Westlife, a hugely popular Irish band, may have entered Guinness Book of World Records for maximum chartbusting No 1 songs, but a 'special' telecast on HBO recently, found few takers in India. Similar is the tale of other premium concerts like Madonna Live (on HBO) and Bruce Springsteen and a few other concerts on Star World. With little audience interest, what role do they play in your media plan?

Lets take a quick look at viewership numbers. Chart 1 below indicates that barring one center (Bangalore), viewership numbers for four recent concerts were extremely low. A well-packaged concert, Madonna Live, on HBO did not register any viewership at all, in 3 key centers - Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Down south in Chennai it could muster a 0.3% rating. Similarly, a concert by rock icon Bruce Springsteen on Star World, on 1st January this year, drew a almost 0% rating point across all 4 metros. This inspite of putting such shows on prime time!

Chart 1: Male Viewership - Only Bangalore registers some viewership for Bee Gees

TG: Males, SEC AB, 10-34 Yrs, C&S audiences

Given this performance why are channels putting such shows on air. And perhaps more importantly what is the role of such events in a media plan.

"These concerts have been well received by the HBO audience so far. While Hollywood movies remain the cornerstone of our business, offering such concerts prove to be like 'icing on the cake,' opines HBO chief James Marturano. Surely our numbers don't agree with this assessment.

Putting money where the mouth is, HBO is actually putting two 'special' concerts in June, by Irish rock band U2 and in July by N'Sync. While these concerts look to be well packaged and new acts, it seems Indian audiences are not connecting yet.

To be sure of the trends, we also looked at women audiences but found even lower numbers. Refer chart 2. Even in higher SEC categorization, SEC A, the numbers didn't shore up significantly.

Chart 2: Female Viewership: Westlife gets some support

TG: Males, SEC AB, 10-34 Yrs, C&S audiences

What can be the possible reasons of poor performance of such shows. After all channel spends millions in acquiring it and brands spend millions in association. Virtual absence of original Indian bands and rock singers perhaps doesn't audiences to tastes this genre first hand and then aspire to see international icons on air. To add to that, prime time viewership is so heavily skued in favour of soaps and serial genre, in a single television set household, it gives little opportunity for younger audiences to watch their pop icons. Is scheduling them 'off primetime' or 'shoulder-prime' a better idea? The Concerts can also do with some off air promotions in youth vehicles.

While this may not be the most appropriate yardstick, lets look at how Concerts performed against top 10 movies in 2002. Refer Chart 3.

Chart 3: How do Concerts stack up against Top 10 Movies. Well, nowhere.

TG: Males, SEC AB, 10-34 Yrs, C&S audiences in combined markets of Del, Mum, Che and Blr

Given these trends, while such concerts may add gloss and glamour to the channel image, with no one watching, they will add little shine to your brand.