Bigg Boss: Salman Khan sends advertising rates roaring 20% in Season 6

MUMBAI: Salman Khan is inviting the family to watchBigg Boss this time around as its begins its sixth season next month. So, whether it is the combination of Khan, who is riding an uninterrupted wave of success, or the fact that Colors is recasting the show as a family entertainer and is therefore expected to give the show a prime time slot, the much debated reality show, definitely one of the most expensive reality shows on Indian television at Rs 150-160 crore, is commanding a 20% premium on its ad rates this year.

In the fray for the title sponsors this year are telecom,FMCG and even a white goods company with the expected price, according to sources, within both television and advertising industries being around Rs 35-40 crore and ten second rates coming close to Rs 3 lakh. 

Harish Shriyan, CEO of OMD says Khan's successful run at the box office does not necessarily mean that one can ask for higher ad rates, yet Khan's mass appeal is what has lured in the white goods brand which has thrown in its hat into the Bigg Boss ring for the first time. For now, these rates are still lower than what KBC has notched at Rs 3.75 lakh per ten seconds for this season. Cadbury is said to have paid, between Rs 20-25 crore this year. 

For Colors, the success of this show is critical-- never has competition among the GEC's been so tough. Gross Rating Points (GRP's) are very close, with number one being held on tightly by Star while two, three and four are keenly fought between Colors, Sony and Zee. 

According to TAM data for last week, Star led with 264 GRPs, followed by Colors at 245, Zee at 227 and Sony at 210. Colors is riding high on two of its fiction shows and the dance reality show of Jhalaak. But the battle is only going to get tougher, so moving away from the previous seasons, Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors has decided to broad base the show, making into a fully family entertainer and here they have definitely kept Khan's mass appeal in mind. "If Jhaalak (the dance reality show with Madhuri Dixit) is dancing with the stars, Bigg Boss will be camping with the stars," says Nayak who while choosing not to comment on the ad prices, does confirm that it is an expensive show and they are scaling it up further this year and have therefore priced it higher this time round. 

He does add that there will be lots of opportunities for brands and active and passive integration possibilities. 

According to Nandini Dias, COO, Lodestar, Colors premium pricing is because it will be shifting the time slot and the number of times that Khan appeared last year had been reduced due to his illness which has been increased this time. Yet, she also voices Shriyan's sentiment saying the success of a film is no guarantee that another creative property will work. "Every creative property has to stand for itself. Salman is seen as a successful anchor for Bigg Boss. But the eyeballs will depend on who the participants are far more than only the anchor," says Dias who feels last year the Bigg Boss brand took a beating because of the kind of content it had and had become difficult for families to view together.