Ever wondered why suddenly a new character gets introduced in your favourite soap opera on television and changes the entire course of the story, or why a popular contestant in a reality show suddenly gets axed?
Believe it or not, it is viewers like you who influence these snap decisions taken by broadcasters and programme developers. This has been made possible by new software introduced by Mumbai-based overnight ratings agency Audience Measurement and Analytics (aMap) called Dashboard.
Several production houses like Endemol and Balaji have used Dashboard to tweak the story plot of their shows so that viewers stay hooked to their shows a little longer.
At stake is Rs 2,500-3,000 crore (Rs 25 to Rs 30 billion) worth of advertising revenue generated by general entertainment channels. A score of channels like Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony TV, 9X,
Colors and NDTV Imagine vie for this money and constantly need to monitor viewer response. Companies buy advertisement slots on these channels based on the popularity of their shows.
This is how the Dashboard software works: After the telecast of a television show, the producers run it against the show to get a second-by-second analysis of viewership response.
It works for drama serials, reality shows or even a cricket match on the screen. It also gives additional viewer-centric information like gender, city, age-group and the socio-economic background of the viewers.
Not just the television production houses, advertisers too can see real-time viewership response to their television commercials through the software, claims aMap.
"Through dashboard, we can actually see how many viewers were watching a TV show each second and how many switched channels when a particular character or a participant was on-screen," says aMap Chief Executive Amit Varma.
But some creative directors and programme heads do not approve of a mechanical approach to creativity. Gajjendra Singh, the promoter of Sai Baba Telefilms and the brain behind hit reality contests like Saregama and Voice of India, says: "I am aware of this tool but I would always depend on my gut feel and creative instinct over anything else when it comes to taking creative decision for the shows."
However, a Sony TV marketing executive defends Dashboard: "Advertising spot rates are a direct function of viewership that is determined by the TV ratings. If our production house gets scientific information on what viewers like in the serial or a show, then it will only help them better the content."
On his part, aMap's Varma calls his software an assistance tool for everyone including advertising agencies, companies, broadcasters as well as the production houses.
"Abroad, similar software is used to analyse viewer response during election campaigns on television. Here, several news channels have used it during say budget speech, or a similar event," says he.
At the moment, to run the software for one hour costs over Rs 25,000. aMap soon plans to launch a real-time tool that will use a very-high speed dedicated broadband internet connection.
"It is a matter of few months when we launch the next version of Dashboard that would give instant feedback to our clients," adds Varma.
