Friday, January 06, 2006

Economics of a Stupid Game Show

You can avoid the computer, you can even stay away from ur fone, nor chat with ur neighbours, nor visit your relatives and friends, but what u cant avoid when you are in India is the constant nuisance of the idiot box and the idiotic programmes that people are glued to. So much for my stay in Blore and Chennai for a week!

Ahalya (Perisu)
My dear bootham (Kutti)
Malargal (Perisu)
Manaivi (Perisu)
Muhurtham (Perisu)
Anandam (Perisu)
Kolangal (Perisu + J)
Selvi (Perisu)
Thanga Vettai (Kutti)
Sahana (Perisu)
Kalki (Perisu)

I think the last 5 years have reversed the roles in a way. I remember when I was a kid, I was being screamed at for sitting so close to the tv and watching news, educational (sshhh!) and sports channels. I even used to pull the remote from their hands if they tried to change channels. Now, I was the one trying to pull them away from the tv to watch the news, but I didnt get to watch even sun news or jaya news cos they pulled the remote from me :(

Anywayz, coming to the point, I was thinking about how such stupid shows survive. Especially a stupid game show where they give out 200 gms of gold every episode "challenging" participants to the post trivial stupid questions and giving blatant clues! This is what I found out.

Disclaimer: The following are the author's own viewpoint and conceptual figures are not based on actual facts. Any attempt by any of the named parties to contrieve against the author or disrupt the much-read publication (aka blog) for this attempt will lead to unwanted vulgarities and unprecedented bitching on the part of the author and his unnamed powerful aides. Sources close to the author are willing to go to any extent to protect him against legal, municipal and physical damage. The author feels the figures arrived at by the parties concerned might be even more shocking to the general public who waste their precious time watching the entertainers mentioned below. Please proceed on account that you will take it in the spirit it is meant!

Note: I am considering extreme figures for expenses and minimalistic figures for income sources.

Expenses

Gold per year: 200 gms/episode * 104 episodes * Rs 750/gm = Rs 1.56 Crores/year

Operational cost (Ramya Krishnan + show logistics) = Rs 1 crore/year.

Sun TV Screen time payment = Rs 50K/ sec/ year * 1800 sec = Rs 9 crores/year

Total Expenses: Rs 11.56 Crores.

Income sources

Time of actual show : approx. 15 mins
Time for advertisements = 15 mins = 900 seconds.

Heard from sources that chithi netted about Rs 1 lac per month for every second of advertising. Considering the show is run by the same production (Radaan), lets assume about Rs 1 lac per second of advertising for 3 months.

Advertising revenue = 900 sec * 1 lac/sec * (12 months/3 months adv block) = 36 crores!

Gross income = 36 - 11.56 = 24.44 crores
Tax (assuming honest payment of 40%) = 9.78 crores
Net Income = 14.66 crores/ year

This ideally translates to about 60-40 profit sharing between Radaan and SunTV as one would expect in a business dealing.

Is it really a stupid game show? Think again!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

16 comments:

museful said...

This one of the most insightful insight of the megathodars that keeps spewing on TV....economics apart.....people yearnt to watch these....and its amazing how long these thodars keep thodarifying!!!...wish i could conjure stories like these!!

Random Access said...

Yes sharana, and the worst part is how they all relate the serials to everything that is happening in their real lives. If a nice guy starts drinking in the serial, then they start looking at their own sons with suspicion, if the guys in the serials fall in love, their own sons are watched in their every step and if the guy elopes with a girl, these poor sons die of interospection :P

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Bharath Sattanathan said...

i thgt so! wht else u wud be doing with all(?) the people watching the soaps & u doing nothin....

Aishwarya Rao said...

RA - While ideally i must be commenting on the economics of the show for the channel and private producer, what i am put off by is the fact that my neighbour will wail along with deivayaanai in kolangal. Kashtam...Why wont the stupid show run if there are such stoopid people?

Unknown said...

oh god, i swear, the figures and statistis nonwithstanding, that show SUCKS!!! Its one of the worst in a loooong time on tamil prime-time!!

nandini said...

What amazes me is that almost without exception each one of them show miserable people oppressed by their bosses at work, battling corruptio, betrayed by friends and/or family... in fact the only happy people seem to be the scheming villains actually the villainesses)... and about 15 minutes of each 1/2 hour is spent wasting the glycerine (by the way did you take the cost of glycerine into account in your calculations- I'm sure it forms a fairly high percentage of the expenses) ;))

LovingAndLosing said...

At least these are different serials by different people. Come to Star Plus. All the serials are made by the SAME person and have the SAME story, the only difference is that they have different names starting with the SAME letter K. I want to kill Ekta Kapoor. Ugh!

Random Access said...

I guess everyone is venting their feelings, but lets face it, its just a different kind of addiction. It can be hereditary (mom watches, dotter watches) case and even have peer pressure :P They make their money out of bringing all the rejetted things in society to the small screen that the viewers think the whole world is a scheming scum. Pathetic situation!

Ms. V, hindi movies also start with K and has 4 words isnt it? :P As far as my hindi goes, if that Ekta Kapoor looks good, I would probably say Ek Thaa Kapoor ;)

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Unknown said...

Random, paavam TV companykaaranoda expenses ellam vittuteeye onnoda kanakkule. So true though all the older people are ridiculously addicted to it.

Random Access said...

WA, its from the perspective of the tv serial producer. Ofcourse, the TV guys make profit from all the serials and other programmes and they have their own expenses. Avanga kanakku innum thalaiya suthum. How do u think Sun TV within a space of 6 years became from 0 to 8 channels? Andha kanakku podave bhayama irukku :P

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Deepti Ravi said...

Those serials are extremely addictive!! All my aunts just have to watch all of those you mentioned above unfailingly( except ofcourse during the music season!!) .. it's just a money making racket anyways.. the problem is when ppl take the travails of those in the serial to heart!!!

Deepti Ravi said...

hey btw!!!sorry dint meet u after tat.. i ended up in chennai and missed ur no!! :) so how did u freak out the entire trip??

Neha said...

i thot of putting up a LONG comment. but its time for mmy favourite serial so gtg ;)

smiley said...

Economics is measured by the profit at the end. It could be a stupid show, but it still has viewers, makes the profit and entertains people. It is a success for the guy who does it. I don't think I can make that money in a year so I appreciate it.Thanks for the details

Ajay said...

Those serials are extremely addictive!! many of my friend watch

Random Access said...

Deepti, tell me about it. And yeah, I had a great time, though time flew and had to leave home unsatisfied...as always

Neha, I understand..I will talk to u during the ad break ;)

Smiley, that was precisely the point -about whats the point working 9-5 till u r 95?

And Ms. V, I juz chanced upon Ekta Kapoor's interview on Star World. She looks cute, but that attitude in her eyes and speech.. makes me sick n nauseating!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!