MUMBAI: The ongoing FICCI Frames 2018 saw a session titled ‘The Future of TV’ wherein Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) CEO Partho Dasgupta laid down numbers and research to indicate that the future of television is bright. Contrary to general perception, BARC research shows that women made a significant contribution to the Hindi news genre in 2017.
During the time of demonetisation in 2016 and during week 45, the viewership ratings grew by 56 per cent with the overall 52 per cent male viewership and 62 per cent female viewership. Meanwhile, on 31 December when the news Rastra Ke Naam Sandesh was being aired, the viewership grew by 3.5 times.
The viewership also grew by 3.2 times during the UP elections, whereas the Gujarat/Himachal Pradesh elections garnered fewer eyeballs. Dasgupta states that Hindi content rules television. Hindi general entertainment channels (GEC) had reached 499 million in a week in 2017. Hindi movies, music, news and kids among others garnered positions reaching up to 471 million, 319 million, 309 million and 255 million viewers each week respectively in 2017.
The catch as to why Hindi content is highly watched is because viewers are dazzled by the lavish and ‘feel good’ settings. Mahasangams grab more eyeballs than marriages and jail tracks in GECs. Such topics boost viewership by 20 per cent over the previous one. Marriage and jail tracks lead to 13 per cent and 15 per cent hike in the ratings respectively.
An interesting aspect was that total viewership during festival holidays saw higher spike in the Southern market while the Hindi market maintains stability. On public holidays, viewership shoots up in both regions.
He also drove out misconceptions about who is responsible for the low depths low depths to which news TV in India has sunk. Journalists drive ratings with 25 per cent contribution, business heads or owners with 33 per cent and the viewers with 42 per cent. It clearly indicates that the viewers are the driving force for the decrease in viewership.
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