MUMBAI: Sahara One is going for the jugular. Even as it has won the battle with Star TV on the One branding, it is now looking at luring viewers away from Star One which is launching today by doling out close to Rs 20 million to loyal viewers.
SaharaOne is rolling out a live interactive contest called 'Ghante Ki Tuning Jamegi.' Rings a bell? Of course! Star One's hoardings all over town have the tagline 'November 1 Se Apni Tuning Jamegi.'
Riding on this tagline, the contest essentially revolves around watching the channel for an hour during which a small bug will be flashed for an 'x' number of times. At the end of the show, a toll free number will be flashed on the screen which viewers can call. They will be asked to say the number of times the bug flashed on the screen in that given hour and on answering correctly, will be asked a couple of simple questions relating to the programme they just saw.
This will be a live two-minute capsule after every programme, which will be hosted by an anchor. The live programming starts from 2 pm to midnight and will be on from 5 - 12 November, which is essentially the time period when Star One's sampling would take place, says a Sahara source.
Now for the big prize money. A cash prize of Rs 100,000 is waiting to be given away every hour for those who answer the questions correctly. But the buck doesn't stop here. Since Diwali is all about bonuses, on 12 November a sum of Rs 1 million will be given away every hour! So 10 hours of programming and Rs 1 million every hour... the calculation is child's play - a whopping sum of Rs 10 million will be given away on the day of the festival of lights. Altogether, that means Sahara will be giving away Rs 1.70 crore (17 million).
An exuberant SaharaOne creative director Shashank Ghosh says, "The whole idea of this contest is centered around having fun and engaging the audience."
An ad campaign around the mega contest will be rolled out today (1 November) and will be flashed across all media - print, television, outdoor and radio!
Elaborating further, Ghosh says, "This contest will be indicative of the new direction of SaharaOne, which is experimenting with new things. We have a lot of event- driven programming and this will be an extension of the same."
Imitation, they say, is the best form of flattery. And that's exactly what SaharaOne is doing by its 'Ghante Ki Tuning Jamegi' contest. However, Star's new baby in the offing -Star One - shouldn't get too worried as its offerings in terms of programming would be more than a shade different than that of SaharaOne.
