In a detailed paper shared with exchange4media, TAM examines the low viewership levels of Zee's Aap Jo Bole Haan To Haan…. The paper compares audience 'stickiness' (by increasing reach definitions and comparing Reach vs. TVRs) for 'AJBHTH' with 'Koshish Ek Asha' and Rating Trend (by minute) for Zee, Star Plus and Sony.

Excerpts from the TAM paper:
This is with reference to the ratings of Zee's Aap Jo Bole Haan To Haan…(abbreviated as AJBHTH). As is known, the show invites responses from the audience to decide the direction of the storyline of a serial.

1. The accusation is that while the show claims to get an enormous number of calls, the response is not reflected in the ratings that are released by the TV Rating agencies. We are not getting into the issue of the markets from where the audience responses are coming from (given that TAM reports ratings for 15 Urban class I markets) and comparing it with the ratings. We are, on the other hand, presenting an analysis below, which should clear the existing doubts as regards television ratings, specifically with reference to AJBHTH.
2. For the same day in question, the ratings of AJBHTH and KEA were 0.61 and 2.61 respectively translating into an average minute audience of 0.35 million and 1.51 million respectively(essentially TVR in 000s)
3. The difference in ratings compared to the difference in reach seems drastic but is explicable by the way ratings are computed. TV ratings take into account both, the reach as well as time spent by the audience of the programme/daypart etc in question. In the present case, the average time spent by a KEA (a half-hour show) viewer is 18.4 minutes while the corresponding figure for AJBHTH (a one hour show) is 9.65 minutes, which clearly will impact the ratings of the programmes.
4. To conduct a further analysis, Delhi was taken as a case market. As the following graphs show, more than the reach levels, it is the low retention of audiences (stickiness) in AJBHTH vis-à-vis KEA that brings about a difference in terms of ratings.
   
   
   
   Even a visual look at the two graphs above would make clear the fact that KEA's viewers 'stick' to the programme a lot more than do AJBHTH viewers. This, as explained before, clearly impacts the ratings.
5. For KEA, the time spent factor works so well that it leads among the three mass Hindi channels in its time slot as the graph below shows:
   
   
   In fact the dynamic exchange of audiences between Zee and STAR Plus is evident in the KEA time band. KEA in Zee is fighting against Kaahin Kissii Roz in Star Plus for audience share. On 10th September episode, the Reach of Kaahin Kissii Roz (741,000) is greater than that of KEA (582,000) but the relationship in the ratings reverse due to the time spent by those viewing -13 minutes for Kaahin Kissii Roz and 22 minutes for KEA respectively. This results in higher TVR (Ratings ) for KEA.
   
6. However, as the time slots proceed, Zee is unable to maintain audiences. This is more a function of the extremely competitive environment posed by the three STAR Plus programmes - Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), Kyunki Saans Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (KSBKBT), Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki (KGGK).
7. AJBHTH runs parallel to KGGK and KSBKBT. Therefore, in the face of viewers confronted with a choice between KGGK + KSBKBT and AJBHTH it is reasonable to expect habit (the two STAR Plus serials have run more than 400 episodes between them) to prevail over trial - the reason why in most cases, audience aggregation is more often a function of number of episodes telecast. As episodes run by, Trial increases, gets converted to Repeat Viewing; walk-ins converted to 'stickiness' and hence Reach realizes into Ratings as a function of Time Spent.
   In this competitive slot, a glance at the charts below indicates the audience exchanges
   
   
   between Zee and STAR Plus. In fact, here Zee seems to be dependent on the inflows from STAR more so during STAR's commercial breaks. Bulk of the audiences for Zee's AJBHTH seems to be flowing in from Star plus as is indicated from the next station migration chart.

• Also numerically, the claimed number of calls coming into Zee is anyway a subset of the TAM Reach figures.
• Specifically for AJBHTH, the role model exists within Zee itself in the form of programmes such as KEA which as we saw is a dominator in it's time slot. The road ahead is therefore to adopt the 'best practices' within the Zee stable itself to the budding set of programmes.