Roadies has one of MTV’s most popular shows now in its seventh season, has turned out tougher and meaner than before. The Roadies fandom has grown widely over the last few years both in offline as well as online media. The Roadies 7 page on Facebook boasts over 2,800 fans with varied discussion threads, the Roadies 7 community on Orkut has garnered over 61,000 members and Twitter has around 120 followers of Roadies 7.
Ashish Patil, General Manager and Senior Vice-President, Creative and Content, MTV, said, “The show’s presence on social networking sites such as Twitter let them understand the consumer’s response in real time.” “That way, halfway through the show we can figure out what part of the show is being accepted by the audience and what part needs to be worked on,” he added.
The show has undergone major changes in terms of format and special focus has been devoted to the participants’ performance.
The shortlisted participants were made to undergo a new level called ‘Ride with Ranvijay’ wherein the 24 riders were put through various tasks until the final seven roadies were selected based on their performance. The Roadies’ flag-off was also on a much larger scale this year with a concert and the cast of 3 Idiots’ flagging it off.
Another surprising element for Roadies 7 is actor Irrfan Khan who will appear in seven out of fifteen episodes and each of his appearance will signify one of the seven deadly sins.
Since this is a youth-centric show, the channel has tapped into the digital space in a big way and the entire application process this year was carried out online and only the shortlisted participants were called for the group discussion. Since there is a substantial fan following of Roadies online, the channel decided to add the Roadies group on Facebook and regularly send out information such as exclusive videos and sneak peeks to this group.
Also the channel has decided to tone down the language that is used on the show so as to make it more family friendly and increase its viewership as well.
The channel has also tied up with various companies like Wranglers for special edition of Roadies helmets, Ballarpur Industries Ltd (BILT) for a range of Roadies notebooks, Portico for Roadies bedsheets and Aureole Inspecs for a range of Roadies sunglasses. This January, Wrigleys is slated to launch a Roadies edition chewing gum featuring Ranvijay on the cover of the gum.
Ashish Patil stated, “Last year’s season got an average rating of TVR 3. This year, we will be happy if it meets the TVR of last year as now everyone has shows in the same time slot, that is, Sunday 7 pm.”
The channel is also using different shows with a view to attract more viewers. For instance, the third season of ‘Spitsvilla’, is aired on Saturdays at 7 pm. Even the repeat episodes of Roadies as well as ‘Splitsvilla’, has enabled the channel gain viewers from across the country.