Bigg Boss 11: Time to do away with Salman Khan show, and low TRPs are just one reason
Till 2013, Bigg Boss was the undisputed king of TRPs. Whatever happened inside the house set somewhere in Lonavala had the country discussing the next day. And then, the fall from grace started -- ratings dropped as did the standards of the show, which had embraced low-brow to begin with.
This year has been when desperation began to show. Bigg Boss 11 began with its 18 contestants being in a kind of frenzy -- everyone wants to shout the loudest, fight the most, create maximum drama so that the camera knows where to focus. Fights break out for no apparent reason till someone breaks down. Five minutes later, the process repeats itself. The ones initiating are either nobodies or people who had their brush with fame a long time ago and now want it back, at any cost whatsoever.
At its heart, Bigg Boss comes with a sound concept -- take over a dozen strangers, lock them in a house and throw away the key. What will happen next is absorbing television at the least and a social experiment at best. The fact that there are over 55 versions of the show running all across the world -- India accounting for four -- is a proof of the concept’s popularity.
In Hindi Bigg Boss, however, the makers decided to stick with the regressive formula -- the sexuality of contestants is ridiculed, romantic relationships are forged for the sake of TRPs an even fights are for eyeballs. Fake is a word that is bandied about a lot on the show and for a good reason.
While the contestants appear to be caught in the cycle, the audience has got smarter. When they were all caught in a shouting match, people changed the channel. The data for ratings of the first two weeks of October are out and Bigg Boss 11 could only make it to the 20th spot in the second week – it did not even make it to the top 20 in the first week of its premiere!
According to data provided by BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council of India), Bigg Boss ranked way below the 20th slot in combined ratings for Hindi General Entertainment category. Bigg Boss 11 recorded merely 4.9 million impressions in the first week and stood at 11th position in the urban rankings. In rural category, Bigg Boss 11 did not feature in top 20 in the first two weeks of October.
In the first week of October (Oct 2-8), Amitabh Bachchan’s Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) was the top rated show in combined category for General Entertainment Hindi with 11.53 million impressions, followed by Kundali Bhagya (11.21 million impressions) and Kumkum Bhagya (9.70 million impressions). Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon Ek Baar Phir ranked 20th in the first week with 6.07 million impressions.
Bigg Boss 11 managed to climb up the charts and rank at the 20th slot for second week of October (Oct 9-15) with 6.03 million impressions. While KBC slipped to third rank with 10.16 million impressions, Kundali Bhagya was the top rated show for week 40 as it had 11.63 million impressions. Kumkum Bhagya ranked second with 10.78 million impressions. Bigg Boss ranked at 10th position in the second week with 4.84 million impressions in the urban category for the second week.
Over the years, Bigg Boss 4 has proved to be the best season in terms of TV ratings (TAM, TRP and BARC ratings). Throughout last season, Bigg Boss 10 was ranked low and its best performance was a 20th rank. Here’s an old comparison of ratings across nine seasons of Bigg Boss. Since the tenth season, BARC ratings have been in place and the metrics have changed, making a direct comparison impossible.
Bigg Boss 11 started on October 1 with 18 contestants – Akash Dadlani, Vikas Gupta, Hiten Tejwani, Hina Khan, Shilpa Shinde, Bandgi Kalra, Sapna Choudhary, Puneesh Sharma, Luv Tyagi, Sabyasachi Satpathy, Mehjabi Siddiqui, Luv Tyagi, Sshivani Durgah, Jyoti Kumari, Priyank Sharma, Benafsha Soonawalla, Arshi Khan and Zubair Khan. While Zubair and Sshivani have been voted out of the game, Priyank was kicked out of the show for getting violent.
Cringepop star Dhinchak Pooja entered the show this weekend as the first wild card entry. Priyank is also expected to join the contestants back soon.