‘Bigg Boss’ : The Boss of Indian Television

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is back as the host of the popular reality show Bigg Boss season 8. This year Colors has upped the ante and is set to spend Rs 140-150 crore making Bigg Boss the most expensive show on TV.

This year, Bigg Boss will be aired from September-end or the first week of October. At the daily primetime slot of 9:00 pm-10:00 pm. Bigg Boss that will be presented by Salman Khan is also to command the highest sponsorship and advertising rates , as Colors is selling ad rates for a 10-second spot on Bigg Boss for Rs 3.5-4 lakh.

As per sources, The rates being sought for Bigg Boss are second only to this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament (Rs 4-4.5 lakh). The average ad rate for the top daily shows is Rs 1.5 lakh for 10 seconds. For Bigg Boss title sponsorship, e-commerce site SnapDeal is forking out Rs 35 crore for this season, much more than the Rs 25 crore telecom operator Vodafone had paid for the show last year.

Bollywood’s Dabangg who was reluctant to host this year’s season of Big Boss, is apparently being paid Rs. 5 to 6 crores per week. Last season he was paid around 3.5 to 4 crores. Seems like Sallu will be apparently pocketing around 60 to 65 crores this season. While Amitabh Bachchan, who hosts Kaun Banega Crorepati on SET, gets an estimated Rs 4 crore a week, Karan Johar had received Rs 1.5 crore for Koffee With Karan on STAR World.

In the past five years, Colors didn’t make any money on the show. This year, the channel aims to break-even. and hopes to secure Rs 140-145 crore from the sponsors alone.