stars required a platform for meeting to pull the audience. But now digital platform is there and stars have started communicating directly with their fans. Now entire communication has become informal. As a channel, we want to provide insights to our viewers. So the host Garima Kumar will create informal setup and hangout with stars and make their favourite superstars do the things one can do only with one’s closest friends – playing with SRK’s dimples, riding piggyback with Deepika Padkone, an auto ride with Varun, working out with Alia, and lungi dancing with Ranveer. So it is not only about promoting movie, but it can be for gossip, to have fun or spill beans which their fans don’t know about them. We are going to bring news through this format as it is UltimateBoollywoodHangout. So you will see Shahrukh sharing that he did not have money to buy first car so bank took it back and other insights which they may not be able to share in formal setup.”

As a part of the digital promotion plan, the channel is promoting the show across its social media pages. ZOOM, on the 8th of December, had held a contest with #DilwaleOnZoom wherein followers had to guess the name of the new show. Followers retweeted several times to see the entire logo and guess the name of the show. Lucky winners got props autographed by Shah Rukh Khan, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon. The channel had put up the first part of the logo, ‘Yaar’, which was blurred, and made it clearer on the maximum number of retweets it got. The same was done for the remaining words in the name of the show. As a result, #DilwaleOnZoom was trending across India.

Talking more about Marketing plans, he says, “We have taken both Traditional and Non Traditional approach. Talking about traditional ways, yes we have hoardings and banners. We will also be carrying our promos on Times Now channel and hope to get good coverage. On non-traditional front, social media like Facebook and Twitter comes in picture. We are biggest in broadcast space next to Salman Khan and what we say is as big as Salman says. We also have outdoor and print. Also campaign has been planned in phases as our next episode is with Ranbir and Deepika.”

Garima Kumar who will be seen as host is also the head of content for Zoom. She will use her expertise to bring out those revelations which do not come out in formal setup.

Talking about sponsors, Mr. Venkatraman says, “Britannia is our main sponsor as of now. We are definitely in talks with others too.”

There has always been an argument whether in house content or outsourced content gets an edge.  He replies, “For this show, content has been developed in-house. Otherwise it depends on scale and size. Yes, Producing in house is economical. We know what we need and understand requirements in a better way. But again, it depends on size and scale.”

The show is telecast at 7.30 p.m every Tuesday. Commenting on time slot, he says, “We are not into time bound genre. What we know is 7.30 p.m. is normally like empty time, when you continuously surf channels. Also at night, housewife takes over remote. Our TG is 15-30. We have to broaden the base. So we want guy/girl to call their mother, father or grandparent because they may also like those stars. And it is purely family entertainment. You cannot alienate any family member.”

Talking about future line up of shows, he replies, “We are holding to social formats and for fiction, there has to be purpose for doing it. For Non- Fiction, we are doing research on couple of them.”

As a parting shot, he states, “We are building new vertical. We have Zumba and Buddies. Buddies out there on digital platform and does not require channel and talks about social quotient. Zumba is about Fitness and Bollywood. It is of international level. We have established ourselves as gateway too Bollywood. Zoom is a brand and wants to become Bollywood destination. So we have to explore more platforms. Lots of audience are there on WhatsApp and Facebook, so we have to interact with those too. And every platform requires customization. We are also planning app, app is not extension but it is destination. And we want to become destination.”