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.