Reality television has been at the cornerstone of Viacom18’s content strategy, which has also translated well into their online content slate. As JioCinema seeks to climb up the ladder as one of India’s top streaming platforms, tentpole reality shows like Bigg Boss or Khataron Ke Khiladi serve as a major draw for eyeballs. A property in comedy was missing from Viacom18’s content slate overall, with the comedian for the masses Kapil Sharma quitting Colors for greener pastures.
However, with Laughter Chefs, a comedy reality TV show, Alok Jain, President - General Entertainment, Viacom18, believes that their reality content slate is complete. In an exclusive interview with businessline, Jain added that the show, which was launched on June 1, has achieved the number 1 spot for non-fiction comedy show.
Nearly two months since the launch of the show, how are you viewing its success?
Laughter Chefs was launched amidst the ICC World Cup, which is usually a turnoff on the revenue front for general entertainment. Yet, it made a strong debut. At the moment, the show has garnered massive success, gaining 13.6 crore viewers across TV and digital, achieved the No.1 spot in non-fiction comedy show on TV in the last two years with 1.4 rating. It has achieved 966 million views on digital as well, boasting an impressive reach on social media where it has been able to garner 2.2 billion impressions as a result of its ‘reelable’ format.
Can you speak on the incubation for Laughter Chefs?
We knew that we wanted to do a comedy. Now, if you look at the comedy shows in the recent years on the reality segment side – they have been talent shows which have become redundant in the age of social media where artists can garner massive followership online. To fill the vacuum, we thought that a show showcasing comedy through a prop or cooking would be a niche, which had not yet been captured. And it has now grown to become a family friendly show, which can reach a mass audience.
What has the impact of the show been for driving subscriber growth on JioCinema?
Well, the numbers would speak for itself, but the main part is that it has driven subscriber growth for JioCinema at a pace which is faster than many shows launched by us in the past. In a way, it has also busted a lot of myths that we create for ourselves — a show which will be successful on TV will not find success on digital platforms. I believe that Laughter Chefs proves otherwise, a heartening trend for us.
Can you speak about Viacom18’s overall strategy in general entertainment?
I believe that Colors has always been a very good platform for providing consumer-oriented content. Our plan is to continue that piece and give a good mix of fiction and non-fiction as well as reality television.