The ‘royal’ battle for the Indian Premier League trophy did not include his once-promising Kolkata Knight Riders.
But Shahrukh Khan has yet another battle brewing with his Bollywood rival Salman Khan, who is threatening to throw a googly at his game show 'Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain' on Star Plus.
Star’s rival Sony is offering a rival game show, 'Dus Ka Dum' (DKD), with Salman as the host. Already struggling to retain its third position amid stiff competition from INX and NDTV Imagine, Sony stands to lose its rankings should Salman fail to capture the viewers’ attention after the IPL frenzy.
His battle with SRK will begin this weekend, the first after the IPL tournament wrapped up. Will Shahrukh and his classroom dominate the airwaves? Or will Salman Khan steal their thunder?
Bets are already being placed, with Rs 150-200 crore per channel at stake. The novelty factor seems to be tipping the scales in 'Dus Ka Dum's' favour.
Ajit Varghese, the managing director of media buying firm Maxus India, sees DKD as a clear winner. “Both Paanchvi Pass and DKD kicked off amid much fanfare. But IPL took away attention from it. The newness and novelty factor now belong to DKD,” he said.
With its rival trying to recover lost glory, DKD is on a better wicket. It also benefits from the promotion during IPL that planted it firmly in the viewers’ consciousness.
After the first couple of weeks, Paanchvi Pass failed to get television rating points (TRPs) higher than four. To declare itself a hit, DKD needs TRPs of between four and six. Incidentally, IPL’s TRPs were higher than six, making it a superhit.
The curiosity factor is on DKD’s side. According to Chandradeep Mitra, the president of Optimum Media Solutions, the media arm of the Mudra group, the hype that was built around it during IPL would stand it in good stead now. “On the other hand, Paanchvi Pass is currently on a low. There is no novelty factor there. So, DKD’s initial ratings would be good but the show would better be good after that,” Mitra said.
Had the two shows hit the small screen together, 'Paanchvi Pass' would have had the upper hand, because Shahrukh’s star power is bigger than Salman’s. Also, Star is a bigger platform than Sony.
While some are batting for DKD, others prefer to wait and watch. Anita Nayyar, the chief executive of Media Planning Group, said that both are reality shows with big celebrities on board. “One can only wait and see. But if DKD fails even initially-after the promotional activities that it did especially during IPL-it would be the failure of the advertising.”
Advertisement space on both has been sold out. Sources said that ad rates for Paanchvi Paas have dipped by Rs 1.5-2 lakh for a 30-second slot but DKD has started at the level that Paanchvi Paas is at now. “That is all Sony can expect anyway,” Optimum Media Solutions’ Mitra said. Advertising money is scarce in the market, since IPL ate up most of it, Maxus’ Varghese said.
The man behind the two shows, however, felt both have a good chance of success. Siddhartha Basu of Synergy Adlabs, which is presenting the show, said, “One is a quiz show while the other is a game show. Both are being telecast in different time slots. So there is no head to head rivalry. While Paanchvi Paas is more for the upmarket viewer, DKD is a janta ka game with the aam aadmi ka hero hosting it.”
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