The Indian Television Reality Programmes Kaun Banega Crorepati Media Essay

In India, reality shows hosted by celebrities have become salient execution strategy to make the show successful, where top Indian celebrities host different reality shows apart from endorsing several brands. This research paper has tried to find out the factors which affect people choice towards different reality show. Later by taking one very popular Indian reality show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ efforts have been made to understand that among two stalwarts of Indian celluloid world Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan who is the better host of the show and why? ‘Q’ score technique has been used to understand the same. Focus group discussion containing people from different demographic variable was conducted to understand the reason of variation in viewership of this show from 2000 to 2012.Further; this research can be treated as a base for celebrity selection for hosting a reality show or brand endorsement by producer/directors/marketers & advertising agency.

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Introduction

India is one country, which is known to idolize the stars of the celluloid world. Therefore, it makes tremendous sense for a TV show/ reality show to engage a celebrity for its hosting. In India, there is an exponential potential for a celebrity hosted event to be perceived as genuinely relevant and entertaining, thereby motivating viewers to come for watching it. The impact of the celebrity on a viewer depends upon the likability of viewer regarding the celebrity. Some celebrities have a huge fan following that’s why they are able to attract more people for their respective show/s, ultimately increasing the viewership of that TV show/ reality show.

21stcentury has witnessed the advent & development of a lot of technologies. Due to the advent of technology, it becomes easier for people to take the advantage of the same. The role of television as a media is increasing day by day. These days we can see a lot of people opting for DTH, therefore, now we don’t have to rely on the cable to see the programmes on television. Due to this the viewership of people has increased to a greater extent.

There was a time when people enjoyed watching religious serials, educational programmes, movies & songs which provided entertainment. However, the meaning of entertainment seems to have changed and now a day reality shows have become the flavor of small screen. The small screen has been flooded with reality shows, namely X Factor, Just Dance, Little Champs, MTV Roadies, Emotional Atyachar, Ratan Ka Rishta, Comedy ka maha mukabala, MTV Stunt Mania, Kaun Banega Crorepati, etc. and the list goes on. Moreover, most of the reality shows have been hosted by one celebrity or other. The basic assumption behind celebrity hosting the reality show is that the value associated with the celebrity is transferred to the brand of the reality show and therefore helps to create an image that can be easily referred by viewer. Henceforth, by association of celebrity with the reality show can very quickly establish the credibility, get immediate recognition and improved viewership. However, there are so many risks associated with such celebrity hosts. The viewership could slide down drastically just as quickly as it moved up the viewer’s mind due to some problem in celebrity image, career graph etc.

Literature Review

(Khatri, July-Dec. 2006) has opined that the celebrity endorsement does not itself guarantee sales. It can create a buzz and make a consumer feel better about the product, which in turn has to come to expectation of customers as a real star by delivering the promise. (Ibrahim, 2010) observed that using celebrity where the measurable results of such high cost strategy do not justify the amount of money that companies spend on utilizing celebrities. The allocated budget for using celebrities needs to be reallocated in other marketing areas such as marketing research and marketing insights to understand customers needs in more details. (Datta, 2010) has concluded that there are lots of challenges involved in finding the right celebrity match with product or service. Further, he opined that for the success of celebrity endorsement right fit between celebrity and band endorsed is must. (S.K.Dube, 2011) has observed that in India now a day, the use of celebrity endorsement/advertising for companies has become a trend and a perceived as winning formula of corporate brand equity building and products/ services marketing. The use of celebrity for brand promotion is increasing day by day but it cannot be treated as an assured strategic tool to enhance market share, demand of the product or even profit because it mainly depends upon suitability of celebrity with a product and brand as well. (Kineta Hung, 2011) from a survey involving 1,030 respondents has found that consumer celebrity worship is a significant antecedent to endorser effects; over-endorsement by a celebrity is an important moderator; and this model is robust across field like sports and entertainment celebrities. (Gouranga, 2011) concluded that celebrity is an important factor of interest to generate more positioning of interest in the minds of consumers rather than message and background set up at the time of recall in advertisements. So celebrity acts as an effective component of advertisement to make the advertisements more effective. (Jayant Sonwalkar, 2011) observed that in a country like India, celebrities act as major opinion leaders and since awareness levels are low, celebrities play a major role in brand recall. Celebrities are helpful in initiating a desired state need among people. The respondents usually pay attention to those advertisements using celebrity icons. The study conducted by him also revealed that to some extent celebrities initiate an action to buy that product. (PiligrimienÄ-, 2011) has found that the sport celebrity can be used when it’s possible to find a link between the product and sport, or

when the company wants its customers to relate the product with the sport, active and healthy life style. (Ogunsiji, 2012) has pointed out that Global brand endorsements demand a global brand management team. Thus regional and international organization is in place to maintain brand leadership through proper effective celebrity endorsements. So, companies with large brand portfolios need to have separate managers for each brand and its promotion.

Aim and objective of the study: In this fast changing world, viewer’s preferences towards reality shows are increasing and they are finding these reality shows as a good source of entertainment. Most of the reality television programmes are getting good response due to their respective hosts. How much an effective a particular host is? Does the response of viewer’s vary due to change of celebrity host? Is the personality of the host is matching with the personality of television programme which is being hosted by respective celebrity? This study can help the sponsors and producers of programmes to choose an appropriate host for their reality show. Further, this study can help in enhancing the viewership of reality programme.

Objectives of the study

1. To know the factors affecting consumer preference towards Indian reality shows

2. To study the reason of variation of viewership in program ‘Kaun Banega Crorpati’ between year 2000 to 2011

3. To study the compatibility of host personality (Amitabh Bachchan & Shahrukh Khan) with respect to ‘Kaun Banega Crorpati’

Need of the Study

Reality shows has become important part and parcel of the people’s life. Presently, we can see that Indian television channels are flooded with reality shows. Now, most of the channels which want more TRP are coming up with a new reality show. Competition in this field has also increased manifold. So, producers of the reality shows are looking to hire super stars for hosting their shows. Producers are spending millions of rupees on hosts.

Different people have different perceptions regarding the celebrity hosts. Some people might enjoy seeing a particular host in a reality show, but some people do not like that host. Every celebrity has his/her own personality. A marketer needs to know that whether the host’s personality is matching to the personality of the program he is hosting or not?

This research can help the marketer to know that what kind of host would be appropriate for his show. If the marketer can make the right choice in selecting the host for his programme, he can beat the competition and can achieve higher TRP for his/her reality programme.

Scope of the Study:

The scope of study is confined to Indian reality programs and data has been collected from people residing in Jalandhar and Phagwara region of Punjab. In this study, researchers have taken one of the most popular Indian reality show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. This study has tried to find the factors which affect the viewer’s preference towards Indian reality shows. Further, researchers have tried to find the reason of variation in viewership of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ from 2000 to 2011.

Research Design: In this study, by and large descriptive research design has been followed. Researchers have tried to discover the insights that how the host personality is affecting the viewer’s preferences towards the Indian reality shows. Survey method with the help of structured questionnaire has been used for the data collection and the data collected has been analysed quantitatively, which also qualifies that the research design of the study is descriptive in nature. Researchers have also tried to find out the various reasons of variation in viewership & for this researchers have conducted one focus group discussion to find out the aforesaid objective. So, the research design is also exploratory in nature to some extent.

Sampling Design

Target Population: People residing in Jalandhar and Phagwara, who watch Indian reality show like ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’

Sampling Technique: In this research, Convenience sampling has been used. This is a type of ‘Non Probabilistic’ sampling. As everyone don’t watch reality programme like KBC, so only those people have been surveyed who watch these programmes.

Sample Size and data collection: In this research, Sample size of 300 respondents from Jalandhar and Phagwara city of Punjab region has been collected. Researchers have used structured questionnaire for this purpose. In the questionnaire, five point ‘Likert scale’ has been used to measure the attitude of respondents. Few dichotomous questions have also been used to understand respondent’s behavioral pattern.

A focus group of 11 people consisting different age group and occupation was conducted to find out the reason of variation in viewership of KBC during 2000 to 2012. Secondary data has been collected from Internet, books, periodicals, magazines etc.

Time period of Data: The data is collected in between the time frame of month January 2012 to June 2012 across Phagwara city and Jalandhar city and its suburbs.

Pilot testing: Researchers have done pilot testing by using convenience sampling technique. A sample of 35 was taken for this purpose. A questionnaire containing ‘Likert Scale’ was instrumented for this purpose. Reliability testing for the pilot survey was decent with Cronbach’s Alpha 0.697. Some necessary changes as per requirement were made in the questionnaire after conducting pilot survey.

Data Analysis: Demographic variables like Gender, Age, and Occupation etc. have been used for profiling the respondents. Along with it, profiling also has been done on the basis of variables like does respondent watch reality programmes on television, does respondent watch KBC etc. From literature survey, lots of variables have been found which affect the viewer’s preference towards Indian reality shows. Factor analysis has been used to identify the important factors out of several variables. Apart from this, a Focus group has been conducted to know the reason of variation in viewership of KBC from 2000 to 2012.

Brief Summary of tools used for analysis:

1. Descriptive Statistics: – For profiling of the respondents

2. Factor Analysis: – To identify the important factors affecting viewer’s preference towards Indian reality Show

3. Q Score: To understand the host compatibility with popular show ‘KBC’

4. Focus Group: To understand the reason of variation in viewership of ‘KBC’ from 2000 to 2012.

Frequency Distribution

Frequency distribution of the 300 respondents has been displayed who prefer to watch different reality shows.

Chart I: Frequency distribution of most favourite television reality show

Source: Researcher’s Survey

Out of 300 respondents, 127 respondents has identified ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ as their most favourite reality show on Indian television channels.

Moreover, in response of another question, researchers have also found that all the 300 respondents were aware of Indian television reality show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ and they have watched it at least once.

2. Can you tell the names of celebrities who have hosted the show?

Researchers provided different options of celebrities name for this question, in which again all the 300 respondents were able to answer this correctly. Respondents were able to identify both hosts of KBC Amitabh Bachhan and Shahrukh khan.

3. Who is the favourite host Amitabh Bachhan or Shahrukh khan for KBC.

Chart II: Frequency chart of favourite host

Source: Researcher’s survey

Researchers have found out that out of 300 respondents 254 repondents have chosen Amitabh Bachchan as a favourite host & only 46 respondents have chosen Shahrukh Khan as their favourite host.

FACTOR ANALYSIS

Factor analysis has been performed to know which are the important factors which affect respondent’s preference towards watching Indian reality show. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 348 respondents, after scrutiny researchers have removed 48 questionnaires due to errors in response. The data based on Likert scale, which was meant for measuring respondents preference was entered into SPSS data sheet. Before applying Factor analysis Reliability test was performed and then data was subjected to Factor analysis by using Principal Components Analysis (PCA) method. KMO Value which determines the sample adequacy was found .816 which was highly satisfactory. Varimax rotation for orthogonal factors with Kaiser Normalization was considered to get the % of variance explained for 13 statements in the questionnaire. To find the relevant factors Eigen value of greater than 1 was considered. A table of Rotated Component Matrix has been generated with the help of SPSS and three factors were derived. Here, Factor loading above 0.50 has been considered for Factor analysis. Then, the factors have been derived based on the statements that have gone into each factor. The list of factors along with the supporting statements has been displayed in Table I.

Table I: KMO and Bartlett’s Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy.

.816

Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity

Approx. Chi-Square

1.322E3

Df

78

Sig.

.000

Source: SPSS Output of Research Study

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test is applied to check out the adequacy of data. Here, it has been found more than 0.816, which is more than desired value of 0.5.

Table II :Rotated Component Matrix

Component

1

2

3

1.Influence of host personality

.079

.070

.857

2.For the sake of knowledge

-.034

.445

.662

3.Just for Enjoyment

.326

.264

.331

4.Come on my favourite channel

.786

.190

-.094

5.Because of peer influence

.856

.208

-.032

6.Family Influence

.816

.142

.135

7.Perfect timings

.611

-.061

.467

8.Content of the show

.054

.289

.629

9.Match with my personality

.302

.529

.260

10.Like the way of portraying

.359

.099

.070

11.For viewers questions

.271

.709

.158

12.Challenge human capabilities

.083

.854

.094

13.Platform for common people

.150

.730

.243

Source: SPSS Output of Research Study

Table III: Factor List

Channel, peer & family influence

Competition and Connect with common people

Host & Knowledge

Come on my favourite channel

Match with my personality

Influence of host personality

Because of peer Influence

For viewers questions

For the sake of knowledge

Family influence

Challenge human capabilities

Content of the show

Perfect timings

Platform for common people

Source: Researcher’s Survey

Description of the factors

Factor 1, refers to, ‘Channel & peer and family influence’ and contributes to 33.978% variance. This factor is described in terms of Favorite channel, peer influence, family influence, and perfect timing of the show telecast.

Factor 2, describes the ‘Competition and Connect with common people’ contributes to 14.352% variance. This factor refers to Questions for viewers, challenge human capabilities, match with my personality and platform for common people.

Factor 3, focuses on ‘Knowledge and content’ and it contributes to 8.865% variance. This factor includes statements like influence of the host personality, for the sake of knowledge and content of the show

Focus Group discussion to find out the reason of variation in viewership of KBC:

To find out the reasons in variation of the viewership of reality show KBC, focus group was conducted. In focus group, 11 people from different age group and back ground were selected. Main finding of the focus group has been summarized below:

It was observed during the discussion that, Change in the host of KBC from Amitabh Bachchan to Shahrukh Khan for ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ has a great inverse impact on variation in viewership. During focus group participating people noted saying that Amitabh Bachchan’s personality matches with the personality of show.

Most of the people felt that, ‘Kaun Banega Crorpati’ is a kind of Quiz show where seriousness of the host, proper discipline and intellectuality of the host is required. These all qualities are possessed by Amitabh bachhan, which can be attributed to the success of Amitabh Bachchan as a host of KBC.

A lots of other reality shows like Dus Ka Dum, Khatron Ke Khiladi etc. came on silver screen after the intial success of KBC, which also impacted the viewership of KBC. However, most of the Quiz show hosted by other super stars was similar in nature.

Four participants of focus group discussion who were female observed that as KBC was coming on Sony television from 9 PM to 10 PM on week days, and a lot of family serials were also being telecasted on different television channels on same time slots. Here, these female participants felt that they preferred watching family serial rather than KBC.

Five participants, who were doing jobs, found that KBC show used to come on working days and these people after coming exhausted from office looking for some light entertainment programmes, they were not interested in watching a show where they need to apply their mind.

It was also observed that most of the participants were agreeing that voice quality, overall personality and matureness of Amitabh bachhan was very good which was lacking in Sahrukh khan as a host of KBC, however later was observed charming and informal.

‘Q’ score Technique

Applying the ‘Q’ score technique to determine the familiarity, popularity and compatibility of two stalwart (Amitabh Bachhan and Shahrukh khan) among Indian celebrities as a host of KBC based on feedback from the respondent of different demographic backgrounds will be very useful and relevant for producers and directors in identifying and selecting the appropriate celebrity as a host of their respective reality shows.

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‘Q’ score – to help choose the right celebrity host for reality show

‘Q’ Score is normally used by marketing firms to select the right celebrity for endorsing their product/ services and determining the popularity ranking of the celebrities as per the consumers’ response. The ‘Q’ score answers the question “how appealing and popular is the celebrity among those who do know him or her?” Advertisers and advertising agencies can refer to “Q” rating score of a celebrity for choosing the right celebrity. In this process, respondents are asked to indicate two things first – Whether they know (heard / seen) about the selected celebrities? Secondly, if respondents answer yes- then the respondents are being asked to rate the celebrities on a five point Likert scale scale that includes – Favourite, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor.

Calculating ‘Q’ ratings:- ‘Q’ rating is calculated by taking the number of respondents who indicate in questionnaire that a celebrity is “FAVOURITE” and that number being divided by the number of respondents who indicate that they know (heard/ seen) of that Celebrity.

Here, researchers have calculated ‘Q’ score to check the compatibility of host personality (Amitabh Bachchan & Shahrukh Khan) with respect to ‘Kaun Banega Crorpati’.

Q scores for Amitabh Bachchan:

A= How many people know Amitabh Bachchan as a host for KBC/ Total number of respondents

Here, all 300 respondents were aware about Amitabh Bachchan as a host for KBC

So A= 300/300 = 1

B= How many respondents rate Favourite/ total number of respondents

As, 184 respondents answered favourite Amitabh Bachchan as a host for KBC

So, B=184/300

‘Q’ Score = B/A= 184/300*100 = 61.3

Q scores for Shahrukh Khan:

A= How many people know Shahrukh khan as a host for KBC/ Total number of respondents

Here all 300 respondents were aware about Shahrukh khan as a host for KBC

So A= 300/300 = 1

B= How many respondents rate Favourite/ total number of respondents

As, 70 respondents answered favourite Shahrukh khan as a host for KBC

So, B=70/300

‘Q’ Score = B/A= 70/300*100 = 23.3

Analysis: Based on survey researchers found that Amitabh Bachchan has a ‘Q’ score of 61.3 & Shahrukh Khan has a Q score of 23.3. Generally Q score more than 50 is considered good. This indicates that Amitabh Bachchan is a better host for Kaun Banega Crorepati rather than Shahrukh khan.

Summary of research findings

Compatibility of host personality with the reality show is one of the most important factor for the success of reality show. Apart from compatibility show timing, nature of show, content of the show also contributes towards success of the show.

Factor analysis concluded that Channel & peer and family, competition & connect with common people and knowledge & content are the important factors which affects viewer’s preference towards watching reality show.

Through Focus group, it was found that as a host of KBC, overall personality and matureness of Amitabh Bachchan was very good which was lacking in Sahrukh khan as a host of KBC, however later was observed charming and informal. This is one of the main reasons of the success of Amitabh Bachhan as a KBC host.

Based on focus group, researchers came to conclusion that the reasons of variation in viewership of KBC between 2000 to 2012 are timings of the show, change of host of show, coming up of new reality shows, the content of the show is same from last five seasons which has created a boredom, increase in the number of channels etc.

Based on ‘Q’ score analysis survey researchers found out that Amitabh Bachchan has a ‘Q’ score of 61.3 & Shahrukh Khan has a Q score of 23.3. This indicates that Amitabh Bachchan is more popular host for Kaun Banega Crorepati rather than Shahrukh khan as per respondents.

Conclusion

After conducting this research, it can be concluded that “competition & connect with common people”, ”Channel, peer & family influence” and “Knowledge & content” are three important factors which affect the viewer’s preferences towards Indian reality shows. Apart from the fact that KBC is being hosted by Amitabh Bachchan, reality show like KBC has become popular due to the reason that it is a platform for common people which also increases the knowledge of the audience. Researchers also concluded that the reasons of variation in viewership are primarily due to the timings of the show which was not appropriate since the show was earlier telecasted in a time slot of 9 PM-10 PM. Moreover, this time slot was also commonly used by many channels to telecast their best performing programme. People were in a habit of watching Amitabn Bchchan in the KBC as a host, but in the third season Shahrukh Khan came into picture and the TRP of the show fell drastically. Most of the people perceive Amitabh Bachchan’s personality to best match with the show and change in the host personality resulted in sharp decline in viewership.

Practical Implications

This research will go a long way in helping the advertising agency, directors & producers of reality show who can make this research a basis in selection of the right celebrity for endorsement and celebrity as host for reality shows. Moreover, this research shall also work as a reference for further academic research in this area.

Limitation of the Research

Although, this research has achieved its objectives, there are some unavoidable limitations. First, due to time constraints, small sample size of 300 has been chosen. However, for generalizing the results, larger sample could have been better. For Factor analysis, randomly chosen respondents would have been better choice but as population of area where research has been conducted is on larger side, so listing of the population becomes cumbersome task. In addition researchers have moderated and noted the finding of focus group discussion themselves, some amount of subjectivity cannot be ruled out.

Future Research

The scope of this research study may be further enhanced by incorporating different reality show in the research. This research can also be extended further for deciding celebrity for endorsement purpose.