BENGALURU: Star India’s free to air (FTA) Hindi GEC Star Utsav was ranked second in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of top 10 channels across genres for week 40 of 2018 (Saturday, 29 September 2018 to Friday, 5 October 2018, week under review). Star Utsav was preceded by the Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV which was at first rank. After quite a long while, there were no Hindi movies channels in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres during the week under review. Also all the flagship Hindi GEC channels of the four major networks – Star India, Sony Pictures Network India (SPN), Viacom18 and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) were present in BARC’s across genres list for week 40 of 2018.

Eight Hindi GECs and one channel each from the Tamil and Telugu genres were present in BARC’s weekly across genres list in week 40 of 2018. From the network’s perspective, there were four channels from Star India – something that is becoming another norm, two channels each from SPN and Zeel and one channel each from the Sun TV Network and Viacom18.

As mentioned above, at its normal first rank in week 40 was the Tamil GEC Sun TV with 1,048.662million weekly impressions as compared to 1,020.107 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2018. Sun TV also led BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry market and all of the 5 programmes in BARC’s list of top 5 Tamil programmes during primetime in these markets based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week under review were aired on Sun TV.

Climbing up one rank to second place in week 40 of 2018 was Star Utsav with 841.719 million weekly impressions as compared to 743.449 million weekly impressions in week 39. Star Utsav was ranked second in BARC’s list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R), second in HSM (R) and was ranked seventh in HSM (U). The soap Rabba Ve aired on Star Utsav was ranked third in BARC’s weekly in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime  based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (R).

Dropping down a rank to third place in week 40 of 2018 was Zeel’s FTA Hindi GEC Zee Anmol with 833.614 million weekly impressions as compared to 777.386 million weekly impressions in week 39. Zee Anmol was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking markets or HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) and was ranked ninth in HSM (U). The Balaji Telefilms produced soap Kumkum Bhagya aired on Zee Anmol was ranked fourth in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and was ranked first in HSM (R). Another soap from the channel, Mahek, was ranked fourth in HSM (R).

Star India’s flagship Telugu GEC Star Maa also jumped up a rank to fourth place in week 40 of 2018 with 809.562 million weekly impressions as compared with 666.396 million weekly impressions in week 39. Star Maa was ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu channels in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana market. Five programmes that were aired on Star Maa were present in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in the same market.

Another Star India Hindi GEC Star Bharat climbed up one place to fifth rank in week 40 of 2018 with 769.987 million weekly impressions as compared to 660.371 million weekly impressions in week 39. Star Bharat was also ranked fourth, fifth and sixth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R), HSM (R) and HSM (U) respectively. The mythological drama Radhakrushna aired on Star Bharat was ranked third and fifth in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and in HSM (R) respectively.

Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus dropped down two places to sixth rank in week 40 of 2018. The channel scored 739.660 million impressions as compared to 710.478 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Star Plus was ranked fourth in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and was ranked first in HSM (U) and ninth in HSM (R). Director’s Kut Productions produced Hindi soap Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai  and 4 Lion Films soap Kulfi Kumar Bajewala aired on Star Plus were present in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime  based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in HSM (U).

Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV climbed up three places in week 40 of 2018 to seventh rank with 728.065 million weekly impressions as compared to 645.325 million weekly impressions and tenth rank in week 39. Zee TV was ranked seventh in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) and fourth in HSM (U) during the week. Two programmes that were aired on Zee TV- Kumkum Bhagya, and its spinoff Kundali Bhagya were at fifth and third ranks respectively in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) while Kundali Bhagya was ranked second in HSM (U).

Retaining its previous weeks eighth rank in week 40 of 2018 was SPN’s women focused Hindi GEC Sony Pal with 690.261 million weekly impressions as compared with 650.544 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Sony Pal was ranked sixth and eighth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U) respectively and was ranked third in HSM (R). The sitcom Tarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah on Sony Pal was ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (R).

Dropping down two ranks to ninth place in week 40 of 2018 was the Viacom18 flagship Hindi GEC Colors with 637.777 million weekly impressions as compared to 657.875 million or weekly impressions and seventh rank in week 39. Colors was ranked seventh in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R), third in HSM (U) and tenth in HSM (R). The third season of the Balaji Telefilms produced supernatural drama Naagin 3 aired on Colors was among BARC’s top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U).

SPN’s flagship Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television (SET) re-entered BARC’s list of top 10 channels across genres in week 40 of 2018 with 635.564 million impressions. SET was ranked eighth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and second in HSM (U). Big Synergy’s Indian edition of

British program Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? aka Kaun Banega Crorepati? hosted by Amitabh Bachchan was ranked second in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U).