JioStar's Colors bets on shades of socially-rooted stories, reality shows

Mint

a day ago

As the general entertainment category (GEC) grapples with audience fatigue and a shortage of fresh storytelling, JioStar's Colors is doubling down on a two-pronged strategy: socially rooted fiction and high-impact nonfiction. Known for portraying issues such as child marriage and transgender rights, the channel is also riding the popularity of reality hits such as 'Bigg Boss' and 'Khatron Ke Khiladi' to stay relevant across television and digital.
It has also invested in homegrown intellectual property (IP) such as Laughter Chefs, Dance Deewane, Hunarbaaz, Kitchen Champion and Cricket Ka Ticket, among others.
In a post-merger landscape with Disney's Star India, Colors is positioning itself not just as another GEC, but as a brand with broader appeal, aiming to cut across demographics while resisting the creative stagnation plaguing the category.
According to data from television monitoring agency Barc (Broadcast Audience Research Council) for the 26 July-1 August week, Colors ranked ninth in the list of top 10 channels across categories in India.
'Colors occupies a unique position that is based on telling stories based on social issues or social truths that no other channel does. In that sense, the positioning has always been very different," said Alok Jain, one of the cluster heads for the entertainment business at JioStar. The channel that launched with Balika Vadhu, a show around child marriage in 2008, has since, touched upon themes such as transgender rights (Shakti—Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki), female foeticide (Doree), and having a child out of wedlock (Choti Sarrdaarni).
Jain said Colors has attracted a relatively broader target audience compared to other GECs, by offering homegrown stories that speak of social realities and don't necessarily resonate with just men or women.
In its non-fiction bouquet, Laughter Chefs has emerged as the number one non-fiction show in the comedy genre in the last six years within Pay Hindi GEC, and is currently also the top-ranked non-fiction show on air. For the past seven years, the top non-fiction show on television has belonged to Colors.
In February 2024, Reliance Industries Ltd and The Walt Disney Co. joined forces to create a joint venture (JV) that combined the businesses of Reliance's associate company Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd and Disney's Star India. The JV brought together media assets across entertainment (television channels such as Colors, Star Plus, Star Gold) and sports (Star Sports and Sports18), besides content streaming on over-the-top video platforms JioCinema and Hotstar, reaching more than 750 million viewers across India.
Jain does not see any overlaps between the GECs. 'Colors and Star Plus are very different brands and we want to nurture and grow them separately in their unique ways. Had they been similar, we would have been worried, but there aren't chances of cannibalization in that sense," he added.
Several industry experts agree Colors has traditionally managed more balanced viewership than most of its competitors, thanks to the skew towards non-fiction and social reality-based programming. That said, like the GEC category in general, it is battling the challenge of innovation. Despite being on air for nearly two decades, most reality shows have failed to see significant growth in viewership and have witnessed budget cuts. Fiction shows, meanwhile, haven't managed the same impact as the older launches such as Balika Vadhu.
'Fiction on TV is either relying on generation leaps or simply adapting from other languages. There is an urgent need for fresh and original writing for things to change. Only the broadcasters are not at fault, everyone including the advertisers, needs to push for something new," said Partho Dasgupta, managing partner at Thoth Advisors and ex-chief executive officer at Barc India.
Jain, on his part, continues to see hope in the linear television business considering it is the go-to medium for the masses. 'Television continues to be the largest medium in the Hindi heartland. There is a need for everyone, including the creative and advertising fraternity, to understand that stories cannot come only from the worlds around us but from across this large and diverse country," he said.
'…This is an era of hyper attention and there are a lot more options for consumers. So, we need to be far more grounded to what the consumer wants and entertain them whenever, wherever, and on whatever medium they want," said Jain, describing the firm as a screen-agnostic one.