Satyamev Jayate - Quantifying the impact

Aamir's new show - Satyamev Jayate - is the new hot thing.

• It's breaking all TRP records [1]
• It's trending on Twitter every Sunday - for more than 24 hours [2]
• It's got more than 3 million channel views on YouTube within two weeks
• About 780,000+ likes on Facebook and 26,000+ followers on Twitter. 

Any "social media expert" would be willing to give his hand & leg for those kind of numbers on a campaign under his/her watch!

Let's shift our attention away from the show itself, to the issues that the show is talking about. Here's what Google Insights tells us about female foeticide and child abuse (the issues raised in the first two episodes of the show):

Search volume on Google for "female foeticide" & "child abuse" against time

Pretty impressive, right? Searches for "female foeticide" (and related terms) rose by 80% rose by 610% in the week the first episode aired. Searches for "child abuse" (which includes "child sex abuse") have also risen by about 610% 90% if the data point based on a partial week can be believed.

However, the same "partial-week" data point claims that interest in "female foeticide" decreased by 60% the very next week! That's right -- the fervour didn't even last 10 days.

But those data points are only about awareness. Let's look at the easiest way someone can show real support -- by putting one's money where one's mouth is. In this case that would mean SMS-ing, online donations, or offline deposits into Axis Bank. So, what's the easiest way to donate with the largest possible reach (apart from the stupid "clicktivism" sponsorship by Junglee.com -- rant for another post)? SMS, right? Something tells me that the SMS donations for SatyamevJayate wouldn't even be close to the number of SMS votes received in last season's Indian Idol/Bigg Boss/etc.

But, I don't think SatyamevJayate would report the donation amounts transparently. They can. But they won't. I mean, they're doing a brilliant job of using the web for amplifying their message and have done a decent job with their website. It can't be too tough for them to put a live donation counter on the website - at least for SMS & online donations.

But, I don't think they will. Because the donation amounts would be an embarrassing figure to report. And if I had to go out on a limb, I'd blame their call-to-action for this reason. The way they ask for donations has no drama. It has no immediate story. As they say "One death is a tragedy. A million deaths, a statistic" Every time they call for donations it feels like it's for a statistic. You can't connect it to a single story that your donation actually can help solve. To me it feels like it is going into an amorphous concept of "working with children" or "preventing female foeticide". More like a black hole, really. Something that can never be filled.

I'd happy to be proven wrong on this. I'd be glad that my fellow countrymen could be moved by a TV programme fronted by their favourite Bollywood celebrity so much that they'd actually take the time to send an SMS for a cause they believe in. At least, I haven't

Unforunately, I think I'll be proven right.

Anyways. I intend to track at least the awareness impact by Satyamev Jayate on a regular basis. Stay tuned.

Btw, fun fact...

On YouTube, the Satyamev Jayate channel has collectively received 3 million+ views as against 55 million for Kolaveri Di


UPDATE #1: Fixed the faulty percentage calculations.

UPDATE #2: The follow-up post is up.

[1] So, where can one view the TRPs for all shows aired last week (or month)?
[2] On the Internet, with a collective attention span of a 2 year old, that's quite a feat.