7 pm- the new prime time?

Representational pic

By Priyanka Bhadani

Ekta Kapoor has ruled as the czarina of the small screen since over a decade now at the prime time slots (8.30 pm onward) across channels. Whether it is the long-running Pavitra Rishta at 9 pm on Zee TV, or popular shows from the past like Kkusum and Kasauti Zindagi Kay, her shows have made a mark at the prime time slot that has conventionally been defined as 8.30 pm onward.
While many of the shows churned out from Kapoor’s production house, Balaji Telefilms, have been telecast later in the night, none of the shows were telecast as early as 7 pm until Yeh Dil Sun Raha Hai went on air two weeks back on Sony Pal. Kapoor agreeing that she never had a show at 7 pm, said that the “prime time” is constantly changing and, “7 pm is the new prime time”.
“The shows on other channels at this time slot are doing really well,” said Kapoor on the sidelines of the launch of Yeh Dil… who wants to gauge how the slot works for her. Interestingly, it is not just Kapoor who believes that viewers are embracing the 7 pm slot that till now was considered early prime time, many more from the industry echo the same thought. Siddharth Kumar Tewary, whose extremely popular Mahabharat on Star Plus was aired at 8.30 pm, one of the most sought after time slots, has this time around settled down for the 7 pm band as his show Bandhan features a young girl and an elephant as the protagonist. “The channel thought that since the story involves a young protagonist, it would be easy to tap the younger audience,” says Tewari, who thinks that the 7 pm band is becoming more palpable by the day, as better stories are being offered in that time band. “At the end of the day, it is the storyline that attracts the audiences,” he remarks.
Surprisingly, Saath Nibhana Saathiya on Star Plus, one of the most popular shows across Hindi general entertainment channels has been successfully running at 7 pm since the last five years. Rashmi Sharma, the producer of the show, says that when the channel had proposed the slot, it came as a disappointment. “But the show became a trendsetter,” she says and adds, “It was after Saathiya that even other channels started exploring the time band for original programming. In fact, even the 7.30 pm band became active because of that,” she remarks as she also points out that prior to that, the telecast of new episodes started only at 8 pm.
Explaining the trend further, Anooj Kapoor, Executive Vice President and Business Head, Sony Pal and Sab TV, says that the target audience for most of the shows on Hindi GECs are either small towns or women. “Seven pm is the best time to capture their attention as the husbands are yet to come home, and the kids are busy with tuitions, or playing, thus 7 pm has become the beginning of the prime slot,” remarks Kapoor as he also points out that other GECs have benefited a lot by airing original programming in the time band.
But not all experiments at that slot have been successful. Life OK launched the show Baawre during the same time band, and it had to taken off air within a few months. Colors which is currently running the family drama, Shastri Sisters at the same time band, had earlier experimented with a comical show, Pammi Pyarelal, which it wrapped up within 72 episodes.
While none of the spokesperson from Colors and Life OK responded to the queries, Pradeep Hejmadi, Business Head, Zee TV, says that one has to ensure the kind of content that is aired during the respective slot. “As it is viewers start watching television from as early as 6 pm. It’s not that the number of viewers have suddenly increased in the 7 pm slot, it is just that relatable content is being offered to them.”
However, Hejmadi doesn’t want to get into the trapping of defining a slot as prime time. “It’s the media who has defined one slot as prime time and the other, otherwise,” he says as he adds that there’s an audience for the afternoon telecast as well. “This doesn’t mean that tomorrow afternoons will become the new prime time.”
Remind him that till a few years ago, original shows in the afternoon or matinee slots were planned as well, but now it has become extinct and he is quick to remark, “That stopped mainly because of economic reasons.”
Then, isn’t it again because of the economics that the 7 pm slot is picking up? “With the right kind of content being proposed in the time band, gradually advertisers have realised that there are audiences who start watching television from 6 pm onwards and it reaches a bigger limit towards the night. While the advertisers have realised the commercial viability of these slots, the rates of inventories haven’t really gone up as such. It will take time,” he says.
Karthik Lakshminarayan, COO, Madison Media, agrees and remarks that as a slot 7 pm is very fertile. “It has a lot of potential audience, especially in the small towns. Thus, advertisers are investing in it but it can never become a prime time slot, it will always remain the early prime time,” says Lakshminarayan as he adds that even if more shows with varied concepts are being planned in this time band, the target audience will largely remain the small town population and women.

priyanka.bhadani@expressindia.com