Billed as 'Indian OSCAR,' International Indian Film Awards (IIFA) 2002, telecast live on Sony on April 6th, could garner a TVR of only about 4% in Female segment and a low 2.2% in Males. In comparison, Screen Awards on Star Plus delivered a whopping 11.6% and 8.9% respectively.

Most Bollywood Stars skipped the event letting their junior cast and crewmembers collect awards on their behalf. And perhaps the 6th Film award (yes, 5 different Indian Film Awards have already been telecast!) was a little too much for the audience.

A quick look at numbers.

While the average rating across the markets, were a low 3.8% in Female TG, the viewership was a little higher in metros. In Delhi and Mumbai it was higher than 5%.

Chart 1: Marketwise performance of IIFA Awards

Market: Hindi Speaking Market (Delhi, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Calcutta, UP rest, MAH rest), Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta
Source: TAM

How do these numbers compare with the other film awards? Refer to the Chart 2. IIFA has performed badly indeed. In terms of TVRs, this is the lowest performer. Star's Screen Awards are really the genre leaders, by my more TVRs.

Chart 2: Comparative performance

Market: Hindi Speaking Market(Delhi, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Calcutta, UP rest, MAH rest)
Source: TAM

What went wrong with IIFA Awards? Sony was banking on the appeal of 'international locale - Malaysia,' launch of three movies and some star acts. "The highlights of these awards were the 3 launches - Aankhen, Kaante & Plan, Spectacular performances by superstars, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Sushmita Sen among others," said Nachiket Pantvidya, VP Programming and Production when we first spoke with him before the award telecast. It seems his assessment of the audience interest went wrong somewhere.

It seems the 'international' venues for awards have a catch. While they provide some freshness and perhaps better production values, absence of Bollywood Stars due to distance or other constrains seems a serious handicap. "These are awards which showcase Indian talent internationally. The international indoor venues are TV friendly and make for excellent viewing," rationalized Pantvidya. Maybe, but audience prefers their favorite Stars to anything else.

The fact is that IIFA could have done much better in terms of their TVRs. The minute-by-minute analysis reveals that the TVRs, for the Female segment, was above 7% from 9:45 pm to 11:00pm. But, the longish telecast of over 4 and half hours dropped its average TVRs considerably. Maybe our chart 3 has a few pointers for Sony and IIFA.

Chart 3: Minute-by-minute analysis for IIFA awards.

Market: Hindi Speaking Market(Delhi, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Mumbai. Calcutta, UP rest, MAH rest)
Source: TAM