Colors Hikes Ad Rates by 30 Per Cent for Bigg Boss 8

The Salman Khan-hosted show will launch on September 21. It will feature 12 celebrities living in the house for around 90 days to win the game.

The latest season of Salman Khan-hosted show Bigg Boss is on its way. Colors has announced the launch of Bigg Boss 8 on September 21 and the show will air everyday at 9 pm.

The format of the show remains the same - 12 contestants will live in a house and compete with each other to win. This season, Bigg Boss will air for 90 episodes. Produced by Endemol India, it will be presented by Snapdeal.com. Oppo Mobile has come on board as the 'powered by' sponsor and Maruti Suzuki has been signed as the 'driven by' sponsor. The associate sponsors for the show are Garnier Men, TVS Motors, Cardekho.com, Bisleri Urzza and JK Tyres.

Bigg Boss 8, a high investment property, is rumoured to go overseas this season. As per sources in the industry the production cost of the show is around Rs 130-150 crore. In an interview with afaqs! in the past, Nayak had mentioned that Bigg Boss is a loss-making property in terms of sheer numbers. Having said that, the show is continuing with the property because of the buzz and perception it gets for the channel.

According to Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors, the channel has hiked ad rates by 30 per cent. "The endeavour is to break even this year. Bigg Boss has grown to become a television phenomenon. With the continued success of the show, season after season, we are now looking forward to surpassing audience expectations with an airy-edgy theme," he says.

Khan is hosting the show for the fifth time. "Like always, we'll have an incredible range of travellers on board this time. As we fly high, I can only advise passengers to stay calm and collected as patience, tolerance, tact and trust are the only tools that will control the turbulence," he says referring to the current season's theme: flying.

Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO, Snapdeal.com says that the partnership was a strategic decision to reach out to the larger target audience. "Bigg Boss is a show that is followed across the country and we wanted to be associated with a name which has a high consumer recall," he says.

Deepak Dhar, MD, Endemol, adds, "Bigg Boss has won over viewers across age groups. The audience revels in the erratic format and with every season we reinvent ourselves to make the show as unpredictable and entertaining as ever. We hope that this seasons' numerous surprises, will have everybody glued to their television sets."

The marketing strategies of Bigg Boss 8 will revolve around increasing market penetration and connecting with new consumers. It will use all media platforms or formats across 200 cities and towns. For higher resonance, radio stations across 30 cities will be tapped. For buildup, the channel is running promos on 30 TV channels while an OOH campaign will be splashed across strategic locations in key markets.

Viewers will be updated with tune-ins via facebook and twitter. While facebook will have a fun Bigg Boss themed app to test the survival strategies of the player, Twitter will leak LIVE information 24x7. The website will have uncensored videos and a 'Khabri' who will blog live updates. There will be a mobile app to beam live feed to keep the viewers tuned in on the go.