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Tag: Balaji Telefilms

  • ALTBalaji ends 2019 with 4x growth in direct subscriber base

    ALTBalaji ends 2019 with 4x growth in direct subscriber base

    MUMBAI: Subscription-based video streaming platform ALTBalaji has emerged as the fastest-growing over-the-top platform with four-fold growth in the direct subscriber base in 2019.

    ALTBalaji has launched 23 originals this year and garnered over 33 million subscriptions to date. It has been one of the top 3 highest-grossing apps with a library of 53 exclusive originals.

    ALTBalaji chief executive officer and Balaji Telefilms Group chief operation officer Nachiket Pantvaidya said, “2019 has been a phenomenal year for us both in terms of content and subscribers growth. We have registered 4X growth in our direct subscriber-base and we will clock revenue between Rs 80-100 crore.”

    He said, “The aim is to tap the next billion users coming onto the internet by enabling easy and seamless access to the content they want to watch, wherever they want to watch and whenever they want to watch – at no extra cost to the subscriber. On the back of successful 2019, we are hopeful that ALTBalaji will break even in 2020-21.”

    ALTBalaji’s will launch 25-30 more shows in the year 2020. Some of the interesting shows for 2020 are already in the pipeline.

    Cartel, Apharan 2, Code M, Mentalhood, It happened in Calcutta, Dil Hi Toh Hai S3, Class of 2020, Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain Season 3, Baarish 2, Dev DD 2, Haq Se 2, Virgin Bhaskar 2, Gandii Baat 4 and Mumbhai among many others are some of the originals scheduled for next year.

    As OTT platforms are changing the showbiz game, Bollywood and television actors such as Sharman Joshi, Tusshar Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Isha Koppikar, Sagarika Ghatge, Rajeev Khandelwal, Divyanka Tripathi, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Karan Singh Grover among others made their grand debut in the web space through ALTBalaji Originals.

    ALTBalaji is also working towards strengthening its UI/UX for a seamless experience by focusing on aspects like language interface, voice search, targeted retention strategies, quick onboarding, convenient payment gateways, and tailored recommendations, a press statement said.

    Apart from its strong content library, ALTBalaji has also launched some clutter-breaking and tech-driven innovations like ‘Breast Buffer’ to create consumer awareness against Breast Cancer.

    Breast Buffer was nominated in Cannes Lions as one of the brilliant uses of technology by media as well as was applauded by subscribers, media, influencers, critics and celebrities alike.

    Similarly, the OTT platform also brought its most acclaimed series Apharan to Alexa, enabling users to now listen to dialogues, the trailer, the song and other exclusive content from this cult show.

  • ALTBalaji looks at sachet pricing model to more than double the ARPU

    ALTBalaji looks at sachet pricing model to more than double the ARPU

    MUMBAI: The ongoing streaming war across the world has seen OTT platforms investing aggressively in original content with high cash burn. But ALTBalaji, the digital venture of Ekta Kapoor-led Balaji Telefilms, is not taking the same path. With conservative rational investment, the company has seen a profit before tax level breakeven in the last quarter and is keeping a hawk-eye at achieving break-even targets before launching the second phase of its strategy possibly after two years using rich analytics data.

    “We are focused on our breakeven targets, which we will achieve and therefore we are right-sizing our business to this. We are not a bottomless hole where you have to keep showing widening losses and keep acquiring consumers. We do not believe in this philosophy at this stage. We first want to have the proof of the pudding, we want to break even and then use our rich analytics data to launch phase two of our strategy possibly two years from now,” Balaji Telefilms management said in an earnings call after the Q2 2020 results.

    Under phase two of planning, ALTBalaji is looking at producing enough hit content to be able to ‘sachetize’ its pricing two years from now. The company thinks if it can sell content at Rs 2 per day, its ARPU can rise up to Rs 730 a year, which currently stands at Rs 300 a year.

    To enter the next step, the company thinks it has to be able to cater to two major target groups – the under-served male viewing audience, which lacks good quality TV shows, and individual female audience of the age group 20 to 40. Hence, it will look at developing a significant library there.

    “Thirdly, we will have the richest data in terms of numbers and analytics and we need to build an efficient recommendation engine two years from now to be able to optimise retention. Right now, because of the massive inflow of new Internet users, retention is not a top priority also. We do not have more than 42 shows. Once we reach 100 shows, taking a recommendation engine, investing in more AI and ML to ensure that retention happens will bring down the cost of consumer acquisition and retention considerably,” the management said.

    Moreover, the company will also evaluate one single regional language to go into as it learning has led to the belief that sporadically launching single shows in languages cannot attract the audience. Hence, the platform will explore a business plan of launching it in one of the south languages.

    “The ZEE deal understanding is that we shift from a multi-partner system to a kind of pay-based single partner system. We are also kind of exiting the telco environment to partner with the broadcast environment. As part of our strategy, in our first two years, we had to use the widespread telco environment because we had a smaller library, which was growing every month but it still was small,”  the management said on the rationale of its recent deal with homegrown OTT giant ZEE5.

    The other reason for telco partnership was the high cost of consumer acquisition and marketing. "Now, we feel we are in phase two of our business where we will go with single-partner models. In two or three years, we will also be able to have enough library and add enough data to be able to acquire consumers efficiently,” it added.

    However, the company is confident about achieving breakeven between 36 – 48 months of launching ALTBalaji while cash breakeven has already been achieved. After seeing a PBT level breakeven in the last quarter, the company hopes it will be improved in the Q3 and Q4 because of the ZEE deal. The management thinks that being a debt-free Rs 250 crore plus  cash company, it is positioned much better than many debt-ridden companies. Moreover, having a library of 48 original shows, it has a significant lead to drive it going forward.

  • TheSmallBigIdea wins social media duties for Balaji Telefilms’ ‘Dream Girl’

    TheSmallBigIdea wins social media duties for Balaji Telefilms’ ‘Dream Girl’

    MUMBAI: Full service digital agency, TheSmallBigIdea has been awarded the social media mandate for Balaji Telefilms’ upcoming movie ‘Dream Girl’, post a multi-agency pitch. As per the mandate, the agency will be responsible for the ideation and execution of the entire digital promotion of the film set to release on 13 September 2019 across India. The win was followed by the successful launch of the movie title that was strategised and executed by TheSmallBigIdea earlier in November 2018.

    The mandate includes managing the movie’s social media strategy right from the release of the title to the movie. The agency will be responsible for conceptualising and implementing social media campaigns across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In addition to this, TheSmallBigIdea in collaboration with Balaji Telefilms will strategise and execute video concepts with Ayushmann Khurrana to create engagements and interactions across social media platforms. The agency will work towards the objective of showcasing ‘Dream Girl’ as the ‘Comedy Movie of the Year’.

    Commenting on the latest win, TheSmallBigIdea CEO and co-founder Harikrishnan Pillai said, “We're thrilled to work with Balaji Telefilms for the third time in a row this year! This is the second Ayushmann Khurrana film that we are working on, and like all his films, the plot is as interesting as it gets. We are working with the team at Balaji Telefilms to create content that brings the audiences closer to the wonderfully crafted characters of the movie. It’s a golden phase for cinema and everyone aligned with it, where great storylines make great films. The team at TSBI is proud to play a small part in this.”

    TheSmallBigIdea has previously promoted movies such as ‘Badhaai Ho’, ‘Junglee’, ‘Judgementall Hai Kya’ and ‘Jabariya Jodi’ to name a few.

    TheSmallBigIdea provides services such as Social Media Management, Video Content Production, Digital Media Planning & Buying, Social Listening & ORM services, Augmented & Virtual Reality amongst other ancillary marketing services. Recognized for their propriety creative-tech tool ACE, ‘The Small Big Idea’ has enabled brands to arrive at campaign messaging by integrating insights from social sentiments & enterprise data.

  • Balaji Telefilms aims to break even consolidated business by end of FY20

    Balaji Telefilms aims to break even consolidated business by end of FY20

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms Ltd (Balaji Telefilms) is hoping to break even its consolidated business by the end of the ongoing financial year. While the recent partnership of its digital arm ALTBalaji with ZEE5 will work as a key contributing factor, good movies and better cost control environment for television segment will also help the content powerhouse to achieve its aim by 31 March 2020. Moreover, the company expects significantly higher revenue from ALTBalaji at the end of this financial year compared to FY 2019.

    “Our aim is to break even on both the cash as well as on a P&L level, the consolidated business by March 31 2020 given that at this scale of operations we will be cash sufficient for a long time,” the management said in an earnings call with analysts after publishing its Q1 results.

    “The cash receipts from the sale of rights for the movies has to yet come in, it has come in Q2, so Q2, Q3 we will see that, that is the portion. H2 is when the cash situation on ALT we will see a significant increase. So the movies cash inflow starts from this quarter because the Zee deal kicks in. You will see a significant improvement in cash flow on ALT also. A combination of this will mean that we will be in a much better position breaking even like I said at the end of the year,” the management added further.

    Like the financial year 2019, ALTBalaji will be investing around  Rs150 crore this year out of which Rs 75 crore has already been invested in the first quarter itself. So, while the proposed investment in ALTBalaji will be around Rs 75 crore. the company will contemplate later if there is a need to increase funds. While Rs 100 crore is allocated for investment in content, rest of the Rs 50 crore will be used for other segments like technology, people.

    Moreover, there will be no ALTBalaji content available on big telecom platforms from 1 October 2019 due to the new ZEE5 deal. “It is a co-sharing model, share the content on ALT as well as on ZEE. Before the ZEE deal we used to share the content on about 6 to 7 partners. Now all that will be taken away and everything will be behind the paywall for all production that will go in H2,” the management commented on the newly announced deal.

    The company is also confident about a certain amount of revenue for ALTBalaji from the ZEE5 deal. It also hopes to continue on the growth trajectory of its revenue which was at Rs 7 crore in the first year and Rs 42 crore in the second year. Moreover, it also expects 1.5 to 2X growth compared to last year.

    For now, the deal has been struck for two years where the IP will be co-shared by both the platforms, unlike a TV production deal. Moreover, the library of 38-40 shows that have been produced will continue to be exclusively with the OTT platform.

    “What the Zee deal does is that there will be no telcos now where freely content will be available, so there is no free-pricing model, everything goes behind the pay and therefore we are more confident that we will be able to get direct subscriptions. Our library of 38 shows will be exclusive to us. Only the fresh shows in H2 will go to ZEE5. So these factors lead us to believe that we will have direct subscription growth year-on-year,” the management commented.

  • Ex-Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla announces new venture

    Ex-Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla announces new venture

    MUMBAI: Former Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla has announced his new venture The Linus Adventures post his exit from the Ekta Kapoor-led company. 

    "The Linus Adventures is about growing businesses, building brands and enabling cultures, engaging with promoters and CXOs, directly in the consumer, digital and content domain.," Lulla said.

    Earlier this month, Indiantelevision.com was first to report about the industry veteran's decision to move out of the Balaji fold.

    His experience spans over three decades of experience across media, entertainment and the broadcast industries. He served as chairman and managing director at advertising agency Grey Group India. He also led the roll-out of MTV in India and launched the television network for Bennett Coleman & Co, The Times Television Network.

    Moreover, Lulla has been one of the early internet explorers with indya.com in 2000. He also played key role on many boards and forums of the broadcast industry helping to shape policies, set industry standards and best practices.

  • ALTBalaji crosses 20 million paid subscribers mark

    ALTBalaji crosses 20 million paid subscribers mark

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms' digital arm ALTBalaji has gained more than 20 million paid subscribers by the end of the first quarter of 2019. The streaming player’s subscribers are likely to hit 25 million when its next quarterly results are announced.

    “We are in mass Hindi-speaking India,” Balaji Telefilms group COO Nachiket Pantvaidya said as quoted by Variety. “We want people in Surat, Ranchi, Raipur to watch us. We want people in rural India to watch us,” he added.

    Since its launch in 2017, the Ekta Kapoor-led platform has gained good traction in the over-crowded OTT market on the back of its local content and cheaper pricing. It recently entered a partnership with ZEE5 whose 76 million monthly active users will get access to ALTBalaji’s content. “If you have to address mass India, you have to be as near free as possible,” Pantvaidya said.

    According to Counterpoint Research, men account for 79 per cent of all Indian OTT users. The higher inclination of male audience towards OTT platforms is largely because of the lack of content available for them on general entertainment channels. OTT platforms like ALTBalaji are trying to fill that gap.

    ALTBalaji has popular shows like Gandii Baat, Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain attracting different audience segments. “We are finding our feet, collecting the data, surviving the initial tough years in a market which is filled with Goliaths who are probably outspending us by 20 to 1”, Pantvaidya said.

  • Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla steps down

    Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla steps down

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla has stepped down from his post last week. Industry sources confirmed the development to Indiantelevision.com. Lulla was appointed as group CEO last year. Indiantelevision.com reached out to Balaji but they didn’t respond till the time of publication. 

    His experience spans over three decades of experience across media, entertainment and the broadcast industries. He served as chairman and managing director at advertising agency Grey Group India. He also led the rollout of MTV in India and launched the television network for Bennett Coleman & Co, The Times Television Network.

    Moreover, Lulla has been one of the early internet explorers with indya.com in 2000. He also played key role on many boards and forums of the broadcast industry helping to shape policies, set industry standards and best practices.

  • BARC week 26: Star Vijay back in across genres list

    BARC week 26: Star Vijay back in across genres list

    BENGALURU: Star India’s flagship Tamil GEC Star Vijay once again made an appearance in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India's (BARC) weekly list of top 10 channels across genres in week 26 of 2019 (Saturday, 22 June 2019 to Friday, 28 June 2019, week or period under review). As was the case in the previous week, Star Vijay was also ranked seventh in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu/Puducherry market.

    Four Star India channels, two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) and one channel each from Enterr 10 TV and Sun TV Network made up BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres in week 26 of 2019. From the genres' perspective, there were six Hindi GECs, two Tamil channels and one channel each from the sports and Telugu genres that comprised BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres in week 26 of 2019. Channels from rank one to six in week 26 of 2019 were the same as those in week 25.

    Continuing on at rank 1 in week 26 of 2019 was Star India’s Hindi sports channel Star Sports 1 Hindi on the back of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales. Two of the five matches during the week under review involved India, hence ratings pipped up for the channel. Star Sports 1 Hindi scored 1,263.932 million weekly impressions in week 26 of 2019 as compared to 1,186.783 million weekly impressions in week 25. Star Sports 1 Hindi was ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 sports channels and four of the top 5 sports programmes NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 – 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals featured on Star Sports 1 Hindi during the week under review.

    Also maintaining its previous week’s rank 2 was Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV with 904.751 million weekly impressions in week 26 of 2019 as compared to 851.935 million weekly impressions in week 26. Sun TV also headed BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry markets and four of the top 5 Tamil programmes in this market based on NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 – 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals were aired on Sun TV.

    At its previous week’s third rank was Enterr 10 TV’s Hindi GEC Dangal in week 26 of 2019 with 801.504 million weekly impressions as compared to 788.059 million weekly impressions in week 25. Dangal also headed BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking market -HSM (U+R) and HSM (R). Dangal was ranked seventh in HSM (U). Indian mythology programme Mahima Shanidev Ki and a family drama Baba Aiso Var Dhundo on Dangal were in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes based on NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 – 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals in HSM (R).

    Continuing on at fourth rank was Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV in week 26 of 2019 with 701.711 million weekly impressions as compared to 701.670 million weekly impressions in week 25. Zee TV was ranked second in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U) and third in HSM (R) in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs. The Balaji Telefilms-produced Kumkum Bhagya, its spinoff  Kundali Bhagya and another drama  Tujhse Hai Raabta aired on Zee TV were among the top 5 Hindi GEC programmes based on NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 – 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals in HSM (U+R), HSM (R) and HSM (U).

    At fifth rank in week 26 of 2019 was Star India’ flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus with 688.432 million weekly impressions as compared to seventh rank and 682.166 million weekly impressions in week 25. Star Plus was also ranked third and fourth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) respectively and was ranked first in HSM (U). Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai on Star Plus was amongst BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes on NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 – 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals in HSM (U+R) in HSM (U).

    At sixth place was Star India’s flagship Telugu GEC Star Maa with 651.535 million weekly impressions as compared to 663.013 million weekly impressions in week 25. Star Maa was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu GECs in the Andhra Pradesh/Telangana markets and all the five programmes in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu programmes based on NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 – 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals in these markets were aired on Star Maa.

    As mentioned above, Star Vijay re-entered BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres in week 26 of 2019 with 549.005 million weekly impressions at seventh rank. Star Vijay was also ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry markets.

    Dropping a place to eighth rank in week 26 of 2019 was Zeel’s Hindi GEC Big Magic with 536.294 million weekly impressions as compared to seventh rank and 566.278 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Big Magic was ranked fourth and second in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) respectively. Big Magic was ranked eighth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U).

    Climbing up a place to ninth rank was SPN’s flagship Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television (SET) with 529.078 million weekly impressisons in week 26 as compared with 479.487 million weekly impressions in week 25 of 2019. SET was ranked fifth and seventh in BARC’s weekly  lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) was ranked third in HSM (U). The talent reality show Super Dances Chapter 3 on SET was among BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 – 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U).

    Dropping down two places to tenth rank was SPN’s Hindi GEC Sony SAB with 525.403 million weekly impressions as compared to eighth rank and 536.918 million weekly impressions. Sony SAB was ranked sixth BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) and was ranked fourth in HSM (U).

  • TheSmallBigIdea wins social media mandate for two Balaji Telefilms movies – ‘JudgeMentall Hai Kya’ and ‘Jabariya Jodi’

    TheSmallBigIdea wins social media mandate for two Balaji Telefilms movies – ‘JudgeMentall Hai Kya’ and ‘Jabariya Jodi’

    MUMBAI: Full servicing digital agency, TheSmallBigIdea has been awarded the Social Media mandate for Balaji Telefilms two upcoming movies ‘Judgementall Hai Kya’ and ‘Jabariya Jodi’, post a multi-agency pitch. As per the mandate, the agency will be responsible for the ideation and execution of the entire digital promotion of the two movies set to release on 26th July 2019 and 2nd August 2019 respectively.

    The agency will be responsible for managing the entire social media mandate for both the movies. In addition to this, TheSmallBigIdea in collaboration with Balaji Telefilms will strategize video concepts for both the movies to generate digital impact across all social media platforms.

    Speaking on the win, Harikrishnan Pillai, CEO, The Small Big Idea, said, “‘Judgementall Hai Kya’ is our first project with Balaji Telefilms and we are quite upbeat about the association. Our responsibility is to make the promotional story-telling as exciting as the film’s plot itself. It is an exhilarating experience devising and executing the plan with the team at Balaji Telefilms. The approach for Jabariya Jodi is quite different from that of Judgementall Hai Kya, but the excitement remains the same.”

    TheSmallBigIdea provides services such as Social Media Management, Video Content Production, Digital Media Planning & Buying, Social Listening & ORM services, Augmented & Virtual Reality amongst other ancillary marketing services. Recognized for their propriety creative-tech tool ACE, ‘The Small Big Idea’ has enabled brands to arrive at campaign messaging by integrating insights from social sentiments & enterprise data.

  • BARC week 25: Live cricket matches catapult Star Sports 1 Hindi to top spot across genres

    BARC week 25: Live cricket matches catapult Star Sports 1 Hindi to top spot across genres

    BENGALURU: The live telecast of the India Pakistan ICC cricket world cup match in week 25 of 2019 (Saturday, 15 June 2019 to Friday, 21 June 2019, week or period under review) was among the most watched sports programme on three channels – Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 2 and DD Sports. One ICC World Cup other match – the live telecast of the Australia-Bangladesh on Star Sports 1 Hindi was the fifth most watched programme in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of 5 most watched programmes during primetime during the week under review. Besides, the live telecast of Philips Hue Cricket on Star Sports 1 Hindi was the fourth watched sports programme during the week under review. These matches catapulted Star Sports 1 Hindi to first rank in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genre in week 25 of 2019.

    Sun TV Networks flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV pipped Dangal TV to second rank during the period under review, pushing the Hindi GEC to third rank. Seven Hindi GEC’s and one channel each from the Sports, Tamil and Telugu genres comprised BARC’s list of top 10 channels across genre in week 25 of 2019. From the network’s perspective, there were 3 channels from Star India, two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) and one channel each from Enterr 10 TV, Sun Tv Network and Viacom18 in BARC’s weekly list for week 25 of 2019.

    Climbing up a place to first rank in week 25 of 2019 was Star Sports 1 Hindi with 1,186.783 as compared to second rank and 763.962 million weekly impressions in week 24. Star Sports 1 Hindi was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi Sports channels and as mentioned above. Further, the three of five most watched sports programmes as mentioned above were broadcast on Star Sports 1 Hindi during the week under review.

    Also climbing up a place to second rank during week 25 of 2019 was Sun TV with 851.935 million weekly impressions as compared to third rank and 762.213 million weekly impressions in week 24. Sun TV also headed BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry markets and four of the top 5 Tamil programmes in this market based on average rating across all original airings in the week were aired on Sun TV.

    Dropping two places to third rank in week 25 of 2019 was Enterr 10 TV’s Hindi GEC Dangal with 788.059 million weekly impressions as compared to first rank and 806.687 million weekly impressions in week 24. Dangal also headed BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking market -HSM (U+R) and HSM (R).  Dangal was ranked seventh in HSM (U). An Indian mythology programmes– Mahima Shanidev Ki and a family drama Baba Aiso Var Dhundo on Dangal were in BARC’s list of  Top 5 Hindi GEC programmes based on average rating across all original airings in the week in HSM (R).

    Climbing up a rank to fourth place was Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV with 701.670 million weekly impressions in week 25 as compared to fifth rank and 680.603 million weekly impressions in week 24. Zee TV was ranked second in HSM (U+R), HSM (U) and third in HSM (R) in BARC’s weekly list if top 10 Hindi GECs’. The Balaji Telefilms produced Kumkum Bhagya, its spinoff  Kundali Bhagya and Tujhse Hai Raabta aired on Zee TV were among the top 5 Hindi GEC programmes based on average rating across all original airings in the week in HSM (U+R), HSM (R) and HSM (U).

    Also climbing up to fifth place in week 25 of 2019 was Star India’ flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus with 682.166 million weekly impressions as compared to seventh rank and 624.298 million weekly impressions in week 24. Star Plus was also ranked third and fourth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in  HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) respectively and was ranked first in HSM (U). Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai on Star Plus was amongst BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes on average rating across all original airings in the week in HSM (U+R) in HSM (U).

    Retaining its previous week’s sixth rank in week 25 of 2019 was Star India’s flagship Telugu GEC Star Maa with 663.013 million weekly impressions as compared to 626.797 million weekly impressions in week 25. Star Maa was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu GECs’ in the Andhra Pradesh/Telangana markets and all the five programmes in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu programmes based on average rating across all original airings in the week in these markets were aired on Star Maa.

    Dropping down three places to seventh rank in week 25 of 2019 was Zeel’s Hindi GEC Big Magic with 566.278 million weekly impressions as compared to fourth rank and 690.539 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Big Magic was ranked fourth and second in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) respectively. Big Magic was ranked eighth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U).

    SPN’s Hindi GEC Sony SAB also retained its previous week’s eighth rank in week 25 of 2019 with 536.918 million weekly impressions as compared to 552.626 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Sony SAB was ranked fifth, sixth and third in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) and (U) respectively. One of the longest running Indian sitcom – Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma on Sony SAB was among BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes on average rating across all original airings in the week in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U).

    Climbing up a rank to ninth place was Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors in week 25 of 2019  with 513.035 million weekly impressions as compared to tenth rank and 521.025 million weekly impressions in week 24. Colors was ranked sixth in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and was ranked fifth in both HSM (R) in HSM (U).

    Re-entering BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genre was SPN’s flagship Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television (SET) with 479.487 million weekly impressions in week 25 of 2019. SET was ranked seventh in BARC’s weekly  lists of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and was ranked fourth in HSM (U)