Product details

On 21 July 2008, Viacom18 - a 50:50 joint venture between Viacom and Network18 - made a colourful entry into the Hindi general entertainment market of India with the launch of the Colors channel. Led by Rajesh Kamat, ex-executive of STAR India, Colors was an instant success in the Hindi general entertainment market with differentiated content and disruptive scheduling. Instead of confusing the audience with its array of programmes, Colors created a buzz with the Akshay Kumar hosted show, Fear Factor - Khatron Ke Khiladi, and let them try their channel with fiction like Balika Vadhu. Within 10 weeks of its launch, Colors shot up to the no 2 position with ratings as high as 250 points - ahead of entrenched players like Zee TV and Sony, and posed a serious threat to the undisputed leader, STAR Plus. While a good value proposition, right positioning and distribution strategies gave Colors a substantial competitive edge, analysts and media experts doubt its sustainability in the long run amid intensifying competition, global downturn and labour strife with television producers.