Now, this is my second analysis on this topic and I want to make few things clear. This article/analysis, is my own thoughts. I do not intend to speak for anyone else. If you are someone who feels that you would be offended by anything in this article against some of your favourite shows, then please skip this article and go find another one. Honestly, this article is only for those genuine fans who are smart enough to take criticism and deal with it.
Sorry about the harsh words out there. I just wanted to set things clear.
Alright, coming to topic. Let me start with a brief introduction as to why I am writing this analysis.
All my experience of watching TV has been from Star Plus. I have actually never see other channels and I don’t intend to. But, in reality, Star Plus has been going to a very rough patch for quite some time. Their channel is in the low rankings. All their shows are not clicking with the audience. There’s a lot going wrong. But, if you think really carefully, viewers like us are the reason the shows are failing so badly.
Now, before some time ago, I used to see things the normal way. All I could see was, the show makers are being stupid and are not listening to fans. That motivated me into writing Fanfiction. Fanfiction in turn gave me so much support from people on this website. Their support gave me confidence to pursue Television Writing as a career. At this point, I am working on creating a career in television. And when I realised that, I took some time to analyse why all these things are going wrong with Star Plus. That helped me understand so much about the TV industry and I wanted to share what I understood with you all.
Now, I am going to go with according to shows and then, explain the main total problem.
Starting off…
1. Yeh Rishta Kya Kehalata Hai
Now, this is a show that I have never watched. And I don’t intend to either. That’s because the show is very, very long. As a viewer, if I am watching a show, I would like to start from the starting to completely love a show. And sitting through what seems like 2500+ episodes is a painful task.
Secondly, the show is marginally a success right now. But, in honesty, it not nearly as successful as the show was in the time it was launched. Their new found success is due to the young leads, Karthik and Naira. But, the problem with YRKKH is that, the show is always running. Practically speaking, the makers have never planned the show enough that, this show can never end. So, even if they put all their brains into writing the show, all they would be able to do is, recycle old plots from very old episodes of their own show. And if I could take a wild guess, I will guess that very soon, in about few months, they will show Naira pregnant and then the story will shift to them being parents. The show will only be stuck in this vicious cycle.
Finally, YRKKH is a show that, even admitted by the creators, is a show based on sweet moments. The show is basically a collection of sweet moments, complied together. As much as I would like to see the show, the show never has any solid plotline that will drag you in. The only way someone new can join the show’s fandom is by randomly picking a recent episode and watching it. If he watches the episode and finds something to like, then he would continue to watch.
This is also the reason why YRKKH is the highest TRP drawer. Cause unlike the other shows, a viewer of YRKKH need to stick onto every episode of the show to keep track with the show. One episode missed and he will be lost forever.
2. Naamkaaran
Now, this show, I watched it without failing before the part where Ashish was shown to be bad before the leap. After that, I haven’t seen much but I have been keeping tabs. Honestly speaking, this show has the same problem as one other show on this list. The show started out as something, and now it’s turned out to be something else.
Now, as far as how successful this show is, I honestly think this show is a huge success compared to what the creators might have expected. If you think about it for a moment, they knew that only a specific audience would see this show before the leap. But, when they did take the leap, I kinda feel that they took a more commercial approach.
To give a bit of background, the Indian TV viewing audience can be divided into two groups. Group one, the people who see it on TV. Group two, the people who watch it on Hotstar. Now, I am someone who does both. Whenever I can, I watch in TV. When I can’t, I watch in the internet. Now, to be clearer as to why Star Plus is suffering, the timeline is divided again into two. Before Jio. After Jio. Before Jio, the Group One Audience was extremely high compared to the very, very little Group Two Audience. But, when Jio happened, people got opened to Internet and this allowed people to explore online watching more. Now, I am not going to argue which is a good method to watch shows in. But, being honest, Jio significantly increased the amount of viewers on Hotstar. This is probably the reason the show has a decent Rating and decent views online. Speaking of views online, let’s move onto the next show.
3. Ishqbaaz
Ishqbaaz is a show that I watch very frequently. I usually skip a few episodes that seem boring, but mostly, I almost watch whatever happens throughout the week.
Now, one of the main reasons why I began working on this analysis is because of the fan base Ishqbaaz has in this website. Now, being a YHM fan, I remember there was a time when YHM used to have heaps of comments. But, even during that time, the maximum no. of comments used to be around 50-60. Compared to that, Ishqbaaz is heavy with the number of comments. At the least, you see 90-100 comments and in Friday, you see about 200. That’s something amazing.
Now, after some thinking, I realised that Ishqbaaz has insanely high views online and on Hotstar. That’s why Ishqbaaz is heavily promoted in Hotstar. But, as far as watching the show on TV… Well, honestly speak, I understand how much stressful it can get for someone who comes home after a long day, turns onto watch the show and is immediately frustrated by the overload of storylines in the show.
The show honestly has lots of flaws and I don’t want to bash on it. In honesty, the show has decent acting and phenomenal dialogue. Now, any Ishqbaaz fan still reading this article would have gotten pissed. But, really think about this, Every time there is an emotional scene, the show crams the scene with dialogue. Each time when you leave a comment as a fan, you never talk about how Anika looked, or how she cried perfectly. You never add how Omkara showed the emotions. We never say these kinds of things because even though the actors are great, they aren’t exactly the best of the best. Well, except maybe for Nakuul. On the other hand, the dialogues spoken by each and every character goes viral in one way or another. This simply is proof of how good the dialogue writing is.
As far as story concerned, Ishqbaaz’s main reason for not getting good ratings is due to the fact that show is very inconsistent. At some times, it’s super amazing. At other times, it’s very stupid. Normally, a show is supposed to find a balance between that. But, Ishqbaaz is compraised of too much storylines that, the show is always pretty much inconsistent. While this may be helping them maintaint he show on air, unless and until they try and fix this issue, they are in for huge issues.
4. Yeh Hai Mohabbatein
Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I love this show. I love this show for many reasons and honestly, I feel guilt on myself for even continuing to watch this show.
Honestly, YHM is mostly a success. It’s not the best on the ratings, but as per the channel stats, YHM is still the second most rated Serial. So, the show is probably not going off air for a long time. Not atleast until it’s completely beaten in the rating.
Now, you might be thinking that I am some lunatic who keeps fussing about TRP. But, you have to understand. As much as we blame creators fro being TRP hungry, the truth is, TRP is the reason they have food to eat in their life. TRP’s provide their bread and butter.
Now, in the case of YHM, there is something very, very different. The show is completely hated by the online community at the moment. But still, the show is managing to get good ratings for the channel. I believe this is due to the fact that, YHM started as a progressive show. A show specifically targeted toward the Group Two audience watching in the internet. If you observe, the internet audience are very stern on what they watch. So, initially, people love YHM in both the mediums. But, slowly, as years went on, the show became more suitable for Group One people, watching it on TV.
For an example, there was this nice friend I met here, who was really pissed at Raman and Ishita slapping Ruhi. Personally, I don’t support slapping a kid, but if you tried to understand, for someone watching from a village or from a more rural background, slapping a kid would seem realistic. Now, people in these tows are the ones who watch it on TV, thus helping with TRP’s. So, it makes it natural for the show writers to focus on their interests. This is the reason in my view for all the hatred for YHM online.
This is also one of the reasons why Kumkum Bhagya is successful. It is because the show is not legally available online. And watching a show illegally is very risk nowadays.
Conclusion –
In conclusion, all I would like to summerise is that, by being a viewer online, we are, slowly, slowly, making the show go worse and which in turn, reduces viewers.
Best thing I would suggest is to, if possible, watch you favourite shows on TV.
Also, a small summary as to what are each show’s situation
1. Yeh Ristha Kya Kehalatha Hai – Hit on TV, Hit online. Struggling to make new storylines.
2. Naamkaran – Decent on TV, Decent online. The show is relatively new.
3. Ishqbaaz – Poor on TV, Exceptional online. Has too many characters.
4. Yeh Hai Mohabbatein – Above Average on TV, Decent online. The show got stuck with satisfying audience, instead of focusing on making episodes better.
Now, if you think I gave a wrong opinions. Also, let’s discuss more in the comments.