A dip stick report prepared by the Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) has placed Radio Mirchi‘s listening audience at 70 per cent of the total listenership of FM radio in Mumbai, in the one month after the launch of the four private radio stations in the city.
Commissioned by the Entertainment Network promoted Radio Mirchi, the report, says CEO AP Parigi, concerns the target audience in the age group of 18 to 35, Sec A & B, who tune into radio in cars. This segment is the one advertisers look at, and has helped the channel rope in advertisers at least three times more than the nearest rivals who started around a week after Radio Mirchi went on air, claims Parigi. The preliminary report will be followed by comprehensive reports after three to six months, he says. Radio Mirchi station head Kaushik Ghosh says similar exercises conducted in Indore and Ahmedabad four to six months after the launch of Radio Mirchi indicated that in terms of media consumption, the volume of radio listenership in these cities now equals that of TV viewership.

While Parigi says the FM channel will exploit all in house Times of India properties to target "an addressable population of 120 million in Radio Mirchi‘s 10 stations."

It also deployed Miss Universe contestant Neha Dhupia in the creative role of impromptu correspondent from Puerto Rico, where the pageant was held. Live phone-ins were used to bring Neha live from Rico, with updates on the process of the Miss Universe pageant, as and when the Indian representative got time off from her commitments. She also spoke exclusively to Radio Mirchi immediately after the pageant.

Parigi says the exercise will be followed up with radio adaptations of the Brand Equity Quiz, the Filmfare awards and the War of the DJs, all Times properties. No sponsors have been roped in for the Miss Universe coverage. After Indore, Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai, the channel is now targeting Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai as the next Radio Mirchi destinations, says Parigi.

Hubahu, the twin dilemma on Sony Entertainment Television, is packing up.

High costs of production and corresponding low ratings are the primary reason for the series having to wind up as soon it completes 30 episodes on air. The seventeenth episode of the serial, being shot in Bangkok and Mumbai, will be telecast this week.

Producer Parvati Balgopalan admits that the high costs of production are primarily responsible for the serial‘s life cycle being clipped, but says that she had anyway planned to limit the serial to a compact 39 to 40 episodes to ensure better viewer interest.

Sources indicate the series cost upwards of half a million rupees an episode; something which Sony was willing to ante up, if the show developed stickiness and generated ratings. But with Hubhau‘s ratings not climbing northwards, Sony decided to pull the plug. The series stars Sandhya Mridul, Rajat Kapur and Aly Khan.

In an earlier interview to indiantelevision.com, Hubahu director Nupur Asthana had noted that a story doesn‘t hold beyond a point and one has to merely go through the chores in the latter episodes. "That is why I have planned out Hubahu only for 52 episodes", she had said.

If there is one talismanic individual that represents India‘s greatest triumph in the one-day cricket arena it is Kapil Dev, the captain of that 1983 winning side. Sony Entertainment clearly hopes to leverage on that in announcing today that India‘s greatest all-rounder will be brand ambassador for the network for the next three years.
This follows Sony‘s mega acquisition of the exclusive cable and satellite rights for the live telecast of the ICC cricket tournaments for $ 255 million.

Kapil Dev will represent and promote the national Sony association with the ICC cricket tournament, starting with the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2002 followed by the World Cup in February 2003.

Said SET India CEO Kunal Dasgupta:"The point is, just as Amitabh Bachchan is the icon of movies, Kapil Dev is the icon of cricket and we expect Kapil to do for Sony Entertainment what Bachchan did for Star."

"We are extremely excited about our association with Kapil since it reinforces our commitment to our viewers to cricket and particularly to fans across India," Dasgupta said. "Max and Sony will provide some fantastic and unique cricket programming during the next few years targeting not only cricket fans but non-cricket audiences as well. We plan to make the association with the ICC tournament the most wonderful spectacle of sporting entertainment - a complete ‘hungama‘ of maximum entertainment."

The association between our network, said Dasgupta, and Kapil will initially last for three years and I am sure that both parties will be keen to continue working together to make live cricket the most entertaining experience ever for viewers in the Indian subcontinent.