The invasion of online channels like Hot Star, Voot and Zee 5, which were originally introduced to aid the television-viewers, has emerged as a threat to Target Rating Points (TRPs), a viewer-calculating system used typically for television.
Be it because of the convenience of being able to watch a show at any hour of the day or the increased accessibility to internet, online channels have revolunalized the TV-watching experience. And, we are not even talking about the orignial content they offer. This is just about the daily-soaps and reality shows that are made available on the web.
While it's a win-win situation for the viewers who get to choose the medium they want to watch their shows on, it turns out that it hasn't proved very beneficial for the show makers. While the online channels are minting money on the basis of the popularity of these TV-shows, the BARC ratings of the same shows donot necessarily reflect the same.
This is what Nakuul Mehta, who plays the role of Shivaay Singh Oberoi in Star Plus' hit show Ishqbaaz, had to say about the entire debate on television losing out its numbers to the online medium.
“This is more of a pointless discussion, it is like saying will the new wife take over the house with the mother-in-law. I think it’s a great platform as an audience, as an artist, and as a maker for doing different kind of work, and everything will co-exist. In India, digital is in its nascent stage,” he told India Forums.
“I think there’ll be stars out of a different industry, Sumeet Vyas, Nidhi Singh, Mithila Palkar – they are all doing great work. A lot of film talent and TV talent is moving to digital, I had worked on a show for the platform, and still am working on something. All that will happen is all the medium will become one pool, and it will be like cross pollination, which I think is an ideal atmosphere for the viewers. To give an example, Ishqbaaaz is one of the most popular Indian shows digitally, though we don’t rank number one on the BARC. Digitally, people see it of course, but TV is going to be our prime audience, and it is here to stay, forever,” he concluded.
