Winning the TRP War: The Power of Listening to Viewers in Real Time

Client Overview: Our client is a popular Tamil-language television channel in India, widely known for its engaging programming, including serial dramas, reality shows, talk shows, and movies. The channel has built a reputation for delivering innovative, audience-focused content that keeps viewers coming back for more.

With fierce competition from other television networks, particularly in the high-stakes prime-time slot, maintaining strong TRP (Television Rating Point) performance is critical—especially for serial dramas that come with high production costs and broad audience expectations.

The Challenge

Prime-time serial dramas are a significant investment, targeting diverse viewers across various age groups. In this competitive space, even minor missteps in the storyline can lead to a drop in viewership and declining TRPs, impacting the channel's performance and revenue.

The client sought to regularly capture authentic viewer feedback to stay aligned with audience expectations, make quick content corrections, and benchmark their shows against competitors airing at the same time.

Our Approach: A Viewer-Centric Research Methodology

To meet this objective, we designed a robust feedback mechanism:

• Dedicated Viewer Panels: Separate panels were set up for each serial drama under observation. These included regular viewers of the client’s channel and “switch viewers” who also followed other serials airing in the same time slot on competitor channels.

• Individual Discussions: At the end of every week, one-on-one telephonic interviews were conducted with each panel member. Group discussions were intentionally avoided to ensure honest, unbiased opinions.

• In-Depth Insights: Rather than capturing just overall impressions, our discussions explored granular feedback—opinions on the storyline, the appeal of key characters (including lead and negative roles), and comparisons with competing serials.

Impact & Outcome

What began as a simple feedback initiative evolved into a powerful content optimization tool.

• The insights provided went beyond surface-level impressions and helped the client understand which story elements resonated most, which characters enhanced or diluted viewer interest, and whether the storyline felt engaging, practical, predictable, or dull.

• Regular comparative analysis with competitor serials airing in the same time slot gave the client a clear edge in refining their content strategy.

• Course corrections based on real viewer sentiments were swiftly implemented, helping the client stay in tune with evolving preferences.

The result?

With our continuous tracking and targeted recommendations, the client’s prime-time serials secured the #1 TRP position continuously for two months—a testament to the power of listening to your audience and responding with agility.

Turning viewer insights into impactful content decisions!