MAM
Colors gears up for weekend battle with Khatron Ke Khiladi
MUMBAI: Colors‘ flagship dare devil reality show Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi returns on 3 June with a weekend telecast, a strong indication that Hindi general entertainment channels are getting more serious about powering content on Fridays and Saturdays as they seek to expand viewership outside weekday primetime.
The time slot remains unchanged at 9 pm but the fourth edition of Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi will air on Fridays and Saturdays and not on weekdays.
Said Colors programming head Ashvini Yardi, “While the earlier seasons were aired on weekdays, this season Khatron Ke Khiladi is slotted on the weekends to further strengthen our weekend viewing. Viewers are looking out for differentiated content and we are confident that Torchaar is their best weekend appetite. With the strong line up of sponsors and partners, we are extending the show across all levels to every home.”
The decision to place the big-ticket show on weekends was also influenced by the fact that Colors had stabilised its primetime slots on weekdays. “Last time, Colors had not stabilised its 9 pm weekday slot. So it made sense to put Fear Factor in that slot,” a media analyst who closely tracks the channel said.
Colors gets 30 per cent of its viewership from Fridays and Saturdays. “With the introduction of Fear Factor, Colors would be hoping to see a 15 per cent growth of viewership on these two days,” the analyst said.
The reality show, which has Akshay Kumar returning as host, has attracted five new associate sponsors. The channel collaborates with brands like Scorpio (Mahindra & Mahindra), Samsonite, Sure Dedorant (Hindustan Unilever Limited), Amul Macho, and Woodland Shoes & Apparel as advertising partners for this new season.
For the fourth season, soft drink brand Thums Up, which Kumar is brand ambassador of, will present ‘integrated product‘ for the first time on a Hindi general entertainment channel. While Kumar was the host in the first two seasons of Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi, Priyanka Chopra anchored the show in the third edition.
The fourth season, Khatron Ke Khiladi – Torchaar, will be shot in South Africa with 13 couples.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
