Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The StAr with a pLuS !!!

Last week or may be last to last, I was reading an article regarding the TRP's of all popular channels and to my surprise ZEE TV was on the number one position defeating the utmost popular and rival channel STAR PLUS. And I ought to write "to my surprise" purposefully because STAR PLUS ruled the roost of being the Number One since a long time and ZEE on the other hand would always keep dwindling in between the third and fourth spot. But never mind, STAR PLUS was back to number one the very next week. So the point here is, how does Star always manage to be on the Number one spot. Lets rewind a little bit and go back to the time when STAR PLUS was launched........

" Star Plus logo till 13th July 2010 "

Star Plus was launched on 21st, February 1992 as Star TV initially being an English channel broadcasting content from the UK and US. Whereas Zee TV was the Hindi GEC. Later on Star ended its relationship with Zee and was acquired by Rupert Murdochs News Corporation. Star was then transformed into a Hindi GEC in competition with Zee TV and MSM's Sony TV. Later in the year 1996, Star added a plus to its logo making it Star Plus. Initially Star PLus had a slow start with shows like Kora Kagaaz starring Renuka shahane and famous cricketer Salil Ankola and Neena Gupta's Saans, Rajdhani etc.

"A Still from the serial Saans"

Star Plus started gaining popularity when Balaji Telefilms came into picture and brought along with it the series of " K " serials like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kasauti Zindagi Kay, Kahin Kissi Roz to name a few. Also Kaun Banega Crorepati had its inception in the year 2000 gaining enormous TRP's for the channel simply taking it to the Numero Uno spot.

" Balaji Telefilms old Logo "

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi BahuThi was the main weapon for Star Plus that made Star a clear winner. It is one of the longest running Indian show with 1830 episodes over a span of 8 years. Acc. to Wikipedia, it maintained a double digit TRP for five consecutive years and clocked a whopping 22.1 TRP for a particular episode. Following Kyunki's footsteps Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki was the second most watched show and second longest running series with 1700 episodes and a TRP of 40.9, and the Third most watched show was Kasauti Zindagi Kay, which completed 1400 episodes and was the fifth longest running series in India. Kahin Kissi Roz, KumKum, Kavyanjali, Kahin to Hoga etc were other Hit shows which Star Plus broad casted over years. These factors clearly indicate how Star Plus managed to top the TRP charts with such an amazing lineup of shows. Zee Tv and Sony on the other hand were struggling to get even close to Star Plus. It wouldn't be completely wrong to say that Balaji made what Star Plus is today.



Even after Balaji's stint with Star Plus got over, Star Plus had maintained a strong foothold over the market and it continued to deliver Back to Back hit shows like Son Pari, Shaka Laka Boom Boom, Shararat, Tu Tu Main Main, Hatim, Khichdi etc. It revamped itself on 3rd April, 2010 with a new logo and a new Theme of "Rishta Wahi, Soch Nayi". With this Star Plus seemed to have begun its new innings and indeed it did. Again new shows were brought in and each being super popular took Star Plus to new Heights. 


" New Logo of Star Plus unvieled at Star Pariwaar Awards"

Even today Star Plus is topping the TRP race with all of its shows like Saath Nibhaana Saathiya, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain, Diya aur Baati Hum etc grabbing amazing response. It would be interesting to see how long does Star Plus manage to be at No.1 with Zee getting very much close to it. Till then we know, Star Plus is going to entertain us for a long time and we as an audience are definately going to be glued to it. Way to go Star Plus !!!

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