MAM
Baywatch babe Pamela lifts Bigg Boss’ ratings up
MUMBAI: Pamela Anderson’s entry into the Bigg Boss house has raised the ratings – some people say even the temperature – of the primetime reality show that has caught the government attention for its raunchy content.
The day the Baywatch babe made her appearance, dressed in a saree (India‘s traditional attire), the show got a boost. Bigg Boss earned a rating of 4.72 compared to the previous day‘s TVR of 3.46, as per Tam data for Hindi speaking markets (4+, C&S homes).
Next day, the busty babe did the cleaning up in the house, wearing a sarong. And, as expected, neither the ratings nor her sarong fell (4.69 TVR).
Hindi general entertainment channel Colors decided to heat things up further by making Anderson dance to the tune of “Dhak Dhak Karne Laga”. And voila, ratings were up again, this time to 4.72 TVR.
Even the day when Anderson bid the show adieu, viewers flocked to catch a last glimpse of her. The Saturday show clocked a TVR of 4.28.
For the week ended 20 November, Bigg Boss enjoyed an average TVR of 4.21. In the two trailing weeks, when Anderson was not there, the show clocked average TVRs of 3.22 and 3.61.
Colors has reportedly paid Anderson Rs 25 million for her four-day guest appearance, which it has recovered in the form of publicity and ratings.
Many media observers debate if the decision of spending big monies on one international celebrity was a wise one. Some say it will not help the show and it is a bad decision, while some counter by saying that the publicity itself was worth millions of rupees.
“The rating of Bigg Boss was falling, which is normal for a show like this. So Colors would have had to put money in promoting the show. Instead, it has invested in Anderson and got a spike in ratings,” a media observer said.
The show also helped Colors consolidate its second position in the Hindi general entertainment space. The channel added 11 GRPs (gross rating points) during the week ended 20 November to end at 291 GRPs.
The genre leader Star Plus dropped marginally to 354 GRPs (from 373 GRPs), while Zee TV was at third spot with 208 GRPs (from 205 GRPs in week before).
Sony Entertainment Television shed 20 GRPs during the week and remained in fourth position with 169 GRPs. The threat it may have is from its sister channel Sab, which is steadily growing and has reached 145 GRPs.
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
