Tag: Star Plus

Return of Rebel 2 & PK return Sony Max to top 10 prog list across genre

BENGALURU: The airing of The Return of Rebel 2 across Hindi Movies (Urban+Rural), Hindi Movies (Urban) and Hindi Movies (Rural) and PK along with Son of Satyamurthy in the Hindi Movies (Urban+Rual) and Hindi Movies (Urban) markets saw Son Max re-enter the Top 10 channels across genre All India (U+R): 2+ Individuals list for week 24 –(Saturday, 10 June 2017 to Friday, 16 June 2017). After the tenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 10) which commenced in week 14 of 2017, this Sony Pictures Network channel had had a small hiatus from BARC’s lists across genre for one week – week 23. Sony Max was placed at ninth rank in the list with 460.016 million weekly impressions in week 24 of 2017.

The Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) list of top 10 channels for week 24 has seen some shakeups and exits vis-à-vis the previous week (week 23).Since the past few weeks two Balaji Telefilm’s soaps on competing channels have given each other a tough fight in the ratings battle on Hindi GEC. For a few weeks the infinite length family drama Kumkum Bhagya on Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV had taken the ratings lead backed by strong viewership in the Hindi GEC (Urban+Rural) and the Hindi GEC (Urban) markets. However, as Balaji Telefilm’s second season of the finite length supernatural series Naagin 2 on Viacom 18’s Hindi flagship channel Colors approaches its closure, it has retaken the lead in the ratings tables in these markets over the past few weeks.

Cricket, of course has always been close to the heart of all Indians, and hence the presence of Star Sports 1 Hindi and DD National that broadcast the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in which India was one of the finalists, though a losing one.

While the top five channels from the Week 23 list have retained their rank and order,albeit with altered ratings in week 24, Zee Anmolclimbed up one rank to the sixth place while pushing its older peer channel Zee TV down to seventh place in week 24 from its previous week’s sixth rank. The Sun TV Network’s Telugu flagship channel Gemini TV maintained its eighth position of week 23 in week 24 while Sony Max and Colors (which also re-entered the list) pushed out DD National and Star Sports 1 from the top 10 channels list.

Please refer to the list below for BARC data for top 10 channels across genre for weeks 23 and 24.

June 29, 2017
ChuChu TV on YouTube records 10m subs with 154 kids videos

MUMBAI: A YouTube channel seems to be creating wonders with kids rhymes, and it is getting wonderful views and reviews and clicks! ChuChu TV, an Indian YouTube channel for kids, gives a positive spin to original nursery rhymes.

One of the most popular edutainment channels worldwide, ChuChu TV, in its fourth year, has received 10 million subscribers with just 154 videos, making it the fastest-ever growing YouTube channel in the family entertainment and pre-school education space. This incredible milestone which reiterates ChuChu TV’s remarkable success was achieved on 17 June, 2017.
Indiantelevision.com had reported in May 2017 that T-Series stayed put in its #1 spot on the top of the charts for the 11th week in a series. One of the India’s largest music labels and movie studio’s destination on YouTube popped up 26% to close out the week with more than 321.3 million views. Way far behind in the second place was Ryan Toys Review. The aging toddler saw his channel go up 4% in its week-over-week view count to top out at nearly 214.8 million views, TubeFilter had reported. In the fifth position was SET India. The YouTube home of Sony Entertainment (India) jumped up 19% to end the week with almost 183.1 million views.

Says ChuChu TV co-founder and CEO Vinoth Chandar, “We are delighted to have made history by becoming the fastest growing family entertainment and preschool channel. We have always believed in quality and positive messaging and this landmark is a thumbs-up from our audience and care-givers. It inspires us to create iconic content, introduce consumer products and basically do more of everything that delights and educates our audiences across the world.”

ChuChu TV is the fourth largest YouTube channel in India with its online audience larger than that of All-India Bakchod (AIB), Viral Fever Videos or Comedy Nights, Colors TV and Star Plus. The channels more popular with a larger subscriber-base than ChuChu TV are — T-Series, Sony and ZeeTV.

However, T-Series has grown over the years through an upload of around 10000+ videos, SET India has around 17000+ videos and ZeeTV around 68000+ videos, whereas ChuChu TV has only 154 so far, making it a leader in its own right.

In addition, ChuChu TV has achieved this milestone in four years. In terms of views, ChuChu TV has a whopping 12 billion views across all its channels. It ranks #1 in Asia Pacific region and in India and #2 worldwide in terms of subscribers in the family entertainment & pre-school education categories.

ChuChu TV is a YouTube based kid’s channel which offers educational videos and original nursery rhymes refreshed with a positive message. Designed to engage children through a series of upbeat songs and colourful animations, ChuChu TV has been making learning engaging and fun for toddlers in over 75 countries worldwide, truly making the channel a global phenomenon. Positive messages are at the heart of ChuChu TV’s entertaining songs and animations. Beloved nursery rhymes like “Chubby Cheeks” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep” have been re-written to promote the value of sharing and helping others, while “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” highlights the importance of exercise in a way that young children will understand.

Their motto is ‘Spreading goodness among children,’ and the channel strives to keep to with every new video they offer to their young audience.

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June 24, 2017
GEC: Sony Pal dethrones Star Plus & Sab TV surprises at 2nd position

MUMBAI: Sony Pal emerged as the number one channel in GEC (U+R) space pushing Star Plus to the number two position in week 24 of BARC’s all-India data. In the rural market too, Sony Pal led the segment. In the urban market, however, Star Plus retained its leadership and Sab TV jumped two slots to emerge at the second slot.

Programmes-wise, however, DD National led in the top two positions owing to telecast of ICC Champions trophy matches, and Zee TV’s Amul Sa Re Ga Ma Little Champs emerged on the third position.

Hindi GEC (U+R)

Sony Pal bagged the first spot with 590797 Impressions (000s) followed by Star Plus on the second slot with 584337 Impressions (000s) and Rishtey on third number with 573860 Impressions (000s).

Zee Anmol bagged the fourth spot with 531190 Impressions (000s) whereas Zee TV stood at the fifth spot with 469297 Impressions (000s).

Sab TV climbed two slots to number sixth position with 439300 Impressions (000s). Colors however maintained its seventh position with 433443 Impressions (000s) followed by DD National on the eighth with 424973 Impressions (000s) and Sony Entertainment Television with 362259 Impressions (000s) stood at ninth spot. Life OK came tenth with 321383 Impressions (000s).

Hindi GEC Rural

Sony Pal retained its the numero uno slot with 431225 Impressions (000s) with improved ratings this week as compared to 402620 Impressions (000s) in week 23.

Rishtey and Zee Anmol respectively stood at second and third positions with 428756 Impressions (000s) and 410953 Impressions (000s). DD National retained its fourth position with 259909 Impressions (000s) sum.

Star Utsav stood at fifth position with 234371 Impressions (000s) sum. Star Plus garnered 196417 Impressions (000s) followed by Zee TV’s 189743 Impressions (000s) sum to respectively pocket sixth and seventh spot. Big Magic stood at number eight with 183974 Impressions (000s) sum.

Colors and Sab TV bagged the ninth and tenth spots respectively with 133816 Impressions (000s) and 131964 Impressions (000s).

Hindi GEC Urban

Star Plus has retained the top position with 387920 Impressions (000s) followed by Sab TV on the second slot with 307336 Impressions (000s) and Colors on the third with 299627 Impressions (000s).

Zee TV and Sony pocketed the fourth and fifth positions with 279553 and 264073 impressions (000s) sum. Life OK, DD National and Sony Pal respectively bagged the sixth, seventh and eighth positions with 211052, 165063 and 159572 Impressions (000s) sum.

At the last of Top 10 channels’ list appeared Rishtey and &TV with 145104 and 129007 impressions (000s) sum.

June 22, 2017
‘Vishkanya’ spawns two new tales on &TV & Colors, period drama on Star Plus in making

MUMBAI: New content, different styles of story-telling, mythology-based programmes and old wine in new bottle — have all done reasonably well on the Indian television from time to time. Now, Peninsula Pictures, the makers of Vishkanya, is bringing ‘Shree Krishna’, albeit with a twist in the original tale, and Dev Anand, a detective series.

Peninsula co-founders Nissar Parvez and Alind Srivastava told Indiantelevision.com that their year-long ‘Paramavtar Shree Krishna’, a mythological show, will be aired on &TV from 19 June, and the 26-episodic ‘Dev Anand’ will be aired on Colors in July. “We are working on another show with Star Plus (reportedly a period drama of a king and its three daughters), shooting for which will start soon,” Parvez and Srivastava said.

“We have treated the legendary character of Kans with a fresh perspective. Kans has always been portrayed as a ‘cruel character’ from the maternal side of Lord Krishna, but we are presenting him as an entertaining character,” Parvez and Srivastava said.

“Dev Anand is an interesting show — the past story of his life will be revealed as we go ahead episode after episode. In every episode, he handles a new case. There is also an inbuilt story there which reveals as to how he became a detective — so, there are a lot of twists and turns in the show,” Parvez and Srivastava informed.

The Peninsula Pictures’ duo said: “Shree Krishna’s story revolves around the life of Krishna. It focuses on Radha differently. But, we are primarily focusing on the journey of Krishna — the reason behind his birth, what was going on the earth that warranted a new avatar to come, and how this incarnation is different from other avatars.”

Whether mythology and fantasy concepts work in India, the duo replied in the affirmative. “They work in India, especially since we have improveed a lot in terms of VFX and other technology. The visuals now are real and believable. So, it works and also excites the youth.”

Parvez, who once worked with Four Lions Productions and Gul Khan, later founded Peninsula with Srivastava, to explore things on his own. Vishkanya, Peninsula’s first show to hit the screens, that had different kind of graphics and visual effects, was a story of a female protagonist who was drawn into revenge in the midst of a blossoming love story. The show, which was launched on Zee TV on 28 March in 6.30pm band from Monday-Friday, failed to garner positive ratings. According to BARC data, in week 18, the show garnered 2029 Impressions’ 000s whereas, in week 19, the channel witnessed a slight hike, but, in week 20 and 21, ratings nosedived with 1648 Impressions ‘000s and 1347 Impressions ‘000s, respectively.

“It was an experiment — It didn’t work. Although it ran for five to six months, we think the time slot was too early for this kind of a story. If it would have been telecast in prime time, probably there could have been a different outcome. Some things work, some don’t, but it’s always good to learn and not repeat.”

June 19, 2017
Only India still has 70:30 ad-to-distribution rev, says Sony’s Neeraj Vyas

MUMBAI: On 13 June, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI)’s comedy channel Sony Sab unveiled its latest identity. It has roped in the Bollywood hearthrob Varun Dhawan as its brand ambassador.

The ‘re-energised’ channel will see a new line-up of comedy shows, lively packaging and vibrant visuals aimed at providing an enriching and revitalised visual experience to its audience. The channel has relaunched with new shows but, by August 2017, the channel has planned to launch an exciting line-up for its viewers.

The positioning of the channel as a family channel will remain the same as assured by the network but, going forward, the network has planned to expand the prime time.

Talking to Indiantelevision.com about extending the prime time and launching afternoon band, SPNI Sab and Max cluster senior EVP and head Neeraj Vyas said that it’s a learning phase right now. He also said that a channel dropped by 50 GRPs in the last six months, but refused to name the channel.

“(However,) Star (India) seems to be getting it right with the help of its huge base. But, I don’t think it’s working for many other people (channels). So, we will wait and watch, because the critical mass audience in the afternoon band is not significant. Also, women are not my primary TG right now. To get them to watch television in the afternoon is difficult. To experiment now may not be the right thing to do, but you never know. We might come up with something like a weekend afternoon,” Vyas added.

Speaking about the distribution investment, SPNI CEO NP Singh said, “We have made investment in distribution in the last couple of years. In fact, in the last couple of months, we have made investments across major DPOs — and, all that will impact the reach of the channel.” “This repositioning and relaunch will also help to build the reach,” he added.

Prodded about the ratio of distribution and ad revenue, Vyas informed “It’s too early to talk about that, particularly, and the television ecosystem at large. We are the only country which still has 70:30 ratio of advertising-to-distribution revenue. Everything needs to be digitised, and there has to be a subscriber management system. Not only for Sab TV but I think, for everyone, the ratio should be reversed.”

June 14, 2017
Most watched Hindi GEC channels across genre until week 22

BENGALURU: Three channels have been present during all the first 22 weeks of 2017 (Saturday, 31 December 2017 to Friday, 2 June 2017) in Broadcast Audience Research Council’s weekly list of Top 10 channels across genre-

All India (U+R) : 2+ Individuals – They are (in order of the combined sum of weekly impressions while present in the top 10 channels across genre list) : Star Plus (16.128 billion CWI, Colors (13.67 billion CWI) and Zee TV (11.800 billion CWI).

This paper is based on the information available in the public domain. Hence, It must be noted that the CWI figure mentioned in this paper is the sum of the weekly impressions of the channel mentioned in the BARC list of top 10 channels across genre – if a channel is not present in the list during any of the first 22 weeks of 2017, then its actual Combined Weekly Impressions will be much higher. Hence the author has refrained from mentioning the CWI for channels that were absent even for one of the first 22 weeks of 2017.

None of the Hindi GEC channels have been ranked at no. 1 during the first 22 weeks of 2017 in the list.Star India has been ranked no 2 for 13weeks and Colors and Zee TV once each in the weekly list of Top 10 channels across genre during the first 22 weeks of 2017.

Network 18’s second Hindi GEC – Rishtey was present in the weekly list of Top 10 channels across genre for 21 weeks; Sony Pictures Network India’s (SPN) Sony Pal was present in the for 16 of the first 22 weeks of 2017, followed by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited Hindi GEC – Zee Anmol which was present in the list for 13 of the first 22 weeks of 2017. The other channels that were present in the list include SPN’sSony Entertainment Television, SPN’s Sony Sab, Star India’s StarUtsav and DD National during the period under consideration.

Rank 1 has been held by the Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV for 17 weeks and Hindi Movies channel Sony Max for five weeks (weeks 15 to 19 of 2017).SPN’sSony Max aired the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 10 or IPL 2017) during the five weeks it was numerounoand the two weeks it was ranked second in the weekly list of Top 10 channels across genre. Sony Max had entered the weekly list of Top 10 channels across genre for the first time in week 14 of 2017 at rank 2. It was placed at rank 6 in week 22 of 2017.

Top 10 channels across genre in week 22 of 2017

June 9, 2017
GEC: Star Plus regains & retains two top slots albeit with lower ratings

MUMBAI: Star Plus trumped Zee TV in Hindi GEC (U+R) reclaiming and also retaining in Hindi GEC (Urban) its top position. Although Kumkum Bhagya lead the GEC programmes’ list with 10626 Impressions (000) sum, Zee TV slipped to the third position whereas Star Utsav made an entry into the GEC (Urban) Top 10 list replacing Zee Anmol at the tenth position.

GEC (URBAN & RURAL)

Star Plus lead this week by in Hindi GEC (U+R) but with a decrease in its ratings with 648274 Impressions (000s) sum this week as compared to 676078 Impressions (000s) sum in week 21. Sony Pal with 591764 Impressions (000s) sum witnessed a fall in ratings but jumped to the second position from the third position.

Last week’s leader Zee TV slipped to the third position with 528060 Impressions (000s) sum and Rishtey retained its fourth position with 503431 Impressions (000s) sum.

Colors, Zee Anmol, Sony Sab, Star Utsav, Sony Entertainment Television and Life OK also retained their respective fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth positions as in the last week.

GEC RURAL

Sony Pal retained its top position with 444094 Impressions (000s) sum this week as compared to 477157 Impressions (000s) sum in week 21.

Rishtey and Zee Anmol retained their second and third positions with 375688 Impressions (000s) sum and 333799 Impressions (000s) sum, respectively. Star Utsav jumped a slot and came to the fourth position with 305909 Impressions (000s) sum. Zee TV slipped a slot reaching the fifth position with 221806 Impressions (000s) sum.

Star Plus, Sony Sab, Colors, Big Magic and Life OK retained their respective sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth positions.

GEC URBAN

Star Plus retained its top position with 440978 Impressions (000s) sum this week as compared to 453359 Impressions (000s) sum in week 21. Star Utsav made an entry into the Top 10 list with 100483 Impressions (000s) sum replacing Zee Anmol.

Zee TV, Colors, Sony Sab and Sony Entertainment Television retained their second, third, fourth and fifth positions respectively with 306254, 298458, 264620 and 264556 Impressions (000s) sum.

Life OK and Sony Pal also retained their sixth and seventh positions, respectively. Rishtey and &TV exchanged their positions and now stood at eighth and ninth positions, respectively.

June 8, 2017
Hindi GECs gain lost ground across genres as IPL10 closes in week 21

BENGALURU: Only one T20 cricket match on one day of the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 10) happened during Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) week 21 (Saturday, 20 May 2017 to Friday, 26 May 2017) – The Finals. And that one match on Sunday, 21 May 2017 at 2000 hours (800 pm) was enough to retain Sony Pictures Network India’s (SPN) Hindi Movies channel Sony Max in BARC’s top 10 channels list across genres for week 21, however at fourth place instead of second place that the channel had in weeks 20 and 14. Sony Max, which aired IPL matches,topped the lists for weeks 15,16, 17,18 and 19 of 2017. Before IPL10 which commenced in the middle of week 14, Sony Max did not figure in weekly the top 10 channels lists across genres in 2017.All the 10 channels that were present in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres in week 20 were also present in week 21, but with shuffled ranks.

The seven Hindi GECs’ that were present in BARC week 20 saw a 9.27 percent growth in ratings in week 21. The combined weekly impressions of these seven Hindi GEC channels as per BARC list of top channels across genres in weeks 21 and 20 were 40,85,558 (000s) Sums and 37,38,931 (000s) Sums respectively. Six of the seven Hindi GEC channels in the list gained viewership, while one – Zee Anmol, witnessed a small drop of 1.80 percent in weekly impressions in week 21’s top 10 channels list across genres as compared to week 20.

Like last week, one channel each from the Tamil GEC, Telugu GEC and Hindi Movies spaces and seven channels from the Hindi GEC space were present in the weekly top 10 channels list across genres in week 21. Of these, three were from the Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) network, two each from the Network 18 (or Viacom 18), Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) and the Sun TV Network stables, and one from the Star India Network.

Please refer to the figure below for the ratings table for BARC week 21: Across genres –All India (U+R): 2+ Individuals.

June 2, 2017
Sun TV regains top spot across genres as IPL 10 comes to a close

BENGALURU: As IPL 10 came to a close, the Sun TV Networks’ Tamil flagship GEC Sun TV regained its top spot in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of top 10 channels across genre: All India (U+R): 2+ Individuals in week 20 Saturday, 13 May 2017 to Friday, 19 May 2017.

IPL 10 viewership supremacy across genres

During its run, IPL 10 channels ruled the air with Indians lapping up the live event, more so during primetime. TV viewership declines during the summer months according to BARC. IPL 10 is probably one of the factors that helped retard this seasonal viewership decline.

IPL 10 commenced on Wednesday, 5 April 2017 (in BARC week 14). The mega T20 cricket bonanza played by 8 teams comprising of over 200 players including 72 international players concluded with the finals on Sunday, 21 May 2017, after 60 matches spread over 47 days.

BARC week 14 commenced on Saturday, 1 April 2017 and ended on Friday, 7 April 2017. Three days of play with three matches played happened in week 14. The event concluded in the beginning of week 21 – only one match was played during that week. Ten matches were played during each of BARC weeks15, 16,and 18. Nine matches were played in weeks17 (one match was rained out in week 17) and 19 and seven planned for week 20, with just one in week 21 as mentioned above.

The excitement built up for the event saw IPL 10 recording the highest viewership for the season in week 15 for all the Sony Pictures Network (SPN) channels that broadcast the event – the two Hindi Movie channels – Sony Max and two Sports channel’s Sony Six.(English) and Sony ESPN (commentary in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Hindi).

Week 20: Top 10 channels list across genres

One channel each from the Tamil GEC, Telugu GEC and Hindi Movies spaces and seven channels from the Hindi GEC space were present in the weekly top 10 channels list across genres in week 20. Of these, three were from the Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) network, two each from the Network 18 (or Viacom 18), Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) and the Sun TV Network stables, and one from the Star India Network.

Sun TV and Sony Max exchanged ranks while Star Plus, Sony Pal, Zee TV, Gemini TV, Colors, Zee Anmol, Rishtey retained their week 19 ranks of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 respectively. Zee Telugu exited the list in week 20 to be replaced with Sony Sab.

As mentioned above, Sun TV once again topped BARC’s weekly top 10 channels list after a hiatus of 5 weeks with 10,41,591 Impressions (000s) Sums followed by Sony Max with 9,83,279Impressions (000s) Sums at second place.Please refer to the figure below for the list of top 10 channels across genres for week 20:

May 29, 2017
Has IPL 10 increased TV viewership? Has it eaten into channels’ ratings?

BENGALURU: Has the tenth edition of the T20 cricket bonanza Indian Premier League (IPL 10) increased television viewership in India? Here below is a preliminary statistical analysis of Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) for Top 10 Channels *Across Genre: All India (U+R) : 2+ Individuals for weeks 1 to 18 of 2017 supported by other BARC data and inputs. BARC week 1 to 18 means the period between Saturday, 31 December 2016 and Friday 5 May 2017.

BCCI’s official full list of IPL broadcasting TV and digital streaming channels in various countries says that Sony Pictures Network (SPN) channels Sony SIX, Sony SIX HD (Both commentry in English), Sony Max, Sony Max HD (Both commentary in Hindi), Sony ESPN (Commentary in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Hindi) will broadcast the event into India. Live streaming in India will be on Hotstar. Has the sport eaten into viewership of existing channels- well the answer could be a yes and a no, depending upon the way one looks at it.Read on to know more…

It may be noted that BARC data of 30 different genres/languages/markets across differing NCCS, plus data of the top 10 channelsacross genres plus top 10 advertisers and brands across genres is available for public access. This paper uses the data for Top 10 channels across genres a yardstick, and BARC data for Top 10 Hindi GEC channelsHSM (U+R) :NCCS All : 2+ Individuals; BARC Data for Top 5 Tamil channels Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (U+R) markets : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals; BARC data for Top 10 Telugu channels AP/ Telangana (U+R) markets : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals to support some of its findings. This paper is limited to that extent, which must be borne in mind.

IPL 10 has increased television viewership in India?

IPL 10 commenced in week 14 of 2017.Using BARC’s weekly data for the top 10 television channels across genres, the simple average of weekly impressions (18 week average CWI) of all the top 10 channels per week during the first 18 weeks of 2017 (18 week average CWI) works out to 62,28,061.111 (000s) Sums. The 13 week average CWI for the top 10 television channels across genres was 60,08,108.385(000s) Sums. CWI could indicate the sum of the weekly impressions of all the channels of a genre for the indicated week or the sum of weekly impressions of a channel in a genre spanning the period under consideration. The most commonly referred periods in this paper are 18 and 13 weeks.

In week 14 of 2017 Sony Max entered the list at second rank and then climbed to rank 1 in weeks 15, 16, 17 and 18. Sony Six entered the list in week 15 with Weekly Impressions of 4,58,933 (000s) Sums at tenth rank.Sony Six was not present in the top 10 channels across genres lists during earlier or in weeks 16, 17 and 18 of 2017.

In week 14, CWI of the top 10 channels across genre dipped as compared to week 17 and then climbed to the highest ever in 2017 until now (week 18), only to dip in week 16,and the dip even further in weeks 17 and 18.

BARCIndia is the official Twitter handle of BARC India. In a series of tweets under #SeasonalSwing, BARC has mentioned some performances for week 18 of 2017. In one tweet, BARC has said “Viewership during prime time gets affected due to summer heat. Similar #SeasonalSwingseen in 2016 as well’. An animation in the same tweet says that “AS MERCURY RISES, PRIMETIME VIEWING DIPS, INDICATING #SEASONALSWING OF TV VIEWERSHIP”. BARC has further tweeted that ‘TV viewership in week 18 was 26.1 billion impressions under #SesonalSwing.” In a series of other tweets under this hashtag, BARC has revealed performances of somechannels/programmes in week 18.

Please refer to the figure below:

The 13 week average CWI the top 10 channels across genre was 60,08,108.385 (000s) Sums, signifying a growth in viewership of 3.66 percent for the average of CWI of 18 weeks (62,28,061.111 (000s) Sums). This rise seems to indicate that IPL 10 did increase TV viewership despite the summer heat. Was it also something else? The summer holidays for a large number of educational institutions in the country resulting in people spending more time watching television? Is the growth because of more riveting content on television? Or …?

As mentioned above, in week 15 of 2017, CWI was the highest ever during the 18 weeks at 72,25,717 (000s) Sums or 16.02 percent more than the average CWI over 18 weeks and 20.27 percent more than the average CWI over 13 weeks. Post the commencement of IPL 10, week 18 has shown the lowest positive deviation from both the averages at 5.87 percent and 9.75 percent (from the average CWI over 18 and 13 weeks respectively).

Please refer to the figure below:

Has IPL10 eaten into channels viewership?

Five channels were present in the weekly top 10 channels across genres list during all the 18 weeks of 2017. In descending order of CWI of 18 weeks, they are – The Sun Networks flagship Tamil GEC – Sun TV; Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC –Star Plus; Network 18 (or Viacom 18 if you will) flagship Hindi GEC Colors; The Sun Network’s Telugu GEC Gemini TV and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV.

Going by the differences in the 18 week average CWI andthe 13 week average CWI of each channel,the first three – Sun TV, Star Plus and Colors seemed to have lost ratings, while the latter two seemed to have gained ratings.Was it because of summer heat, more riveting content on other channels?Was it because of the IPL or something else?

Please refer to the graph below. Using BARC data for top 10 channels across genres, Sun TV’s average CWI during the first 18 and 13 weeks of 2017 was 11,49.943.111 (000s) Sums and 11,55,543.615 (000s) Sums respectively (a drop of 0.48 percent). Since the latter figure is higher than the former, quite obviously, the channel has lost ratings during the course of the IPL which commenced in mid-week 14.

The graph–Sun TV-Deviation from 13 week average CWI below also confirms this – in weeks 16, 17 and 18, Sun TV’s ratings dropped by a fair percentage from its 13 week average CWI. On looking at BARC data for the top 5 channels in the Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (U+R) markets: NCCSAll : 2+ Individuals spanning the first 18 weeks of 2017, Sun TV’s 18 week average CWI fell as compared to its 13 week average CWI.

However, it may be noted that BARC data for the top 5 channels in the Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (U+R) markets indicates that overall viewership of the market grew by 0.62 percent vis-à-vis average ratings of the first 18 weeks and first 13 weeks of 2017, as compared to a decline of 0.59 percent in the case of Sun TV during the same period.

Star Plus 18 week average CWI and 13 week average CWI based on BARCdata for Top 10 channels across genres for the first 18 weeks of 2017 was 7,40,324.2222 (000s) Sums and 7,49,671.6154 (000s) Sums respectively. These numbers indicate adrop of 1.25 percent in average ratings. Please refer to the graph below which shows how Star Plus ratings have fallen after week 14 of 2017. BARC’s data for HSM (U+R): NCCSAll : 2+ Individuals – Top 10 Hindi GEC channels also reflect Star Plus’s drop in ratings – the channel saw a 1.28 percent slump between its 18 weekaverage CWI and its13 week average CWI.

Colorssaw a 2.92 percentdrop between its 18 week average CWI (6,47,851(000s) Sums) and13 weeks average CWI (6,67,356.0769 (000s) Sums). The graph below also indicates this drop starting from week 14 to week 18. BARC’s data for HSM (U+R): NCCSAll : 2+ Individuals – Top 10 Hindi GEC channels reflectsColorsdrop of 3 percent in ratings between the 18 weeks average CWI and 13 weeks average CWI.

The Sun Network’s Telugu GEC Gemini witnessed an increase of 0.96 percent in 18 week average ratings (5,68,443.1667(000s) Sums) as compared to 13 week average ratings (5,63,051.3846 (000s) Sums) based on BARC data for top 10 channels across genre. Though the channel did witness small drops in weeks 15, 17 and 18, the fall was more than cushioned by the rise in week 16 as indicated in the graph figure below.

BARC data for the top five Telugu channels – AP/ Telangana (U+R) :NCCS All : 2+ Individuals also confirms an increase of 1.09 percent for Gemini TV between the average CWI for the first 18 weeks and first 13 weeks of 2017. Overall, Telugu viewership of the top 10 Telugu channels based on the difference between the 18 week average CWI and the 13 week average CWI has dipped by 0.38 percent between weeks 13 and 18 of 2017.

Zee TV saw a growth of 1.55 percent in 18 week average CWI (5,23,273.8889 (000s) Sums) as compared to 13 week average CWI(5,15,281.6154 (000s) Sums) based on BARC data for top 10 channels across genre for weeks 1 to 18 of 2017. The graphbelow indicates that Zee TV ratings after week 9 have been more than its13 week average. This was further confirmed by BARCs’ HSM (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals – Top 10 Hindi GEC channels data, which showed that Zee TV’s 18 week average CWI increased by 1.55 percent from its 13 week average CWI.

Overall, the Hindi GEC HSM (U+R) :NCCS All: 2+ Individuals genre saw a growth of 0.47 percent between the 18 week average CWI (47,78,337.889 (000s) Sums) and the 13 week average CWI (47,55,968.385 (000s) Sums).

Please refer to the graph below.

So has IPL grown TV viewership and has it eaten into other channels ratings?

Preliminary and basic statistical analysis of limited BARC data seems to indicate that IPL 10 has grown the viewership. Probably yes. Have GEC’s lost eyeballs because of the sporting event? Maybe it has. Data for three more weeks (weeks 19, 20 and 21) until the end of IPL 10 on Sunday, 21 May 2017 will give better insights on how and how much for both the queries. The jury is still waiting for more inputs.

May 17, 2017