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Tag: BARC India

  • Discovery garners 89% genre share on premiere of ‘Into The Wild with Bear Grylls & Superstar Rajinikanth’

    Discovery garners 89% genre share on premiere of ‘Into The Wild with Bear Grylls & Superstar Rajinikanth’

    MUMBAI: Discovery channel's premiere of Into The Wild with Bear Grylls & superstar Rajinikanth has created a record after the historic high touched by Man Vs Wild with Bear Grylls & PM Modi. According to channel, the premiere on Discovery Network (across 12 Discovery channels) delivered highest-rated TV show in the genre this year so far and second highest ratings in the history of the genre delivering an impressive four million impressions. The cumulative reach of the premiere across network was 12.4 million, solid 86 per cent higher than the previous four weeks. The premiere helped the network garner 89 per cent share in the infotainment genre. The slot viewership grew five times as compared to previous four weeks.

    The simultaneous premiere of the show on regional entertainment brand DTamil grew the slot by 20 times and helped DTamil nudge ahead of leading channels including Colors Tamil, Jaya and Raj TV during the slot.

    The show created huge buzz on the social media with #ThalaivaOnDiscovery reaching out to 1.41 billion individuals delivering 3.32 billion impressions (Source: Meltwater)

    Into The Wild with Bear Grylls is an innovative new format inspired by Man Vs Wild, which is one of the most watched wilderness survival television series in the world. Last year, Man Vs Wild with Bear Grylls & PM Modi episode disrupted the Indian media landscape, establishing itself as the TV event of the year. Other than prime minister Narendra Modi, Bear Grylls has also hosted prominent celebrities in the past such as then sitting American President Barack Obama, Kate Winslet, Roger Federer, Julia Roberts and many more.

  • GEC non-primetime viewership gets 32% boost due to COVID-19 lockdown

    GEC non-primetime viewership gets 32% boost due to COVID-19 lockdown

    MUMBAI: In the second week of COVID-19 pandemic period, GECs witnessed 32 per cent growth in non-primetime viewership while it witnessed negative growth in the primetime slot. The overall growth of viewership in non-primetime slots surged by more than 70 per cent in India. The Hindi speaking market (HSM) witnessed 83 per cent growth in non-primetime slots whereas the south market witnessed 54 per cent growth.

    According to BARC India and  Nielsen’s second edition of ‘Crisis Consumption- An insights series into TV, smartphone and audiences’, Ramayan was all-time high among serials in Hindi GEC. The show was the highest-rated in urban and megacities which helped to garner the highest number in the evening slot on Sunday. Sunday’s evening slot garnered 51 million viewers with 6.6 per cent ratings

    In the non-primetime slot of morning 6 am to evening 6 pm, GECs witnessed 32 per cent growth. GECs in the HSM grew by 35 per cent in non-primetime slots and the south market grew by 29 per cent. Movies genre witnessed 108 per cent growth in the non-primetime slot. In HSM, movie genre grew by 129 per cent while in the south, it grew by 66 per cent.

    No doubt, news was the biggest gainer in the non-primetime slot as it grew by 344 per cent. In the HSM it grew by 385 per cent and in the south, it grew by 283 per cent. Kids witnessed 58 per cent growth in the non-primetime slot while HSM grew by 51 per cent and south by 70 per cent.

    Apart from GEC, movies, news and kids genres also witnessed growth in primetime. GEC viewership fell by 15 per cent in the primetime slot. In HSM, it witnessed negative growth of 23 per cent and in south negative growth of five per cent. In the primetime slot, news grew by 253 per cent, with HSM showing a growth of 260 per cent and south of 232 per cent. Kids grew by one per cent in the primetime slot and it grew by two per cent in the south market.

  • TV consumption up by 37% in week 12 due to COVID-19 lockdown: BARC India & Nielsen

    TV consumption up by 37% in week 12 due to COVID-19 lockdown: BARC India & Nielsen

    MUMBAI: As India went into a lockdown mode due to COVID-19, people have upped their TV viewing time, as per the latest information from Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) and Nielsen. Total TV consumption in week 12 grew by 37 per cent compared to the previous week.

    Weekly TV viewing minutes have gone up from 887 billion viewing minutes to 1215 billion. The average time spent per viewer has also witnessed a growth of 23 per cent from three hours, 46 minutes to four hours 39 minutes. The number of channels watched by viewers in week 12 has seen a growth of 38 per cent from 16 channels to 22 channels.

    Last week when BARC India and Nielsen presented the data on COVID-19’s impact on TV and digital viewership, it highlighted growth of eight per cent in the total TV consumption in week 11.

    In week 12, viewership grew significantly post the lockdown, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (25 to 27 March). HSM witnessed the highest growth in viewership. Even male viewership recorded significant growth and the viewing minutes saw a growth of 41 per cent.

    Genre-wise, news and movies witnessed three times more growth. News genre grew by 298 per cent; business news grew by 180 per cent, infotainment by 63 per cent and movies by 56 per cent.

  • BARC week 11: Sony SAB holds pole position in urban and pay platforms

    BARC week 11: Sony SAB holds pole position in urban and pay platforms

    MUMBAI: Sony SAB led the urban market and pay platforms in week 11 of BARC India ratings. The channel also moved up from fifth position in the last week to fourth position this week. The channel's leading show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah has garnered 6610 weekly impressions (000s) in the urban market and 9441 weekly impressions (000s) on pay platform. The has been leading for more than three consecutive weeks on both the platforms. Star Plus continued to hold its second position on pay platform and urban markets. This week, Colors jumped to third position on pay platform and Zee TV slipped down to fourth position. 

    On pay platform Sony SAB, Star Plus, Colors, Zee TV, Sony Entertainment Television, Star Bharat, Dangal, Star Utsav, &TV and Colors Rishtey were the top ten channels in the week 11of BARC India ratings.

    Pay Platform

    In the urban market, the top ten channels were Sony SAB, Star Plus, Colors, Sony Entertainment Television, Zee TV, Dangal, Star Bharat, &TV, Big Magic and Star Utsav in week 11 of BARC India ratings.

    Urban

    Dangal, Big Magic, Zee TV, Sony SAB,  Star Plus, Colors, Sony Entertainment Television, Star Bharat, Colors Rishtey and Star Utsav were the top ten channels in the rural market

    Rural

    On free platform Dangal, Big Magic,  Manoranjan Grand, DD National, DD Arunprabha, DD Bharati, DD Uttar Pradesh, DD Rajasthan and DD Madhya Pradesh were the top nine channels in BARC ratings.  

    Free Platform

  • BARC week 11: Zee Biskope leads in Bhojpuri market

    BARC week 11: Zee Biskope leads in Bhojpuri market

    MUMBAI: In the regional space of week 11 of BARC India ratings, Zee Biskope grabbed the leading position in the Bhojpuri market. The channel jumped from third position to first. Zee's other regional channel Zee Punjab is also leading in the Punjabi market this week. But Zee Keralam slipped down to fifth position from third in the last week. In the Telugu market, Star Maa Movies replaced Gemini Movies in the fifth position. 

    In the Bangla market, Star Jalsha, Zee Bangla, Jalsha Movies, Sony Aath and Colors Bangla were the top five channels in week 11 of BARC India ratings.

    Bangla

     
    Rank Channel Name Weekly Impressions (000s) sum
        Week 11
    1 STAR Jalsha 330581
    2 Zee Bangla 310034
    3 Jalsha Movies 84765
    4 Sony Aath 62715
    5 Colors Bangla 58414
    WB (U+R): NCCS All : 2+ Individuals, 

    In the Bhojpuri market, Zee Biskope, Bhojpuri Cinema, Big Ganga, B4U Bhojpuri and Danbang were the top five channels in week 11 of BARC India ratings.  

     
    Bhojpuri 
     
    Rank Channel Name Weekly Impressions (000s) sum
        Week 11
    1 Zee Biskope 59519
    2 Bhojpuri Cinema 55413
    3 Big Ganga 45041
    4 B4U Bhojpuri 36158
    5 Dabangg 13068
    Bihar/Jharkhand (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals, 

    In the Gujarati market, Colors Gujarati Cinema, Colors Gujarati, TV9 Gujarati, ABP Asmita and News18 Gujarati were the top five channels in week 11 of BARC India ratings.  

    Gujarati

    Rank Channel Name Weekly Impressions (000s) sum
        Week 11
    1 Colors Gujarati Cinema 35959
    2 Colors Gujarati 22019
    3 TV9 Gujarati 16698
    4 ABP Asmita 16635
    5 News18 Gujarati 11359
    Guj / D&D / DNH (U+R): NCCS All: 2+ Individuals, 

    In the Kannada market, Zee Kannada, Colors Kannada, Udaya TV, Star Suvarna,  and Udaya Movies were the top five channels in week 11 of BARC India ratings.  

    Kannada

     
    Rank Channel Name Weekly Impressions (000s) sum
        Week 11
    1 Zee Kannada 486689
    2 Colors Kannada 212792
    3 Udaya TV 209928
    4 Star Suvarna 206562
    5 Udaya Movies 165729
    Karnataka (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals, 

    In the Malayalam market, Asianet, Mazhavil Manorama, Flowers TV, Surya TV, and Zee Keralam were the top five channels in week 11 of BARC India ratings    

     

    Malayalam
     
    Rank Channel Name Weekly Impressions (000s) sum
        Week 11
    1 Asianet 313311
    2 Mazhavil Manorama 88404
    3 Flowers TV 75020
    4 Surya TV 72994
    5 Zee Keralam 68051
    Kerala (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals, 

    Zee Marathi, Colors Marathi, Star Parvah, Fakt Marathi and ZeeTalkies were the top Marathi channels in week 11 of BARC India ratings  
     

    Marathi
     
    Rank Channel Name Weekly Impressions (000s) sum
        Week 11
    1 Zee Marathi 242185
    2 Colors Marathi 179795
    3 STAR Pravah 172976
    4 Fakt Marathi 122941
    5 Zee Talkies 100769
    Mah/ Goa (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals, 

    Zee Punjabi, PTC Punjabi, Pitaara TV,  Maha Punjabi and DD Punjabi were the top five channels in week 11 of BARC India ratings.  
     

    Punjabi
     
    Rank Channel Name Weekly Impressions (000s) sum
        Week 11
    1 Zee Punjabi 50386
    2 PTC Punjabi 50235
    3 Pitaara TV 47414
    4 Maha Punjabi 27817
    5 Manoranjan Movies 22193
    Pun / Cha (U+R): NCCS All: 2+ Individuals,

    Sun TV, Star Vijay, Zee Tamil, KTV and Star Vijay Super were the top five Tamil channels in week 11 of BARC India ratings  
     

    Tamil
     
    Rank Channel Name Weekly Impressions (000s) sum
        Week 11
    1 Sun TV 868544
    2 STAR Vijay 436306
    3 Zee Tamil 406964
    4 KTV 331956
    5 STAR Vijay Super 137411
    Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals, 
    Star Maa, Zee Telugu,  ETV Telugu, Gemini TV, and  Star Maa Movies were top five Telugu channels in week 11 of BARC India ratings  
     
    Telugu
     
    Rank Channel Name Weekly Impressions (000s) sum
        Week 11
    1 STAR Maa 659254
    2 ETV Telugu 446625
    3 Zee Telugu 442705
    4 Gemini TV 374737
    5 Star Maa Movies 201007
    AP/ Telangana (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals, 
  • News channels report second-best viewership pattern so far this year in week 11

    News channels report second-best viewership pattern so far this year in week 11

    MUMBAI: The coronavirus pandemic could be termed as a bane for the whole world, including India, but it certainly has become a boon for the news channels across genre in terms of viewership, a week eleven (14-20 March) data of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India shows.

    This is the second-best week for the news channels in terms of viewership as the first still remains week seven so far in 2020. The Hindi news channels in week 11 advanced by around 29 per cent, whereas English by over 26 per cent making it, possibly, the most-watched genre in the current week.

    Dominating the chart for the straight eleventh week, TV Today Network’s Hindi news channel Aaj Tak has substantially grown by over 40 per cent to 216,024 weekly impressions in the current week as against 153,379 impressions in the previous week. These are the best numbers, so far this year, the channel has gained in the current week, the last best was 163,089 impressions in week eight.

    Aaj Tak has increased its viewership 1.5 times than its peers in the current week of BARC. Not just that, the channel has also topped the list of Hindi news channels during prime minister Narendra Modi’s first address to the nation on 19 March. It achieved over 40,000 viewership followed by Zee News at the second position gaining at least 25,421 impressions.

    Retaining its second position in the top five channels list, Zee Entertainment Enterprises’ Hindi news channel Zee News has gained over 24 per cent to 142,089 impressions in week eleven as compared to 114,390 impressions in the last week.

    Moving one position up from fourth to third spot, India TV has garnered around 26 per cent to 137,578 impressions in the current week as compared to 109,636 impressions in the last week. Whereas Network18’s Hindi news channel News18 India has fallen to the fourth position; however, it has grown by over by 16 per cent to 130391 impressions this week versus 112125 in week eleven.

    ABP News Network Hindi news channel ABP News has been featured in the top five news channels list almost after four weeks in week eleven. Dethroning Republic Bharat altogether from the chart, ABP News being on the fifth position has gained 130,035 weekly impressions in the current week.

    Meanwhile, Republic Media Network’s English news channel Republic TV, maintaining its top spot in the top five channels’ list, has grown by over 26 per cent to 852 weekly impressions in week eleven as against 692 impressions in the previous week of BARC. These are the third-best numbers, in terms of viewership, Republic TV has achieved so far this year.

    Retaining its second and third position in the top five channels’ list, Times News Network’s Times Now and TV Today Network’s India Today English news channels gained over 28 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, in week eleven. The former gained 644 impressions this week versus 501 in the last week, whereas the latter increased by 418 impressions as against 362 in the previous week.

    The English news channel of Network18 – CNN-News18 – has moved to the second last position from last in the top five news channels’ list. The channel has grown by over 64 per cent to 381 weekly impressions in the current week as compared to 232 impressions in the earlier week of BARC.

    Almost after two weeks, New Delhi Television’s English news channel NDTV 24×7 has garnered at least 273 weekly impressions in week eleven. The channel has dethroned the government-owned English news channels DD India from the top five news channels’ list altogether.

    The news channels across genres have continued its eyeballs gaining spree for the second straight week, according to the BARC. Viewers are consuming more news and updating themselves on the back of the novel virus spread. The positive cases in India have jumped to over 700 and at least 16 people so far have succumbed to the infection. 

  • Regional news channels see sharp rise in viewership during Covid-19

    Regional news channels see sharp rise in viewership during Covid-19

    MUMBAI:  There is a temporary shift in TV viewership patterns as Indians are forced to stay inside their homes due to the lock-down courtesy Covid-19, according to the latest BARC-Nielsen report. It shows that regional news channels are gaining viewership.

    While Marathi news consumption was up by 101 per cent, that of Tamil grew by 84 per cent. While Oriya news consumption was up by 78 per cent, Malayalam and Bangla news consumption grew by 75 per cent each. 

    While Gujarati news consumption witnessed a growth of 61 per cent, that of Kannada was up by 47 per cent. Whereas Telugu news consumption grew by 21 per cent, that of Punjabi was up by 16 per cent, and English news consumption grew by 39 per cent.

    This is good news given that Hindi news dominates otherwise. Hindi news consumption was up by 62 per cent with the daily average time spent (ATS) up by 17 per cent. The daily average reach witnessed a growth of 34 per cent and the weekly impressions was up by 57 per cent.

    The overall growth of the entire news industry was 57 per cent with daily average reach up by 34 per cent. Daily average time spent on total news is also up by 17 per cent.

    With people clamouring for more information, news is the primary destination for a lot of Indians. Which is why prime minister Narendra Modi’s national address on 24 March addressing the country about the 21-day lockdown had 197 million viewers. They were watching the PM through 201 news channels with a total of 3891 million minutes of viewing.

    It’s not only television where the news genre witnessed a huge increase in the viewership number; it grew on digital platforms as well. News apps saw eight per cent more users per week with an increase of 17 per cent in time spent per user per week. News websites were explored by 26 per cent more users. Additionally, the number of visits to a website by a user went up by 29 per cent. Clearly, all of them are seeking news on Covid-19.

    There was a 30 per cent jump in the news consumption in mini-metros; metro cities witnessed 12 per cent growth whereas growth in tier I and tier II cities was up by 14 per cent. As per the BARC-Nielsen report, the top 20 news apps witnessed 30 per cent increase in time spent. News aggregators saw a growth of 22 per cent and news apps saw 76 per cent increase.

    BARC also reported that even kids between the age group of two years to 14 years consumed 83 per cent of news. This is likely due to co-viewing with parents.

  • Weekly TV viewing mins up by 8%, smartphone time spent up by 6.2% during Covid-19: BARC India & Nielsen

    Weekly TV viewing mins up by 8%, smartphone time spent up by 6.2% during Covid-19: BARC India & Nielsen

    MUMBAI: As India goes through an unprecedented lock-down in living memory due to the Covid-19 crisis, people are increasingly consuming more content on TV and smartphones, according to a report. BARC India and Nielsen have jointly put together a report to understand the changes in consumption behaviours of TV and smartphones, respectively, given the extraordinary situation surrounding the Covid pandemic and its fallout.

    Key highlights: –

    1.  Expectedly the COVID disruption period has seen an increase in television viewership – 6% increase in TV reach and 8 per cent increase in TV viewing minutes /week. The time spent on TV / viewer has seen a jump by 2 per cent.
    The PM’s address to the nation on complete lockdown garnered unprecedented viewership of 197 million watching it across the country. 
    2.  When we look at smartphone behaviour the time spent on smartphones per user has gone up by 6.2 per cent. The time spent/user/week on VOD apps has also seen an increase of 3 per cent. If we look at the increase in the time spent/user/week over that of the previous week (to take away the impact of cricket viewing in the PRE COVID period considered), we can see a jump of 5 per cent.
    3.  Kids’ schools being shut down and the stress of exams off their shoulders; this increase in Television viewing is driven by Kids (+20 per cent). With corporate India getting into work from home mode, we are seeing NCCS A showing an 11 per cent increase in viewership. Even on smartphone usage, the increase in driven NCCS A (+7.7 per cent) and 35-44 year olds (+10.7 per cent).
    4.  People staying at home means watching TV throughout the day and hence the growth in TV viewing is coming during non-prime time slots (8am – 5 pm).
    5.  The need for continuous updates expectedly has led to a huge increase in news consumption on television (57 per cent increase in Impressions), while spending more time as a family together could be leading to the movies genre and the kids genre also showing significant increases. 
    6.  This behaviour is seen in digital consumption as well with news and gaming showing huge increases. News apps saw 8 per cent more users per week with an increase of 17 per cent in time spent/user/week. This growth was led by non-English News apps (+87 per cent). Gaming apps saw an increase of 2 per cent in users/week and with a 11 per cent increase in time spent/user/week.
    7.  With a lot of uncertainty around what is happening, people have increased their time spent on chatting (+23 per cent) and social networking (+25 per cent) apps.  Almost all social networking apps – Facebook, Instagram and TikTok have seen significant increases not only in time spent /user/week but also in the sessions/ user/ week. 
    8.  Expectedly shopping apps, travel apps and food apps have seen a huge drop in both users/ week and time spent/user/week. 
    9.  It’s not just TV viewership that has seen an increase – we can advertising FCT on TV has increased by 13 per cent. 

    Sharing her views on the current surge in smartphone usage, Nielsen Global Media, South Asia country leader Dolly Jha said, “We are living through unprecedented times! physical social distancing seems to have led to a phenomenal growth in virtual social togetherness with an almost 20 per cent increase in time spent per user on chats, social media and news in the last one week. And we anticipate this to grow further.”

    Elaborating on the topic BARC India CEO Sunil Lulla said, “These are unfortunate and unprecedented times. Working closely with Nielsen, we bring for our customers and stake-holders, this very significant and important update, on change in content and advertising consumption behaviour, with a significant population at home. We will report soon enough, the impact of total lockdown. Our respective brave teams are working (WFH) round the clock to ensure the TV measurement currency, continues uninterrupted.” 

    On 24 March 2020, with the prime minister announcing a total lockdown in the country, peo ple are slowly coming to terms with the new normal. It started with many states enforcing the lock-down, partially and fully, and many places of work enforcing work from home (WFH). Faced with the predicament of not being able to move out of their homes, people are creating new ways of spending time productively.

    It is a well known fact that Television Viewing is an integral part of the Indian ethos. An average Indian is known to spend a considerable number of hours with 3 hours, 51 minutes every day on TV. So, it is obvious that forced confinement will lead to changes in TV consumption behaviour.

    Today if there is one device besides the TV which is an integral part of the Indian consumers’ lives, it is the smartphone. People today depend on their smartphones not just for communication and social interactions, but also for entertainment, banking and financial transactions, purchase of daily need goods like groceries, personal care to durables.  It is but natural that this period of forced confinement would also engender some change in the way people interact with their smartphones.

    As the situation continues to evolve in the coming weeks, BARC and Nielsen will also continue to track shifts in TV and Smartphone audience behaviour. Future reports will be released on a weekly basis to keep the ecosystem abreast of how audiences in India are adjusting their TV and Smartphones consumption around the new normal.

    BARC is the official currency on Television Measurement in India and Nielsen runs a 12000 strong smartphone panel passively capturing smartphone behaviour.
     

  • TV ad volume grew by 21% from 2016 to 2019

    TV ad volume grew by 21% from 2016 to 2019

    MUMBAI: The year 2019 was all about NTO and its impact; the transition period and the black-out threatened to bring down TV viewership. But despite all these, TV viewing minutes in India remained stable at 48.4 trillion in 2019, and in the last four years, television viewership has grown by 38 per cent. However, in the last four years the ad volumes has also grown  by 21 per cent from 2016 to 2019 but if compared to last year (2018) 1.64 billion seconds of advertising has fallen to 1.59 billion seconds of advertising in 2019.

    The BARC Yearbook 2019 -What India Watches shows that 634 channels generated 48.4 trillion television viewing minutes and 1.59 billion seconds of advertising. The year had many peak viewing moments, while overall viewership and advertising remained largely stable.

    BARC India chief executive officer Sunil Lulla says, “Viewership has grown 38 per cent over the last four years, and a total of 48.4 trillion viewing minutes were consumed on television in 2019. Each household watches 5 hours, 11 minutes of television every day and as many as 222 million individuals tune in to primetime television at any given minute. And with over a 100 million homes in India yet to get a TV set, growth continues to be ahead of us.”

    He adds, “BARC India now samples from a panel of 185,000 individuals across 44,000 homes and before the year ends, we will be in 55,000 homes. To enable its constituents to understand viewers and their engagement better, BARC India has introduced need-based products and tools that are gaining in popularity.”

    In 2016 India recorded 35 trillion TV viewing minutes which grew to 42.3 trilliom in 2017. In 2018, it further grew to 48.1 trillion and remained stable at 48.4 trillion in 2019. In the last four years GEC witnessed 28 per cent growth in TV viewing minutes from 2016 to 2019, movies grew to 47 per cent, news to 46 per cent, kids to 56 per cent, music to 53 per cent; sports to 89 per cent and niche/others to 52 per cent.

    The major growth driver for increase in TV viewership was Lok Sabha Election Counting Day (23 May) as it registered 59 billion viewing minutes for the news genre, which contributed to 38 per cent of total TV viewership for the day. In 2019, 26,080 movies were aired on TV. The four south Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam) contributed to 48 per cent of these unique movie titles.

    The advertising volumes on TV have grown 21 per cent from 2016 to 2019. Increasing share of advertising across most languages is another indicator of the growth of regional television. In 2016 TV generated 1.31 billion seconds of advertising which grew to 1.43 billion seconds in 2017 and 1.64 billion seconds in 2018 but in 2019 it has fallen to 1.59 billion seconds.

    There has been an increase in advertising volume across languages. Apart from Hindi, the share of advertising volume has grown in Bangla, Kannada, Malayalam and Punjabi market over the previous year but the share of ad volumes has shrunk in Tamil, Telugu and English markets.

  • Viacom18, BARC India nurture positivity through work-from-home system

    Viacom18, BARC India nurture positivity through work-from-home system

    MUMBAI: There is hope, resilience, and an overwhelming we-can-overcome-it sense when all of us feared that we were headed for a cul-de-sac. Despite all the fear and uncertainty surrounding the spread of the pandemic COVID-19, there are instances worth celebrating. One such is the transition from full-time office to a work-from-home mode, which, necessitated under the circumstances, gives tiny epiphanies and new learning to organisations.

    Knowing very well that many employees may find the transition hard, companies are also offering them a helping hand to cope with it. Viacom18 is prioritising employees’ safety and well-being in this crisis period. Viacom18 corporate marketing communications and sustainability head Sonia Huria says that the company has always believed that testing times like these provide them with a reason to reflect, rethink and innovate. “We have been promoting and ensuring that employees and their families practice social distancing and are working from home. Working remotely over the past week has been more of a learning than a challenge,” she says.

    According to her, support within the team has risen across personal and professional levels like never before. This has given rise to a distinct sense of positivity and created a sense of belonging and dependence. She said that they have been able to identify strengths and implement processes which have never been tested before.  

    “For instance – a daily VC scrum has been working extremely well. It’s quick, focussed and very action-driven. While we have always stressed on the importance of open and clear communication, we have understood the benefits of 'over-communication’ too,” she adds.

    The proactive work-from-home initiative from Viacom18 seems to have sparked an increase in productivity, too. “What we have realised is that by taking away the niggling concern of contamination in a public space (through the work-from-home directive), employees are focussing on productivity and proactive closure of tasks well before deadlines. Collaboratively, the past one week has restored determination to break barriers and has strengthened the outlook of the organisation to do more, innovate, experiment and take on new challenges,” Huria states.

    Having your own small working corner at home is essential to focus. BARC India is ensuring that positivity is well in check even while working from home through its #ShareYourWorkstationAtHome challenge for employees. It encourages them to share pictures of their home office.

    According to a BARC India spokesperson, the environment has changed, but the dedication and commitment is intact and it continues to be the responsible and reliable currency of the broadcast industry. The spokesperson said that strong technological support and infrastructure help it to effectively serve the industry while employees work from home safely.

    Working from home doesn’t have to mean boring or distracting and so it came up with this cheerful initiative. Employees across the country are participating in the challenge.


    (If you would like to get featured in our range of positive stories during the COVID-19 crisis, reach out to us right away!)