Ad rates for Bigg Boss season 13 are higher than any of the reality show on Colors

The 13^th season of one of Colors’ most popular show Bigg Boss is all set to air from September 29 onwards. The show already has seven sponsors to its credit, namely, Vivo as our presenting sponsor, Lays as a special partner while Ching’s Chinese, PokerStars.in, BharatPe, Whirlpool and Helo as the associate sponsors. But the network is aiming to add similar number of sponsors to the list as the season progresses. In a chat with exchange4media, Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Hindi Mass Entertainment and Kids TV Network Viacom18, reveals how brands are looking to sign up for the show and Finance Ministers many announcements play a part in it too.

Bigg Boss season 13 will have a finale right after four weeks of airing. Such episodes see a hike in viewership. So is it done to get more viewership from the start itself and then sustain it?

Typically what happens with Bigg Boss is that the show takes little time to grow. This time around we decided that we will shift the format at that to make sure that the moment the contestant gets inside the house the action begins. That’s also done to fast forward it so that it picks up pace. And the best way to do it was to do a dhamaka in four weeks. Even though it’s a 100 days show, there is a lot happening in the first four weeks. All the curiosity, anxiety, anticipation will happen right away. We are looking for it to go viral much in advance and not wait till the eliminations or nominations happen.

What kind of advertisers’ interest have you seen this season?

Brands have realised that it is a platform which is great for engagement. The kind of brand building, integration and customisation that you can do on Bigg Boss is unmatched. That’s why despite the slowdown, we have seen seven partners come on board. I am sure as the show kicks in, we will have even some more. So brands are being taken to the consumers in a very innovative and clutter-breaking manner on Bigg Boss which is very different from a 30-second vanilla spot.

What kind target do you have in terms of having more sponsors for the show as it progresses?

More the merrier but we aren’t quite there yet. We will see a lot more brands coming our way. We are halfway through, and we may see another similar number.

What kind of ad rates hike this season of Bigg Boss is going in with?

While there are sponsors and partners on board, there are spot buys and rates. As the show takes off, we will actually increase and the scarcity will become the rule of the game. The demand-supply ratio will come into place. The big finale is coming up and we are premiering it on Sunday, so we have got a lot of queries for that day. Ad rates are far higher than any of the reality show on Colors, I can tell you that. The later you buy the more expensive it gets. That’s the usual rule.

Diwali episode definitely sees a boost in ad rates further. What are your expectations?

Even without Bigg Boss, we see a lot more takers during Diwali and we have only that much to give. Therefore with scarcity, ER goes up. The thing is, now with the latest announcements by our Finance Minister, we will see a good festive season. We are already seeing a spike in our inventory consumption and the fill levels. It’s a very good time of course, just pre-Diwali. Therefore we are expecting a good amp up in terms of inventory fills as well as in terms of rates. It is across all channels of Viacom 18. We expect to see a 20% growth and now with FM’s announcements, it can be higher.

What kind of integrations are you looking for in terms of VOOT?

Going by the success of the last season on Voot, we had 700 mn views on all of Bigg Boss content around content. We should expect to see lot more this year. We have two levels of engagement this year. We are complimenting Television this year with not just Voot but Jio as well. There is a Video Vichar, Chugli booth, Big Boss Buzz. We have a lot of engagement with JIO as well. There’s a Predict to Win model, the winners will go on the set and meet Salman Khan. Like we have a supermarket on the show, we have the Luxury Bazar on Jio. For Bigg Boss, for the first time we are doing AR filters on Instagram. That’s a big dynamic thing for us and we will keep changing it every week. There is also a Facebook Messenger Bot activity. Bigg Boss is very amiable to digital and it often goes viral. So the voting this time will not just be on Voot but on MyJio app as well.

In terms of marketing mix, we have given a big impetus to digital as well this time apart from the conventional media.