Reality of reality shows - part 1

Talent hunt shows and reality shows are ruling the TV channels now. Sony's highest TRP gainer is Indian Idol and so is Zee's Saregama Challenge 2005 and Star One's Great Indian Laughter Challenge. As Industry estimates tell Sony invested around 50 crores for promoting Indian Idol and Fame Gurukul when it launched them but the total investment for Indian Idol 2 is only 20 to 22 crores. Does that mean the cost of promotion is more than producing the show, one reason could be Sony goes overboard in promoting the shows and may be its needed also as families which are glued to Star Plus would find it difficult to tune to Sony. As mostly mothers watch the Ekta Kapoor soaps on Star Plus and in a joint family system no one dares to change the channel and it is true for other small families also as the wife gets to decide the channel if there is no cricket on show. But still Star One has managed to create a new space for itself without any major marketing strategy other than promos on the No.1 channel, Star Plus. Though Star One had tough time buying frequency on the prime band by greasing cable owners as no one really thought there is space for yet another mass entertainment channel in Hindi. May be comedy(Great Indian Laughter Challenge) and new ideas(Nach Baliye) worked in its favor. But still its Great Indian Comedy Show(poor & stale content) does not have as much popularity and nor does shows like Bluff Master which are unique and have great content also. The bottom line is good shows gain popularity even without huge publicity and marketing tricks. Much of Great Indian Laughter Challenge's popularity can be attributed to word of mouth publicity through MMS forwards or email forwards containing clips of Sunil Pal's and Raju Srivastava's performances. And sometimes even the best coverage and publicity does not work as was the case with Channel V's Superhit Singer which was simulcasted on all the Star Channels but it never clicked and it could never create stir which Sony managed to create with Indian Idol.