Between midnight and 2 am, television takes on a bizarre garb. Chattering anchors ask questions that are too easy to get wrong, but no one gets it right. the Prize money is in lakhs. But is anyone other than mobile firms winning?
Between midnight and 2 am, television takes on a bizarre garb. Chattering anchors ask questions that are too easy to get wrong, but no one gets it right. The prize money is in lakhs. But is anyone other than mobile firms winning?
Gaur se dekhiye inn chehron ko. Kaun hai yeh doh cricketers?" asks anchor Rahman for the nth time, pointing to a picture puzzle (Virendra Sehwag and Rahul Dravid's faces have been merged. It's obvious that it's Viru and Dravid). The director knows Rahman needs a break. It's 1 am. We are on the set of Cricket Howzzat at Cellcast's Malad office. The screen zooms in on the picture puzzle. Rahman gets a 15-second break.
The makers
"Ten per cent of the total viewership is interested in interactive television," says Cellcast's executive vice president Pradeep Menon. On an average, at least one person wins one contest. On a good day, one show can have as many as four winners. The virtual waiting lounge, as Pradeep shows us at the Cellcast office, is a box-sized room buzzing with telephone lines. Currently, the holder capacity is 10,000. "We are increasing it because it's IPL season and we are introducing interactive cricket shows," he reveals. The channel sells air-time to Cellcast, the show's content provider, which in turn make its cut from cell phone companies who make a killing each time a caller uses his mobile phone to dial up. "We receive our share after 120 days because the revenue goes directly to the cell phone company. They take 50 to 60 per cent of the profit. We get the rest," Pradeep says. Only calls made from mobile phones are eligible, at the cost of Rs 12 a minute. At nearly 17,000 calls per night, the profit margin is obscene.
The callers
The audience comprises mainly youngsters from Bengaluru to Srinagar, Delhi to Mumbai. Strangely, Kerala hardly sees any callers. Most callers are male, and most of their answers are wrong. Kewal Shah, director of Cricket Howzzat has an explanation why. He says contestants surf through various interactive shows while on hold. "By the time a contestant gets through, he's not even watching the show and he has lost track of what the question was. Sometimes, they're watching it on mute so as to not wake up their families." Interactive shows can't take more than 30 calls in one episode. At Cricket Howzzat, we observe the graph as it dives or dips.
Within minutes of the show starting, the waiting lounge numbers go from 123 to 573 to 691. "When we see a drop, we announce a window of two minutes. If that doesn't work, we give them a clue. The last resort is to promise a caller Rs 2,000, even if his answer is wrong."
A caller from Bengaluru, 28, who wishes to remain anonymous, had won Rs 20,000 in November last year. He only had to wait 10 minutes to get connected. But when he tried again some days later, he hung up after being kept on hold for half an hour. "Probably your number gets recorded and the system doesn't take calls from the same number again," he says.
The money
What's in it for the channels? Harsh Rohatgi of Imagine tells us that they get paid a "very small fee" for time on air. "We don't get very high TRPs, but it's an interactive and engaging means of entertainment. Audiences prefer it to repeat telecasts of soaps."
Anchors get paid anything between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 for an hour of live talking. Khuri Bathena anchors Bollywood Dhamaal from 10.30 pm to 12 am on E-24, followed by Gold Safe from 12 am to 2 am. The adrenaline rush keeps her going. She too was initially baffled by the dumb answers. "Now, I don't get into the tricks of the trade.
I tell myself that for some people, it's difficult, for others it's easy." Another host, Mohsin Khan, says, "It's fun and challenging. I get paid for it." What about the woes of waiting? Mohsin is quick to point out two callers who got through to him twice, three times in the same night; one even won the prize.
Test drive: Here's what happened when we called in Cricket Howzzat on India TV made me wait for half-an-hour while a recorded message convinced me why it was smart if I stayed on hold. "Agar aap hold karenge, aapke jeetne ke chances aur badhenge." As the callers who got through came up with bizarre answers including "Gautam Gambhir" and "Anil Kumble", I hung up after holding for half an hour. An SMS flashed on my mobile screen when I disconnected -- I had been charged Rs 12 for every minute I had waited.
Guess the numbers
Number of calls across shows every night: Nearly 17000
Number of calls taken on every show: At most 30
Number of winners on every show: 1-5
Prize money: Rs 2000 -Rs 85000
Calls per minute: 120 - 500
You pay per minute: Rs 10 - Rs 12
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
