MUMBAI: Males! That's what Star Plus is now betting on hooking with its new daily K.Street Pali Hill, slotted at 11:30 pm.
With the 8 - 11:30 pm slot defined and more than stable, Plus, in a move to expand its prime time and build on the current audience "bench strength", has slotted its newest thriller offering from the Balaji stable in the 11:30 pm - 12 midnight band, starting 27 September.
With this experimental thriller, which Plus is touting as having the most expensive set Indian television has ever seen, India's lead Hindi entertainment channel, apart from increasing its spread of shows, is looking at redefining the 11:30 pm slot. This is much the same strategy that was adopted so successfully on the 11 pm band with the coming of Kahiin To Hoga (KTH) a year ago.
Although, one may argue saying Kahin Kissi Roz , which bids its much needed adieu today ( 23 September) was already running at the 11:30 PM slot; the fact that it was pushed from the 11:00 PM to the 11:30 PM slot after Kahin To Hoga's launch is not to go unnoticed.
Making way for K.Street Pali Hill is the distinctly long on tooth and plot weary Kahin Kissi Roz (KKR), which airs its final episode tonight.
For KKR its been a long road to nowhere this past year ever since the arrival of KTH, which was the reason the show was pushed to the 11:30 pm slot in the first place - to make way for the youth centric serial.
It is worth recalling that KKR commanded an average TVR of 5.27 in the all India CS 4+ market when it was perched on the 11 pm band. After its push to 11:30 pm, a remarkable drop in ratings followed, which resulted in its finally settling between 3.5 and 4 TVR all India CS 4+.
The fact that KKR managed to hold its own for a year, despite the "step-motherly" treatment meted out to it, looks to be what has given the creative brains at Plus the confidence to push a big budget blockbuster show like K.Street Pali Hill into such a late night positioning.
Talking to indiantelevision.com, Star India senior vice president content and communication Deepak Segal says, "KKR was the most successful show at the 11:30 slot in the television scenario. So, looking at the potential of this time band and metro routine, placing K.Street Pali Hill at this slot seemed to make a lot of sense. Metro television consumption usually tends towards late night viewing, more so with men. It also helps in building upon the slot and bringing in a new and varied viewership."
The interesting point of note here is that K.Street Pali Hill is looking at tapping the male audience and the story theme is most definitely skewed towards the guys. Also, taking off from the potential that this time band offers, the stakes on this particular "K" show are pretty high. K.Street Pali Hill's set is touted as the most expensive and glamorous set made till date on Indian television. The set cost between Rs 25 to 30 million, industry sources aver.
If all goes well, Indian television may just see space for increasing their offerings as well as sponsorships. What one cannot dismiss is the extensive effort in terms of the product itself and endeavour to identify new opportunities on the part of Star.
