Shah Rukh Khan, who stars in KBC 3, has received 20 percent more calls from women and youngsters (aged between 18 to 35) than the big B, who hosted KBC 2 last year.

Star TV opened phone lines for callers who had to answer a question for participating in the program and get a chance to hit the hot seat with the Bollywood badshah.

Viren Popli, vice president - interactive services, Star India, says, "In the third season of KBC, the number of youth and women has increased by 20 percent."

All winners will receive cheque from Union Bank. Sources close to the developments said the deal with Union Bank was finalised for around Rs 1.5 crore, which is double the amount Kotak Bank paid last year.

Callers from small towns have contributed 53 per cent of the calls, which is 2 percent more than last year. The calls from the top 25 cities has gone down from 49 percent to 47 percent this year.

More customers are calling from the mobile rather than through landlines. "This year with the mobile and landline penetration being wider, coupled with lower call rates, KBC 3 has received tremendous response from small towns. The mobile population has shot up by 30 percent," said Popli.

The two pulse call last year was priced at Rs 6 per pulse for mobile callers and Rs 2.50 per pulse for landline users. However, this year both the landline and mobile call costs Rs 2.40 per pulse.

Airtel of course has been the chief beneficiary. With the wider phone call reach this year, Airtel (mobile and landline combined) contributed 40 percent of the calls, while MTNL/ BSNL contributed to the remaining calls.

Airtel's contribution was only 25 percent of all the calls in KBC 2. During KBC 2, Airtel had not extended the calling facility to its landline subscribers last year.

Star has also made its auditing of the program tighter by adding two major changes in the selection and audit process this year around. During KBC 2, an individual could participate in the 'Fastest Finger First' twice and once on the 'Hot Seat', as per the original format by Celador.

However, for its licensed Indian version of 'Who wants to be a millionaire', Star has taken special permission from Celador to allow KBC 3 to let an individual participate in the 'Fastest Finger First' only once.

The second major change on the show is the involvement of the international audit body, KPMG, for reviewing and auditing the entire selection process.

KPMG is tracing every call right from the first participation call to the final selection and confirmation call.