The first cut looks good, lets hope the complete story is as good. After almost 8 months of trying to make the new look channel/ programming strategy work, Zee finally decided it was time to bring in something else. And who better than the King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan himself to help them. It seems that the strategy has worked at least for the time being. If the general response to the programme was good after the first 2 episodes, the numbers too tell a similar story. The ratings are up, audience has liked the show and Zee finally seems to have something to cheer about. What's more the channel is also planning to fast forward the storyline of its other popular property Amaanat, ala Kyuunki……, by 20 years.

Lets look at a few numbers. TAM data for the past few weeks below shows ratings for Zee during the 9-10 pm band on Fridays. TG: 15-44 / Females/C&S Homes, Hindi Speaking markets.

Zee managed ratings close to 2% all through Week 9 to 11 during the time band. This was on the back of the two shows Choti maa…and Kohi Apan sa. Rivals Star and Sony dominated the time band completely with Star managing average TVRs of around 11% and Sony close behind with 7%.

Week 12 saw the launch of JIKNH with Shah Rukh as the guest. Zee didn't leave any stone unturned when it came to promoting the show. Be it using a combination of mass media advertising or the channel head sending personalized mails and SMS messages to people within the media community to watch it. The strategy seems to have paid off. Week 12 saw Zee ratings more than double up to reach 4.5%, just about the best any regular show has managed on the channel in the past few months. On the other hand Star and Sony both saw a fall in ratings with Star losing a hefty 25% on a week-on-week basis. The reach figures too tell a similar story. Zee saw a rise of 45% in reach whereas Star and Sony saw a fall of 25% and 10% respectively.

These figures certainly point out to the good start for the show, but can it hold the audience interest? Media watchers point out that Star's dominance in the past has lead to such an audience shift that a section of audience had almost stopped sampling Zee. With this show getting off to a good start, Zee can expect audience to start coming to the channel. This could help build viewership of other programmes on Zee too. But probably it is too early to draw a conclusion. Watch out for a few more episodes.