Zee Kannada announced the launch of the fifth season of the channel’s chat show ‘Weekend with Ramesh’ hosted by actor and director Ramesh Aravind. Audiences will see him interact with achievers from different walks of life on Saturdays and Sundays, from 9 to 10.30pm, from March 25.
In a brief conversation with Medianews4u.com, Raghavendra Hunsur, Chief Content Officer, Zee Kannada and Zee Keralam, spoke about the new set of viewers the show is expected to bring, sponsor responses and more.
New set of viewers
There are indeed new sets of viewers the show is expected to bring, revealed Hunsur.
“When it comes to ‘Weekend with Ramesh’, there is a rise in a new set of male audience at the age group of 40+ in urban markets, which we consider a trend. Especially in urban markets, the 18+ younger audience who are skewed towards sports and news genre, but who love to listen to inspiring stories of celebrities, get converted as viewers for the ‘Weekend with Ramesh’ show,” he said.
While the core strategy is not to woo the IPL viewership, the show works well in garnering young and male audience viewership during the IPL, noted the spokesperson. “It was a trend we have observed during the last four seasons,” he added.
On Sponsors
The show which will be telecast from will replace the reality show Comedy Khiladigalu.
The show has Nippon Paint as title sponsor. Other sponsors include Parishrama NEET Academy, Cycle Pure Agarbathies, GRB, Cadbury Gems, Sudarshan Silks and TurboSteel.
“The title sponsor is Nippon Paint and have onboarded 14 sponsors already. This is a show which every sponsor hops on to. The sponsorship is set at a premium. The response from the sponsors is great as the show has a different value system and class positioning which will add value to the brands associated,” elaborated Hunsur.
On show format
“We haven’t made any changes to the show format as the current format is crafted beautifully. Of course, the people and stories are new. We have reworked on the sets and it’s slightly large when compared to the previous seasons. Audience participation is important for a show like this, so from this season onwards we have added a segment where the audience can ask questions to the celebrities,” explained the content head.
