Category: Viewership

Disney Channel’s ‘Imagine That’ opens to a successful launch week

MUMBAI: Imagine That, the brand new property of Disney Channel, launched on 6 September at 9.30 am. The show focuses on tapping into the kid’s natural desire to explore and create through DIY. Centered around the theme of upcycling, host and kids’ favourite Rob encourage them to express themselves and repurpose the simplest things into extraordinary art. The show performed exceedingly well in its launch week. It was the #2 highest series launch since 2018 in the category with a viewership of 592 TVTs in its launch episode. Source: BMW Software, Market- India Urban, TG- 2-14 ABC, All Day, 0700-2300, Wk 33-36’ 20.

Imagine That has Cello Colour Up as the presenter for its upcoming show Imagine That which will be powered by Byju’s The Learning App. There was an extensive digital campaign that was undertaken by the channel; which focused on building awareness for the show in the month leading up to the launch. Post launch the focus shifted to engaging people contextually within the DIY category. All initiatives across platforms were a roaring success. The overall impressions are currently at 95 million+ and the total views have crossed the 30 million mark. Social media influencers were activated – bringing in mommy blogger communities; kid influencers, the Art Community and their followers in addition to popular influencers. A social media challenge called Imagine That Challenge is performing phenomenally well and engaging fans across. And all these initiatives were supported by ancillary Content support that make the interactions and conversations across the social handles.

Star and Disney India Infotainment and Kids head Anuradha Aggarwal said, “With Imagine That, we wanted to create a platform where kids could express themselves and push the boundaries of their imagination through the ever popular DIY format. The message of upcycling brought alive through a fun and innovative approach, struck a chord with kids and parents. We are excited that kids and art lovers across the country are engaging with the show on our channel and digital platforms. ”

September 18, 2020
BARC week 36: Sony SAB replaces Zee TV on the pay platform

MUMBAI: Sony SAB has replaced Zee TV to secure second position on the pay platform however it continues to remain on third spot in the urban market in week 36 of 2020 (Saturday 5 September 2020 to Friday 11 September 2020) of Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data. Dangal makes a comeback on the top 10 list of channels on the pay platform but slips down from being in the ninth spot in week 35 of BARC India data to tenth position in week 36.

Read more news on BARC

Pay Platform

On Pay platform Star Plus, Sony Sab, Zee TV, Colors, Star Utsav, Sony Entertainment Television, Sony Pal, Star Bharat, Colors Rishtey and Dangal, were the top ten channels in the week 36 of BARC India ratings.

Urban

In the urban market, the top ten channels were Star Plus, Star Utsav, Sony Sab, Colors, Zee TV, Sony Entertainment Television, Sony Pal, Colors Ristey, Zee Anmol and Dangal are in the top ten week 36 of BARC India ratings.

Rural

Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Dangal, Sony Pal, Colors Rishtey, Star Plus,Big Magic, Zee TV, Sony Sab and Colors were the top ten channels in the rural market.

Free platform

On the Free platform Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Dangal, Sony Pal, Colors Rishtey, Big Magic, DD National, DD Bharati, DD Retro and DD Madhya Pradesh were the top ten channels in week 36 of BARC ratings.

September 17, 2020
Religious genre emerges as top gainer in Chrome DM week 36

MUMBAI: Religious genre has become the top gainer in week 36, 2020 of Chrome Data Analytics and Media data. The genre grew by 0.81 per cent. In this genre, Sanskar has gained the highest OTS with 98.2 per cent in HSM excl <1l market.

OTS is the actual census-based percentage connectivity of a channel spread across 81 million homes, as reported by Chrome DM, across analogue cable, digital cable, and DTH.

This week, Hindi news has gained second with a growth 0.66 per cent in HSM excluding <1 lakh market. In this genre, ABP News gained the highest OTS with 99.8 per cent.

Read more coverage on Chrom DM

Following Hindi News, English News, Youth, Sports have grown by 0.38, 0.20, 0.14 per cent respectively. In these genres, Loksabha TV , MTV, DD Sports have gained highest OTS.

September 17, 2020

BARC Week 35: Dettol emerges as the top brand

NEW DELHI: The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of India has released its data for top advertisers and brands for the period between 29 August 2020 to 4 September 2020. The data reflects the top 10 advertisers and brands across genres on India television, 2+ Individuals, NCCS All demonstrating ads that were inserted the most in week 35 of 2020.

Top advertisers:

Hindustan Unilever continued to be the biggest advertiser this week it got 243758 impressions. It was followed by Reckitt Benckiser India which ranked second with 162462 ad impressions.

Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd bagged the third spot with 41159 insertions. Godrej Consumer Products Ltd and Procter & Gamble secured the fourth and fifth place with 26908 and 23885 insertions respectively.

ITC Ltd bagged the sixth spot with 23505 ad insertions.

Other top brands in the pecking order were as follows: Colgate Palmolive India, Cadbury India, Wipro Ltd, and Ponds India.

Rank	Advertiser	Insertions
		Week 35
1	HINDUSTAN LEVER LTD	243758
2	RECKITT BENCKISER (INDIA) LTD	162462
3	BROOKE BOND LIPTON INDIA LTD	41159
4	GODREJ CONSUMER PRODUCTS LTD	26908
5	PROCTER & GAMBLE	23885
6	ITC LTD	23505
7	COLGATE PALMOLIVE INDIA LTD	23391
8	CADBURYS INDIA LTD	20873
9	WIPRO LTD	20719
10	PONDS INDIA	19427
TOP 10 Advertiser *Across Genre : All India (U+R) : 2+ Individuals, To get this data on your Twitter timeline, tweet with #BarcTweet Top 10 Advertisers

Top Brands-

Dettol Antiseptic Liquid, after a few weeks, returned to the top spot with 27226 ad insertions. Dettol Toilet Soaps this time came in the second position with 17509 ad insertions. Dettol Liquid Soap bagged the third spot with 17230 ad impressions.

The fourth and fifth spots were acquired by Surf Excel easy wash and Lizol with 16509 and 13032 ad insertions respectively.

The sixth position was grabbed by Dettol & Moms Soap for the first time in the last so many weeks with 13018 ad insertions.

Other top brands in the pecking order were as follows: Wheel Active 2 in 1, Clinic Plus Shampoo, Jeevansathi, Facebook.

Rank	Brands	Insertions
		Week 35
1	DETTOL ANTISEPTIC LIQUID	27226
2	DETTOL TOILET SOAPS	17509
3	DETTOL LIQUID SOAP	17230
4	SURF EXCEL EASY WASH	16509
5	LIZOL	13032
6	DETTOL & MOMS SOAP	13018
7	WHEEL ACTIVE 2 IN 1	11319
8	CLINIC PLUS SHAMPOO	11130
9	JEEVANSATHI.COM	11084
10	FACEBOOK.COM	10152
TOP 10 Brands *Across Genre : All India (U+R) : 2+ Individuals, To get this data on your Twitter timeline, tweet with #BarcTweet Top 10 Brands

September 11, 2020

BARC week 35: Star Plus continues to dominate the urban market and pay platform

MUMBAI: Star Plus remained the undisputed leader on the pay platform and in the urban market in week 35 of 2020 ( Saturday, 29 August 2020 to Friday, 4 September 2020) of Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data. Zee TV secured second position on the pay platform but slips down to fifth spot in the urban market. Star Utsav continues to lead in the rural market.

Pay Platform

On Pay platform Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony Sab, Colors, Star Utsav, Sony Entertainment Television, Sony Pal, Star Bharat, Zee Anmol, and Colors Rishtey, were the top ten channels in the week 35 of BARC India ratings.

Urban

In the urban market, the top ten channels were Star Plus, Star Utsav, Sony Sab, Colors, Zee TV, Sony Entertainment Television, Sony Pal, Zee Anmol, Dangal, and Colors Ristey, in the top ten week 35 of BARC India ratings.

Rural

Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Dangal, Sony Pal, Colors Rishtey, Star Plus, Zee TV, Big Magic, Sony Sab and Colors were the top ten channels in the rural market

Free platform

On the Free platform Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Dangal, Sony Pal, Colors Rishtey, Big Magic, DD National, DD Bharati, DD Retro and DD Uttar Pradesh were the top ten channels in week 35 of BARC ratings.

September 10, 2020
Hindi channels prop up Top TV channels viewership as Star Utsav dominance continues

BENGALURU: Television viewership in terms of weekly impressions declined 3.98 percent in Week 34 of 2020 (Week 34: Saturday, 22 August 2020 to Friday, 28 August 2020, week or period under review) as compared to the immediate previous week 33. Per Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly data in the public domain, overall TV+OOH viewership in Week 34 of 2020 was 16.9 billion weekly impressions as compared to 17.6 billion weekly impressions in Week 33. After a steady increase since Unlock 1.0 (Week 22 of 2020), the drop of 0.7 billion impressions was the steepest one since the country opened up after the Covid2019 Lockdown that had commenced on 25 March 2020 or midweek in Week 13 of 2020. At that time, home-tied Indians turned to the easiest and most accessible medium for live news. Indians wanted to know more and more about the new pandemic that had forced most of the world to suddenly stop. Television viewership shot up to 20.9 billion impressions in Week 14 of 2020, with the News genre recording the largest growth, while GEC viewership slid down. Four genres – GEC, Movies, News and Kids are normally responsible for more than 90 percent of television viewership. The breakup for the COVID2019 average between Weeks 2 to 4 of 2020 was: GEC at 52 percent, Movies at 23 percent, and News and Kids at 7 percent each, or a combined total of 89 percent. The breakup of the combined total of 94 percent for these four genres in Week 13 of 2020 was GEC 40 percent, Movies 29 percent, News 18 percent and Kids 7 percent. It must be noted that overall television viewership had climbed up

Despite the drop in Week 34 of 2020, TV viewership based on weekly impressions in Week 34 of 2020 was 1.4 percent more than the average of Weeks 2 to 4 of 2020 of 14.8 billion weekly impressions. The current ratings agency BARC along with the older one Nielsen commenced editions of “Crisis Consumption – Impact Of COVID -19 On TV And Smartphone Behaviour Across India”. At the time of writing of this paper, eleven editions have been released by BARC-Nielsen. The ratings duo has standardized the average data for Weeks 2 to 4 of 2020 as a measure for television consumption trends. The author has also used the same yardstick to analyze television consumption trends of the Top channels based on BARC weekly data published each week in the public domain of the top 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 10 Television channels of each genre, sub-genre, language and/or platform in all-India or the respective market, The analysis of this paper is limited to that extent. Where required, data from the 11 editions released by BARC-Nielsen has been used. Though the percentages of share of consumption may differ from the numbers in the BARC-Nielsen reports and those arrived at by the author based on limited BARC data available in the public domain, BARCs’ historical conclusions generally conform with them. Please refer to the figure below for TV+OOH viewership data as per BARC Weekly data.

Viewership share of GECs’ has been growing post Week 22 of 2020 per the latest BARC-Nielsen report which included data for Week 33 of 2020. Week 22 of 2020 was when a number of genres started creating fresh content after UNLOCK 1.0 commenced. Viewership share of GECs’ was 52 percent of overall television in Week 33 of 2020 which is at par with the Pre-COVID2019 average (average of Weeks 2 to 4 of 2020). In Week 12 of 2020, it had plunged to an all-time low of 39 percent. The 11th edition of the BARC-Nielsen report that included data for Week 33 of 2020 revealed that the overall television viewership of 17.6 billion impressions was still 22 percent higher than the pre-COVID2019 viewership. The breakup of growth in viewership between the HSM and South in Week 33 of 2020 was 24 percent and 17 percent respectively.

Analysis of BARC data of the top 3, 4, 5 or 10 channels of different genres of GECs’ reveals that despite viewership of the top 56 unique GEC channels from multiple genres declining 0.7 percent in Week 34 of 2020 as compared to 54 unique GEC channels from multiple genres in Week 34, the ratings of top 16 Hindi GECs’ was flat (increased 0.1 percent) as compared to the previous week. The drop in viewership was mainly in the regional languages including South Indian languages GECs’.

Similarly, in the case of News channels, though ratings of 50 plus unique news channels in different language declined by more than 5 percent in Week 34 of 2020 as compared to Week 33, ratings of the Top 5 Hindi News channels during the same period increased by 4.2 percent as compared to 6 unique channels in Week 33 of 2020. Hence, it is the Hindi channels that have reduced the impact of the fall in overall viewership ratings in Week 34 of 2020 from the ratings of Week 33 of 2020.

The figure below shows viewership share of various genres. It must be noted that the number of unique channels in both weeks is not the same (184 in Week 33 and 183 in Week 34 of 2020), and hence the number of unique channels across genres/sub-genres/languages/platform in the chart below are not the same in some cases. The author has created a rough measure by using data for unique channels that figure in BARCs’ weekly lists of Top 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 channels for the two weeks.

Top 10 Channels on All PlatformsAcross Genres

Star India’s Hindi GEC Star Utsav continued heading BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in Week 34 of 2020 for the third week in a row. As a matter of fact, 9 of the 10 channels in BARC’s Weekly list for Week 34 of 2020 were the same and had almost the same ranks as in the previous week. The only small reshuffling in ranks was the exchange of ranks between Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) Hindi GEC Zee Anmol and Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus. The latter moved up one place while the formed dropped one place to rank4. The other change was that Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV at rank 10 in Week 33 of 2020 exited the list during the period under review and was replaced by the Network18 (Viacom18) associated Telugu channel ETV Telugu.

Six Hindi GECs’, three Telugu channels and one Tamil channel made up BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in Week 30 of 2020. There were 3 Star India channels, two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and Zeel and one channel each from Enterr 10 Television, Sun TV Network (Sun TV) and Network18/Viacom18 in the list for Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in Week 34 of 2020.

Please refer to the chart below:

Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres

Sun TV continued to lead BARC Weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres during the period under review. Nine of the 10 channels in BARC’s weekly list for Week 34 of 2020 were the same as in the previous week, but with some shuffling of ranks. Gemini TV, The Sun TV Network’s flagship Telugu GEC, exited the list and was replaced by Zeel’s flagship Kannada GEC Zee Kannada.

There were four channels from the Hindi GEC genre, three channels from the Telugu genre two channels from the Tamil genre and one channel Kannada genre in BARC weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in Week 34 of 2020. There were three channels from Zeel, two channels each from Star India, Sun Tv Network and Network18/Viacom18 and one channel from SPN in BARC’s weekly top paychannels list for Week 34 of 2020. Please refer to the chart below.

Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres

Star Utsav headed BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in Week 34 of 2020. All of the 10 channels in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in Week 30 of 2020 were the same as in Week 29 with some shuffling of ranks

There were three channels from Zeel, two channels from Viacom18 and one channel each from B4U Network, Enterr 10 Television, Goldmine Telefilms, SPN and Star India in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in Week 30 of 2020. There six Hindi GECs’ and four Hindi Movies channels in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in Week 29 of 2020. Please refer to the figure below:

September 9, 2020
Star Maa goes in for an identity refresh

MUMBAI: When you are the leader, you set the pace. Disney Star India’s Telugu bouquet under the Star Maa umbrella – which has been numero uno in that language ever since one can remember – is going in for an identity refresh. Coinciding with the launch episode of the fourth season of its blockbuster Big Boss, it unveiled a new vibrant channel identity with host Nagarjuna saying it saying it’s a new start for an even more glorious journey of an already very strong brand.

A press release issued by the network states that “Star Maa holds together three important aspects – pride in our Samskruthi (culture), our Sampradayam (tradition), and weaving stories towards Purogati (progress). At Star Maa, our attempt is to celebrate the blend of these three aspects in every story we tell. We believe that there is a little bit of Star Maa in every one of us “

The Star Maa cluster of channels operates and leads in three genres: GEC, movies and music. Commanding a combined market share of 25 per cent these channels own the largest share of Telugu television viewership. In the GEC category, Star Maa enjoys a 30 per cent plus market share and is a dominant leader with the widest variety of programming. Star Maa Movies is the biggest movies channel and Star Maa Music most vibrant and distinct youth destination.

Star Maa is so dominant in the Telugu market that its general entertainment/reality shows occupy four of the top five slots there. Amongst these: Karthika Deepam, Intinit Gruhlakhsmi, , Mounaragam, Teff Vineya Vidheya Rama.

Says a Star Maa spokesperson: “We are incredibly humbled by the love the audience has showered on us in the past few years and our attempt with the new identity is to thank our viewers and offer them a channel they feel more proud to be a part of. Our viewers are our inspiration and their ability to keep their roots while developing the wings to fly is what drive us. This change is intended to celebrate the cultural richness of the Telugu region and build us as not just an entertaining brand but also an inspiring storyteller, that shapes society.”

September 7, 2020
BARC India to mitigate impact of landing page on TV viewership

MUMBAI: As a part of its ongoing ‘data validation quality initiative’ aimed at improving measurement science and mitigating impact on viewership of extraneous factors, BARC India is introducing algorithms into its data validation method to mitigate the impact of landing page on viewership data across all genres of channels. Data release for Week 34, 2020, data starting 22 August 2020, release date 03 September 2020 will reflect the new initiative.

“The results of hundreds of hours of research and several months of rigorous development and testing are very promising. BARC India will now be able to mitigate any landing page anomaly to better reflect viewer’s choice.” says, BARC India measurement science and business analytics chief Dr Derrick Gray. He adds, “the existing method was based on symptomatic statistics and we have improved upon it with a method that directly uses inferential statistics to deliver better results across all genres.”

Complimenting the efforts of Dr Gray and his team, BARC India CEO Sunil Lulla says, “Considering that the data provided by BARC India builds the currency of the advertising trade, we consistently strive to ensure that our data capture, representation, and reporting be as scientific and accurate as possible. This new validation rule will further strengthen the rating currency and provide a level playing field to small and large broadcasters.”

“The ‘Data Validation Quality Initiative’ instituted by BARC India in June 2019 under the supervision of the Oversight Committee involves ongoing industry stakeholder consultations and internal reviews to identify dynamic improvement needed to continue strengthening the robustness of its ratings”, says Oversight Committee & BARC India board member Nakul Chopra, about the ‘Data Validation Quality Initiative’.

September 3, 2020
Zee is becoming a part of advertisers’ culture: Ashish Sehgal

NEW DELHI: Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd has gone through turbulent times for the past 18 months but under the able leadership of CEO Punit Goenka it seems to have managed to win the market confidence despite the impact of Covid2019 pandemic on revenues and the new NTO orders of channel pricing. With the confidence of investors back and advertising slowly clawing it's way back, the network is looking to a better tomorrow. Its chief growth officer of advertisement revenue Ashish Sehgal sat down for a virtual fireside chat with Indiantelevision.com founder CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari discussing the way ahead for the network and TV industry at large, on Tuesday evening.

Sehgal claimed that television, as a medium of entertainment as well as advertising, has a lot of scope in the country. “The first fact is that the penetration of TV itself is only 67 per cent in this country and so we see a huge growth opportunity there. Secondly, the consumer still has this habit of watching videos on television.”

He added that TV was recording double-digit growth till 2018-19, a pretty handsome growth from the perspective of how TV ad volumes work. “It’s just in the last financial year, 2019-20 that the economy started to take a dive and then this pandemic happened. The loss was pretty hard on other mediums too but recovery is faster on TV.”

Sehgal shared that the medium has already reached 70- 80 per cent of pre-Covid numbers and will match that by the end of this year. “FMCG, which is the mainstay for television contributing around 65 per cent of the overall ad revenues is coming back. And there is a lot of competition in that category, so I am expecting the other similar categories will also come back soon. Advertisers have realised that as the economy opens up they should start promoting themselves.”

He insisted that television has a bright future and the industry will pick up on a month-on-month basis from here on.

Sehgal said while he will not compare it to the last year numbers, in comparison to how the previous 3-4 months went, they had a good run during Ganpati and Onam.

He elaborated, “The sentiment is coming back. For example, I stay in Delhi and when you go out, you can see the traffic jams happening again and people are visiting markets. People have started venturing out. They are understanding that while they should be careful, they can’t be staying in the fear of the virus forever.”

According to him a number of channels have already started consolidating. During Onam, the Malayalam language channel Zee Keralam locked in numbers similar to last year and also maintained a steady viewership. The network’s Bhojpuri channels are market leaders and doing great in the Telugu market too. He is also expecting IPL to be a good time for his channels as well as the whole medium.

However, despite high viewership and ad volumes, one problem that still remains with TV as a medium of advertising is the cheap ad rates and the negotiations that are made on the advertisers’ part.

Sehgal quipped, “Television is still the cheapest medium to advertise and which is why it is also the preferred medium for advertising. It is also because advertisers are still paying on CPR basis but if you look at BARC ratings, it is (not) representing a very large population. A lot of genres, like English, are not very well represented by these ratings. Digital is monitoring each and every impression and TV is not doing that.”

To counter this, Zee has been working on newer approaches to help clients. Rather than just providing a medium to advertise, they are providing them solutions catering to their specific needs.

“We don’t have an approach of selling on our network any more. We are working with them to extend solutions helping them generate good ROI. We are working more like consultants to them. Be it curating special ads as we did for Cadbury where they wanted to thank all Covid2019 warriors or using our characters as influencers for their products, we are assisting them with a tactical understanding of their brands and TG.”

He added that each advertiser has its own culture and if a media partner starts becoming a part of that culture and not work on a transactional basis, it will retain the client for a long time.

September 2, 2020
Warner Media plans to energise India ops with HBO Max launch

MUMBAI: Warner Media’s is not where it wants to be in India as a business. This was admitted by its chief revenue officer & president Warner Media International Networks, Gerhard Zeiler today during the second leg of APOS2020.

He further expounded: “We have a strong kids’ business in Turner. Warner Bros is a strong distributor of content, and the content of HBO has mostly been sold to licensing partners. But this is not where we want to be in five years.”

According to him, the streaming service HBO Max will be the big driver going forward. “We have our work cut out in the market. But you will hear more about HBO Max in the next months or next year. It's going to be our workhorse going forward.”

Earlier this year, Priya Dogra was appointed as president WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks in EMEA and APAC region, replacing Giorgio Stock, who left in June. She was given this responsibility in addition to her previous role as executive vice president of strategy & corporate development.

September 1, 2020