t takes all kinds. This much was certain as young city slickers lined up with the hoi polloi, and enthusiastically flexed their vocal chords even when they knew that the end probably lay in public humiliation. Sony Entertainment Television (SET) had reason to be delighted by the spectacle these young men and women made of themselves. It allowed the channel to claim that Indian Idol had the highest viewership for a new TV show in 2004.

According to TAM, Indian Idol fetched a TVR of 5.41 in its first week (beginning October 23), rising to 6.41 by the following week (TG: CS 4+ Hindi-speaking market). All the episodes in the launch week entered the list of the top 50 programmes and channel share jumped dramatically. ... more