One missed call to vote for DID 3 participants

By A Correspondent

We all have hopes. It’s what equips us to deal with life’s trials and tribulations. Each one of us has endless hopes….It’s this ‘Umeed’ that keeps us going.

Zee TV’s dance reality show, Maruti Suzuki Presents Dance India Dance will be shortly announcing its Behtareen Terah (13) contestants. And the key decision has been thrown open to the janta. Voting is our fundamental right and if we can vote for free to choose our government, then why should we spend money to vote for our favourite reality show contestants?

Taking this thought forward, Zee TV has made the entire voting process in reality shows free of cost. DID viewers can pick up the phone and give a Missed Call to their favourite contestants.

The thought of giving audiences an opportunity to choose the winner of a reality show through a public voting system, as a concept, was initiated by Zee TV for the very first time in 2003 for the show, Zee Cine Stars Ki Khoj.

After that, the concept of ‘one mobile- one vote’ was introduced during the time of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar in 2010, to avoid duplication while counting of votes made from the same number.

Now, the channel has devised a method which nullifies the entire debate about voting being a money making mechanism between the channel and the telecom companies! The Missed Call voting system devised by Zee TV in Dance India Dance Season 3 will ensure that there’s no fallacy in choosing a winner and will also erase all doubts about the existence of any benefits to the channel in the voting process. The channel will incorporate the same in its future reality shows as well.

“With DID Season 3 – Voting Free, we are aiming for never before achieved viewer’s participation in the show. With this voting system, every unique missed call will be counted as one unique vote thus making the janta janardan, the true adjudicator in deciding the fate of our show.  Technology is helping us value the viewer’s point of view even further. The decision of free voting is a welcome change to those who have hitherto refrained from participating owing to extra charges for an SMS to special numbers! There can be nothing more transparent than this mechanism in the decision of choosing the final winner of any reality show on ZEE TV,” said Akash Chawla, Head Marketing, National Channels, ZEEL.

Here’s how the mechanism works: Every contestant in the Behterein Terah has been designated with an unique number. All a viewer has to do is dial that number and after one ring, the call gets disconnected automatically. The viewer gets an acknowledgement message that his vote for the particular contestant has been registered. In one week, a viewer can vote for a particular contestant only once. However he can vote for multiple contestants in the same week. The best part is the viewers can call to vote their favourite contestant even with zero balance. The mechanism has already assisted in choosing the Wild Card entrants of the show.

Dance India Dance has always believed in exploring unique initiatives on a large scale to build its brand equity. Be it the grand Carnival that was conducted on the streets of Mumbai during DID Season 2 or the unique ‘Dance Mobs’ that were conducted in malls, multiplexes, railway stations and streets of Mumbai and Delhi during the launch of DID season 3 or the very recent Licensing & Merchandizing deal that the show has done with apparel giant Reebok to further build the brand.