Mythology, Comedy emerge as top genres in W19 over W14 on Hindi GECs: BARC
Data says that TV witnessed a 73% increase in mythological content along with comedy, which was up by 36% on Hindi GECs
After tasting success with reruns last year, the Hindi General Entertainment Channels (GECs) have hopped back on the trend of re-telecasting classic shows like Ramayan, Mahabharat, Devo Ke Dev Mahadev, and others on their channel.
According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), in India, the Mythological genre has witnessed a growth of 73% in week 19 over week 14 on Hindi GECs. Week 19, registered 15.2 billion viewing minutes as compared to 8.8 billion viewing minutes in week 14. According to the data, weekly viewing minutes increased every week from week 16 for the genre.
For instance, week 15 recorded 9.1 billion viewing minutes whereas week 16 saw 8.8 billion viewing minutes. Meanwhile, week 17 witnessed 10.2 billion viewing minutes and week 18 saw 12.4 billion viewing minutes.
Aired after 33 years, Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan was re-telecasted by Doordarshan last year during the lockdown. The trend of airing re-runs of the classic shows was set by Doordarshan and was later followed by other GECs. But this year, Hindi GECs started airing shows as soon as the lockdown was announced on April 15, 2021. This time Ramayan has been airing both on Star Bharat and Colors. Similarly, Star Plus decided to re-telecast Mahabharat on its channel.
Apart from the re-runs, some channels like Sony Entertainment Television which has been airing fresh content for its shows like Mere Sai and Vighnaharta Ganesh every week.
As per the BARC- Nielsen report of week 15 last year, mythological shows had become the mainstay among Hindi GECs. In terms of not only viewership but also advertising trends, Ramayan and Mahabharat attracted more advertisers. Last year in week 15, advertiser count saw a 14x and 12x increase respectively.
Along with the mythological dramas, television witnessed a spike in the comedy genre which grew 36% in week 19 over week 14. The genre saw 31.8 billion viewing minutes in week 19 against 23.3 billion viewing minutes in week 14.
As per the week 19 data of Hindi GEC (Urban market ), Sab TV’s longest-running show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma was among the top five programs and the show bagged the fourth spot.
“We had witnessed a spike in viewership for mythological content last year during the onset of the pandemic as well. Viewers had then tuned in daily to Doordarshan to watch Ramayan and Mahabharat. Given the current environment - with partial lockdowns and limitations on movement in several parts of the country - this trend is once more clearly visible. Week 19 data indicates there is a 73% increase in viewing of Mytho content and a 35% increase in viewing of Comedy content on Hindi General Entertainment Channels when compared to Week 14”, said a BARC India spokesperson.
