ITV

Tag: Doordarshan

  • Colors’ streak as most-watched pay Hindi GEC across genres continues

    Colors’ streak as most-watched pay Hindi GEC across genres continues

    BENGALURU: Network18/Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors became the most watched Hindi GEC on the pay platform across genres in week 2 of 2019. The channel continued its most watched pay Hindi GEC channel across genres streak in week 7 of 2020 (Saturday, 15 February 2020 to Friday, 21 February 2020, period or week under review) according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly data for the top 10 channels across genres on all platforms and top 10 pay channels across genres. Hence week 7 of 2020 was the sixth consecutive week that the channel was the most watched pay Hindi GEC across genres. It must be noted that Enterr10 Television’s free-to-air (FTA) Hindi GEC Dangal continued its run as the most watched channel across genres on all platforms as well as on the FTA platform.

    All the 10 channels in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 pay channels across genres on all platforms in week 7 of 2020 were GECs. Six were Hindi, two were Telugu and there was one channel each from the Kannada and Tamil genres. There were three channels from Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel), two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and Star India and one channel each from Enterr 10 Television, the Sun Tv Network Ltd and Network18/Viacom18. Nine of the most channels were on the pay platform, while one was FTA. 

    Please refer to the chart below:

    Top 10 Pay channels Across Genres

    As mentioned above, Colors was the most watched pay Hindi GEC across genres per BARC weekly data for top 10 pay channels across genres in week 7 of 2020. BARC commenced publishing data in the public domain of the top 10 pay channels across genres in week 35 of 2020. During the 19 weeks of 2019 for which data was publicly available, the first two ranks in BARC’s weekly pay TV across genres lists were generally held by Tamil and Telugu GECs. Colors has broken that trend in 2020 – the two most watched channels in the country were Tamil and Hindi GECs. The Sun Tv Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV was the most watched pay channel across genres in week 7 of 2020.

    Nine of the channels were GECs while one channel was from the kids’ genre in BARC weekly list of top 10 pay channels across genres in week 7 of 2020. There were five Hindi GECs, two Telugu GECs and one channel each from the Kannada GEC, kids and Tamil GEC genres in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 pay channels across genres in week 7 of 2020. From the networks’ perspective, there were three channels from Zeel, two channels each from SPN, Star India and Viacom18 and one channel from the Sun Tv Network  in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay channels Across genres in week 7 of 2020 were same as in the previous week with some shuffling of ranks. ETV Telugu, the Viacom18 associated Telugu GEC exited the list in week 7 of 2020 and was replaced by a kids channel from its own network – NICK. Please refer to the chart below:

    Top 10 Free channels Across Genres

    Dangal and Zeel’s Hindi GEC Big Magic continued to be the most watched free channels in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 free channels across genres in week 7 of 2020 at ranks one and two respectively. Nine of the channels in BARC’s FTA across genres list in week 7 of 2020 were the same as in the previous week. Zeel’s Zing exited the list while its recently launched Bhojpuri channel Zee Biskope entered. 

    There were four channels from Enterr10 Television and three channels each from B4U Network and Zeel. Four of the channels were Bhojpuri, three were Hindi movies, two were Hindi GECs and there was one channel from the Marathi genre in BARC’s weekly list in week 7 of 2020. Please refer to the chart below:


     

  • English news records highest ratings in 2020 during Delhi elections, results week

    English news records highest ratings in 2020 during Delhi elections, results week

    BENGALURU/MUMBAI: Runup to elections and election results announcements are big viewership drivers for news channels in India. Assembly elections on 8 February 2020 and announcement of the election results of the New Delhi legislative assembly in week 6 of 2020 (Saturday, 8 February 2020 to Friday, 14 February 2020, week or period under review) boosted the combined viewership of the Top 5 English News channels by 49.5 percent as compared to the previous week. Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) reported a total of 2.741 million impressions for the top 5 English News channels in the week under review. The combined total of the top 5 channels during the previous week (week 5 of 2020) was 1.835 million weekly impressions.

    Combined impressions of the top 5 English News channels in week 6 of 2020 was the highest ratings to date in 2020. The previous highest combined total of the top 5 English News channels in 2020 was in week 4 at 2.582 million weekly impressions. Further, the average combined weekly impressions of the top 5 English News channels during 41 weeks of the previous calendar year was 2.271 million weekly impressions. It must be remembered that BARC had stopped publication of ratings in the public domain to allow viewership to stablise after the implementation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) New Tariff Order (NTO) for the weeks 6 to 12 of 2019. Hence, average of the remaining 41 weeks of 2019 (weeks 13 to 53 of 2019) or post week 12 of 2019 average has been considered.

    Top 5 English News Channels in week 6 of 2020

    Four of the channels in BARC’s weekly list of Top 5 English News channels for week 6 of 2020 were the same as in the previous week. Pub-caster Doordarshan’s English News channel DD India exited the list during the period under review, while the Radhika and Pronnoy Roy headed NDTV 24×7 made a rare appearance into BARC’s weekly list of Top 5 English News channels in week 06 of 2019.

    At its normal numero uno position was the Arnab Goswami headed Republic TV with a phenomenal 74.5 percent lead in ratings in week 6 of 2020 of 1.141 million weekly impressions as compared to the 0.654 million weekly impressions in week 5. Also at its normal second rank was Times Now with 0.664 million weekly impressions in week 6 of 2020 which was 24.3 percent more than the 0.534 million weekly impressions in week 5. Continuing on at its previous week’s third rank was the India Today group’s India Today Television with 0.415 million weekly impressions in week 6 of 2020, a jump of 40 percent from the 0.303 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

    Climbing up to fourth rank in week 6 of 2020 from the previous week’s fifth rank was Network18’s CNN News18 with 0.263 million weekly impressions, which was 61.3 percent more than the 0.163 million weekly impressions in week 5. Entering BARC’s weekly lists of Top 5 English News channels for was NDTV 24×7 with 0.258 million weekly impressions. This was NDTV 24×7 second appearance in BARC’s top 5 English News channels list in 2020. The channel had appeared in the lists earlier in calendar year 2020 in week 1.

  • Colors continues as most watched pay TV Hindi GEC across genres

    Colors continues as most watched pay TV Hindi GEC across genres

    BENGALURU: Network18/Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors had climbed up to rank 3 in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of Top 10 Channels Across Genres on All Platforms in week 3 of 2020 (previous week or period). Colors is a pay TV channel. Enterr10 Television’s free-to-air (FTA) Hindi GEC Dangal had regained top spot after a short hiatus of one week from the Sun Tv Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV in the previous week.The same ranking status continued on in week 4 of 2020 (Saturday, 25 January 2020 to Friday, 31January 2020, week or period under review). Hence Colors was the most watched pay TV Hindi GEC in week 4 of 2020 for the second week in a row.

    As a matter of fact, the first seven ranks during the period under review in BARC’s top 10 channels across genres on all platforms weekly list were the same in rank and file as in the previous week. Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) pay TV flagship Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television (SET) pushed up one place to eighth rank in week 4 of 2020 from week 3, while Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) flagship Kannada GEC Zee Kannada dropped a place to ninth rank. Viacom18’s kids channel Nick exited BARC’s weekly across genres on all platforms list in week 4 of 2020 and was replaced by Zeel’s Hindi Movies channel Zee cinema.

    Six Hindi GECs’ and one channel each from the Hindi Movies, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu genres made up BARC’s Top 10 Channels Across Genres on All Platforms in week 4 of 2020. There were three channels from Zeel, two channels each from SPN and Star India and one channel each from Enterr 10 Television, Sun Tv Network and Viacom18/Network18 in the list in week 4 of 2020. Nine of the channels were on the pay platform and one channel was FTA.
    The combined ratings of the Top 10 Channels Across Genres on All Platforms in week 4 of 2020 were lower than those of the previous week.

    Please refer to the figure below:

    Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020

    Sun TV continued its run as the most watched pay channel in week 4 of 2020. It topped BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020. The first six ranks in week 4 of 2020 were the same as in week 3. SET climbed to eighth rank, while Zee Kannada dropped to ninth rank in week 4 of 2020 as compared to the previous period. Viacom18’s Nick was replaced at tenth rank by Zee Cinema during the period under review.

    Five Hindi GECs’, two Telugu GECs’ and one channel each from the Hindi Movies, Kannada and Tamil genres comprised BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020. There were three channels from Zeel, two channels each from SPN, Star India and Network18/Viacom18 and one channel from the Sun Tv Network in BARC’s weeklylist of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020. The combined ratings of the Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020 were lower than those of the previous week.

    Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020

    The first 4 channels in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020 were the same as in the previous week. Enterr10 TV’s Bhojpuri channel Bhojpuri Cinema jumped up three places to fifth rank during the week under review from its previous week’s eighth position. Zeel’s Music channel Zing entered the list at ninth rank, while pubcasterDoordarshan’s Sports channel DD Sports exited BARC weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020. 

    Four Bhojpuri channels, two channels each from the Hindi GEC and Hindi Movies genres and one channel each from the Marathi and Music genres made up BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020. From the network’s perspective, there were four channels each from Enterr10 Television and Zeel and two channels from B4U network in the list in week 4 of 2020. Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 4 of 2020.

    Of note was Zeel’snew Bhojpuri channel Zee Biskope – the channel retained its place and rank in its second week since coming under BARC’s ambit.

    Please refer to the chart below:


     

  • Sun TV regains most watched channel across genres top spot

    Sun TV regains most watched channel across genres top spot

    BENGALURU: The Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV was ranked first in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of Top 10 Channels Across Genres on All Platforms in week 2 of 2020 (Saturday, 11 January 2020 to Friday, 17January 2020, week or period under consideration). This was the first time in 2020 and the first time since week 36 of 2019 that the channel regained what was its regular top spot during earlier periods before the implementation of Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) New Tariff Order (NTO).

    Five Hindi GECs’, two Telugu GECs, and one channel each from the Kannada, Kids and Tamil genres made up BARCs’ weekly list of Top Channels Across Genres on All Platforms in week 2 of 2020. From the network’s perspective there were three channels from Star India, two channels each fromViacom18/Network18 and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) and one channel each from Enterr 10 Television, Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and the Sun Tv Network. Nine of the channels were pay TV and one channel, ranked second – Dangal, was free to air (FTA).

    Dangal, which was ranked first since week 37 of 2019 and even earlier, dropped a place to second rank during the week under review.

    Please refer to the figure below: 

    Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020

    As has become a norm, the top two pay channels in week 2 of 2020 were not Hindi GECs, they were a Tamil GEC and a Telugu GEC at ranks one and two respectively. Star India’s flagship Telugu GEC Star Maa replaced its network sibling Hindi GEC Star Plus at rank 2 in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020. 

    Five Hindi GECs’, two Telugu channels and one channel each from the Kannada, Kids and Tamil genres were present in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020. There were three channels from Star India, two channels each from SPN, Viacom18 and Zeel and one channel from the Sun Tv Network in the top 10 list during the period under consideration.

    Please refer to the list below:

    Top 10 Free to Air Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020

    Three channels from the Hindi Movies genre, two channels each from the Bhojpuri and Hindi GEC genres and one channel each from the Marathi, Music and Sports genres made BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free to Air Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020.  The nail biting India-Australia T20 cricket series has helped increase viewership of DD Sports, bringinr it into the fold of top 10 FTA channels across genres list during the past few weeks. Four of the channels were  from Enterr 10 Television network, three channels from Zeel, two channels from B4U and channel from pubcaster network Doordarshan in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free to Air Channels Across Genres in week 2 of 2020. Please refer to the figure below:


     

  • Madras HC asks govt to allow national sporting events on Doordarshan’s OTT platform

    Madras HC asks govt to allow national sporting events on Doordarshan’s OTT platform

    MUMBAI: Demanding that change is the need of the hour and that every legislation should in terms with updated technologies, the Madras High Court on Monday questioned the government about the PIL seeking the approval to tweak sports broadcasting laws. The court has given the centre three months to decide on amendments that will allow Doordarshan to stream top sports events on its over-the-top (OTT) platform in addition to its DTH networks on a free-to-air basis.

    The change is likely to impact broadcasters even further who had raised objections in sharing their streams with the pubcaster. Currently, broadcasters such as Star India and Sony hold rights to exclusive online streaming of key sporting events and a change in the regulation can not only impact their viewership but also revenue.

    The High Court bench consisting of chief justice S P Sahi and justice Subramonium Prasad pronounced their verdict on a PIL filed by a Mumbai-based sound engineer Aditya Modi, who has requested the Sports Broadcasting Act to be amended to include OTT as a streaming medium apart from Doordarshan’s DTH and terrestrial networks.

    As quoted by Times Of India PIL petitioner Aditya Modi said, "In view of the obvious lacunae in the act, users/viewers, who do not have access to or use of such networks, are either unable to watch these sporting events of national importance or compelled to watch such sporting events on highly-priced sports channels, thwarting the very objective of the act."

    As per the counsel for the petitioner Karthik Seshadri said that Prasar Bharati does provide content on OTT platform on a free-to-air basis. However, due to the challenge faced by the non-inclusion of OTT platform in the law, Prasar Bharati is not able to stream sports events on its digital platform, thereby restricting Indian citizens to have direct access of such events.

    Adding further details he said, “Due to usage of smartphone coupled with the access of cheap internet data, especially in rural India, a person is able to keep abreast of ongoing events. One is also able view streaming device wherever he travels, and he can also stream any event on the streaming device with ease at any place. However, due to heavy subscription charges levied by the private OTT players, who have rights to broadcast for big sporting events, millions of citizens are deprived of such entertainment due to the embargo placed on Prasar Bharati by the legislature."

    Seshadri further argued that in order to enable millions of Indians to access live national sports events, Doordarshan should be allowed to re-transmit such events on its OTT platforms. 

  • 2019 – A year of high action for the television news industry

    2019 – A year of high action for the television news industry

    Back in the day, a typical morning in an Indian household was incomplete without a cup of tea and a hefty printed newspaper. This might sound primitive to the current generation of digital natives but newspapers were, and, in fact, still are, a key source of news for many people.

    Over the last four decades, television and then the internet has changed the way we consume news. From one state-owned Doordarshan and a handful bulletins in the 70s, we have come a long way. While television is enjoying significant engagement, the mobile-first generation is consuming news through their smartphones.

    The fact that of the 880+ private channels in the country, 45 per cent are classified as news channels is a ringing endorsement of how television continues to be the preferred destination when people want to consume news that impacts their lives.

    News, especially television news is event-driven. 2019 proved to be a defining year for the television news industry as a whole. The year saw some of the biggest attention-grabbing events – General Elections, sports events such as ICC Cricket World Cup, terror strikes and counter-measures, passing away of popular political personalities, landmark rulings and parliamentary decisions etc. This year saw it all and had a large number of Indians watching the news. So much so, that not only English and Hindi news segment experienced high viewership, the entire news genre expanded its total viewership in the television universe.

    Elections clearly drive a strong spike in viewership of news channels. This year’s general elections was a huge event with a staggering 900 million prospective voters, resulting in the largest democratic exercise in the world. According to BARC India, counting day on 23 May brought an all-time high viewership for the English news channels. It alone led to an increase of 90 per cent versus the average of the previous four weeks with over 10 million people watching news in the last week of the elections.

    With the advent of technology, the consumption patterns have also evolved. It has proved to be a disrupting force across sectors and television is no exception. It has changed the way people interact with news while also enabling news channels to explore innovative solutions to engage with their viewers. At News18 Network, our technology platform has a comprehensive back-end catering to the entire content value chain from information collection to processing and presentation and further to distribution to all our news channels& digital/mobile platforms.

    During General Elections, we deployed systems for end-to-end data collection, processing, and dissemination that no other TV channel or media house did. Our massive strength of 1200 on-ground reporters spread across counting centres in the country led to fastest & authentic results. We also brought into play ELEX – A, a technological platform that captures all the relevant data pertaining to voting by the electorate, analyses it and applies algorithms to render a virtual display of a map with factual results. ELEX-A was used to provide viewers with a bird’s eye view of the exit polls and election results plotted over the map of India as AR graphics.

    On the counting day, we deployed ‘Magic Wall’, an analytical tool that uses artificial intelligence for election programming and result presentation. It was developed in association with CNN America. Powered by research done at the constituency level by the extensive News18 network, this innovative tool helped the breakdown of LIVE results based on parameters like demographics, industrial growth, farmer distress, millennial influence, impact of government schemes etc. These factors allowed our network to breakdown and explain the result and its impact on the viewers. This enabled us to present the results fast with impeccable clarity and accuracy.

    Today, integrated broadcast and digital newsroom operations generate a high level of synergy underneath, driving high-energy output for our shows. We have a very engaging line-up of shows and reporting from every corner of the nation. Social media has added another dimension to our reportage and engagement with live viewer interaction. Keeping viewers at the core of our content strategy, we also revamped our primetime line-up on CNN-News18 recently to make it more relevant for our viewers, increase their interaction through crisp news coupled with in-depth analysis.

    As viewers enjoy multiple choices in the news genre, driving loyalty is the key. However, events of national and regional importance and the resulting growth in viewership impact advertiser interest and revenues. The year 2019 has delivered high revenues in the news segment. That said, the effect also depends on the nature of the events. For instance, for general news category, the impact of Elections is far greater than the Union Budget, which is more of a business event.

    Elections are always a period of hyperactivity for the news channels. During this time, the pricing and the advertising fills both went up in the general news category. The counting day phenomenon alone delivered far more eyeballs than the IPL, one of the most-watched and televised events in the country.

    The news genre accounts for around 12.5 per cent of the total TV viewership and continues to be of interest for most categories. The segment not only attracts the male audience – considered the core target audience – but also female viewers who comprise almost 49 per cent viewers, as per BARC.

    News is consumed by influencers and decision-makers across sectors and industries. From CEOs and shareholders to trade audiences and regulators, everyone consumes news. As I said, during elections, viewership from across segments and regions goes up significantly and hence, the segment presents a lucrative opportunity to the advertisers and marketers. It reflects the dynamism and the constantly evolving nature of the television news and the consumers.

    Over 68 crore people i.e. almost eight out of 10 people tune-into News18 Network. Our clutter-breaking content draws viewers which helps brands achieve business and brand objectives. On the back of the scale and the reach, we have been able to provide the advertisers seamless brand integrations in the reportage.

    Moving forward we know that consumer attention will further become a scarce resource. We will ensure that our content delivery mirror’s changing consumption habits across screens – TV or mobile to create an enriching experience for our consumers. We will continue to undertake frequent consumer immersions to identify how they are consuming content so that we can always be part of their conversations.

    (The author is CNN-News18 English/Business cluster CEO. The views expressed are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

  • Hindi GEC & Southern channels evenly matched across genres as TV viewership drops

    Hindi GEC & Southern channels evenly matched across genres as TV viewership drops

    BENGALURU: Southern languages channels shared equal space in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across genres list with Hindi GECs in week 50 of 2019 (Saturday, 7 December 2019 to Friday, 13 December 2019, week or period under review). In the meantime, TV viewership dropped to 13.8 billion weekly impressions in week 50 of 2019 from 14.2 billion in the previous week. 

    Overall TV and OTT weekly viewership according to BARC data declined 2.8 percent to 14 billion weekly impressions during the period under review from 14.4 billion impressions reported in week 49 of 2019. The Top 10 Pay Channels Across genres incurred a higher loss than the Top 10 Free to Air (FTA) Channels Across Genres did in week 50 of 2019 as compared to week 49, as their respective chartswhich follow in this paper will demonstrate.

    Please refer to the chart for TV and OTT viewership for week 49 and 50 of 2019: 

    Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres

    There were five channels each from Hindi GEC and three South Indian languages in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across genre for week 50 of 2019 as mentioned above. There were two channels each from the Tamil and Telugu genres and one channel from the Kannada genre in the top 10 across genres on all platforms weekly list for week 50 of 2019.

    There were three channels from Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel), two channels each from Star India and Network18/Viacom18 and one channel each from Enterr 10 Television, Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and the Sun Tv Network in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across genre for week 50 of 2019.

    Nine of the channels in the across genres on all platforms list in week 50 of 2019 were same as in the previous week with some shuffling of ranks. Star India’s Tamil GEC Star Vijay exited the list in week 50, while the Network18 associated Telugu GEC ETV Telegu reentered the weekly list. One channel, the most watched one – Dangal TV was free to air (FTA), while the other nine were on the pay TV platform.

    The Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres recorded weekly impressions of 6.655 billion in week 50 of 2019, 3.4 percent lower than the 6.887 million weekly impressions in week 49.

    Please refer to the figure below:

    Top 10 Pay TV channels Across Genres

    It was the three South Indian languages channels that dominated BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 50 of 2019 in terms of viewership. There were five channels – two each from the Tamil and the Telugu and one from Kannada genres in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres during the period under review. Besides the five South Indian channels, there were four Hindi GEC’s in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 50 of 2019. The combined weekly impressions of the five South Indian channels was 3.099 billion weekly impressions, 9.7 percent more than the 2.826 billion weekly impressions of the Hindi GECs’ in week 50 of 2019. In week 49 of 2019 (previous week), there were six South Indian languages channels and four Hindi GECs’ in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres.  

    Further, as has been the case over the past few weeks, the most watched pay channels were not Hindi GEC – they were Tamil and Telugu GECs’ at ranks one and two respectively in the list. 

    Nine of the channels in the weekly pay TV across genres list in week 50 0f 2019 were same as in the previous week with a slight shuffling of ranks. SPN’s flagship Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television or SET reentered the list on the exit of Star India’s Tamil GEC Star Vijay. There were three channels fromZeel, two channels each from Network18/Viacom18, SPN and Star India and one channel from Sun Tv Network in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 50 of 2019.

    As mentioned above, the Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres lost viewership in week 50 of 2019 as compared to week 49. The combined viewership of the Top 10 channels in week 50 of 2019 was 5.925 billion weekly impressions, 4.1 percent lower than the 6.178 billion weekly impressions in week 49.

    Please refer to the chart below

    Top 10 Free channels Across Genres

    Nine channels in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free to Air Channels Across Genres in week 50 of 2019 were the same as in the previous week with slight changes in the ranks. SkyStar’s Hindi Movies channel ABZY Movies exited the list in week 50 of 2019 to be replaced by Doordarshan’s sports channel DD Sports, now that the one day series between India and West Indies is being played. 

    There were three channels each from Enterr 10 Television, the B4U Network and Zeel and one channel from Doordarshan in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres for week 50 of 2019. There were three channels from the Hindi Movies genre, two movies each from the Bhojpuri and the Hindi GEC genres, and there was one channel each from the Marathi, Music and Sports genres in week 50 of 2019 in the free channels across genres weekly list.

    The combined viewership of the Top 10 Free Channels Across genres in week 50 of 2019 dropped 1.7 percent to 2.348 billion weekly impressions as compared to 2.388 billion weekly impressions in the previous week.

    Please refer to the chart below:

  • I&B minister says DD FreeDish has 33 million subs

    I&B minister says DD FreeDish has 33 million subs

    MUMBAI: The free to air TV sector has soared ever since the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) announced the New Tariff Order for India’s pay TV ecosystem. How much it has done so was answered in the Lok Sabha. 

    Currently, Doordarshan has 35 operating satellite TV channels. This includes six all India channels, 17 regional channels, 11 state networks and one international channel.

    In response to a question, Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said that these channels are available on DD FreeDish and “approximately 33 million households have access to DD FreeDish throughout the country”.

    Additionally, the government has allocated Rs 234.51 crore to Doordarshan for content development under the scheme “Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development” for the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

  • BARC week 39: ‘Howdy Modi’ and UNGA proceedings boost English news viewership

    BARC week 39: ‘Howdy Modi’ and UNGA proceedings boost English news viewership

    BENGALURU: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and incidents related to the event such as the speech of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and the abrogation of article 370, helped boost up English news viewership in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India’s (BARC) week 39, 2019 ratings. After the super success of ‘Howdy Modi’, the Indian premier’s speech was the most awaited one by world. Short to the point, the speech called upon the world to unite to face challenges such as terror, climate, fight against poverty, etc.

    The combined viewership of the top 5 English news channels in week 39 of 2019 (Saturday, 21 September 2019 to Friday, 27 September 2019, week or period under review) increased 0.788 million weekly impressions or by 41 per cent as compared to the previous week – week 38. Needless to say that all the five channels saw ratings climb up at least 32 per cent during the period under review. 

    As mentioned above, viewership of the top 5 English news channels increased 41 per cent in week 39 of 2019 to 2.716 million impressions as compared to 1.928 million weekly impressions. Please refer to the figure below:

    The ranks of the top 5 English news channels in week 39 of 2019 were the same as those in week 38 of 2019. Please refer to the chart below:

    English news channels in week 39 of 2019

    Despite Arnab Goswami being conspicuous by his absence during some of the boisterous and uncontrolled debates that contribute hugely to his channel’s viewership and numero uno position, Republic TV saw its viewership increase 44 per cent or by 0.272 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 from 0.621 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Times Now, at second rank, saw viewership increase by 0.152 million (32 per cent increase) weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 to 0.621 million weekly impressions from 0.469 million weekly impressions in week 38.

    Continuing on at third rank, pubcaster Doordarshan’s English news channel saw ratings increase by 0.130 million weekly impressions (42 per cent increase) to 0.439 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 from 0.309 million weekly impressions in the previous week. India Today Group’s India Today TV at rank 4, saw its ratings increase 0.125 million weekly impressions or increase by 45 per cent to 0.401 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 from 0.276 million weekly impressions. Completing the quintet at rank 5, Network18’s CNN News18 saw viewership increase 43 per cent or by 0.109 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 to 0.362 million weekly impressions from 0.253 million weekly impressions in week 38.

    Please refer to the figure below:


     

  • Supriya Sahu’s tenure as Doordarshan DG comes to an end

    Supriya Sahu’s tenure as Doordarshan DG comes to an end

    MUMBAI: Doordarshan director general Supriya Sahu has moved on from the pubcaster. Senior IAS officer Sahu had been appointed as Doordarshan’s director general in 2016. The post was vacant for almost two years before her joining.

    On her last day at Doordarshan, Sahu expressed deep gratitude to everyone via Twitter after completing her 30-year tenure. She also added that she is heading back to her cadre in the state of Tamil Nadu to begin a new journey.

    The 1991 batch IAS from the Tamil Nadu cadre was chosen by the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati in 2016 February, after which the broadcaster had recommended her name to the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) for approval. Sahu served as the director at MIB in the past and later got promoted to the post of joint secretary.