BENGALURU: Hindi GEC rules ad rates in general, unless of course one talks of special cricketing events such as the two odd month long Indian Premier League (IPL) or international cricket. Two internationally backed private limited networks hold rights to most of the sports events - whether their own events or of those that they have paid the billions of rupees for.
So which are the most watched programmes in Hindi GEC during primetime? What are the genres that Hindi GEC (U+R) audiences prefer?
Hindi GEC (U+R)
According to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly lists for top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during Prime Times (1800 to 2330 hours, HSM (U+R) : NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 - 2330 hrs) for weeks 1 to 39 of 2017, there are two Hindi GEC dramas that stand out far above the rest of the pack. Both are productions by the Ektaa Kapoor led Balaji Telefilms Limited (Balaji Telefilms). One is a family drama loosely based on Jane Austin’s novel Sense and Sensibility and the other is the second season of a Supernatural soap. Next is a homegrown season of a reality or musical talent show that commenced in 1995 and came up with various combinations of performers from different age groups. The current edition of the show is the twenty fifth one.
It must be noted that the ratings (impressions) mentioned for the programmes in this paper may not represent the actual ratings during the first 39 weeks of programmes. The ratings in the paper are a sum of the ratings garnered by a programme only when it has appeared in BARC’s top 5 programmes list. Hence the actual ratings could be higher.
The family drama Kumkum Bhagya premiered on 15 April 2014 as a daily soap on Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV. The show is the most watched Hindi GEC soap in 2017 until week 39 (Saturday, 23 September 2017 to Friday, 29 September 2017) on the same channel during primetime in terms of viewership. Kumkum Bhagya has garnered 420.486 million impressions until week 39 during its first run time of 2100 to 2130 hours during the first 39 weeks of 2017.It has been present in BARC’s top 5 Hindi GEC programmes list during all the 39 weeks of 2017 that have elapsed so far.
The Supernatural soap Naagin 2 airs at the 2000 hours primetime slot on Network 18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors. The show has garnered a phenomenal 279.149 million impressions during the 25 weeks that it has featured in the top 5 Hindi GEC programmes in the first 39 weeks of 2017 on Colors. The show is also aired on Network 18’s free-to-air (FTA) Hindi GEC Rishtey and it has earned 137.559 million impressions during the 14 weeks that it was present the top 5 prgrammes list in the first 39 weeks of 2017.
The musical reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa was first aired on International Labour Day (and Maharashtra Day) on 1 May 1995 with Indian singer Sonu Nigam as the host on Zee TV. Since then there have been multiple variants to the show that include Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Ek Main aur Ek Tu, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge USA and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Mega Challenge. The current version of the show is the twenty fifth edition overall as mentioned above, and the second season of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs that has singer Aditya Narayan as the show host. The show has Indian dairy major Amul as the title sponsor. Amul Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs has garnered 243.84 million impressions during the 25 weeks that it was among the top 5 channels list in the first 39 weeks 0f 2017.
Please refer to the figure below for the top 5 Hindi GEC (U+R) Primetime Programmes during the first 39 weeks of 2017.
Among the top 5 Hindi primetime programmes based on analysis of BARC data for weeks 1 to 39 of 2017 – HSM (U+R), three are from Zee TV. Besides the two programmes mentioned above, the third one is the spinoff of Kumkum Bhagya, also by Balaji Telefilms, which premiered on 12 July 2017. The programme has been among the top 5 Hindi GEC programmes right from the very first week of launch. It has scored 124.122 million impressions right from the 12 weeks that it has appeared in the top 5 programmes list.
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, a family drama created by Director's Kut Productions, premiered on 9 January 2009 on Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus. The soap was the fourth most programme which scored 150.722 million impressions during the 16 weeks that it was in the top 5 programmes list in the first 39 weeks of 2017.
Here below is the viewership of genres during primetime of the first 39 weeks of 2017
Soaps include all sub-genres such as family drama, comedy drama, sitcoms, mythology drama, supernatural drama. Reality includes music, dance, shows such as Fear Factor, Kaun Banega Crorepati, Bigg Boss, etc. Comedy includes shows such as The Kapil Sharma show, etc., Awards means award shows such as Star Screen Awards.
