A large part of general entertainment channels now survive on the success of these serials. While most of the serials seem to be provocative and violent with unbelievable content and unconvincing twists, they still seem to be the shows that take the prime time slots. Huge posters of a missing boy were put up all over Hyderabad which grabbed the attention of many.

Only later did people notice that the poster belonged to a Telugu dubbed Hindi serial and the “missing boy” part was a major twist in the serial.

The new trend of publicizing the serials is indeed very surprising. Some of the episodes are dedicated just for publicity by involving actors from other serials and taking the shows to public by organizing huge events.

The Telugu serials chinna kodalu, muddu bidda, etc., of Zee Telugu came with such programmes where huge events were organized to garner public support for the positive characters of the serial. Also, there would be celebrations of some happy event in a family belonging to one serial by organizing a huge celebration by including actors from other serials. These episodes would then be telecasted for days together adding to the already prolonged saga.

These tactics are used by the production houses to prolong the serials and get more and more publicity and viewership.

Though the psychological effects of these serials on the audience are not tested, but it is sure that they have some effect. The continuous bombardment of ads about serials and huge posters and hoardings about some event that is going to happen in the serial would indeed intrigue the viewers and provoke them to watching it.

Like there are movie launches and promotion and success celebrations, it would not be surprising if these trends move to serials.