With No.1 and No.2 spot among the Hindi GEC ratings chart largely stable with Star Plus and Zee TV occupying those spots respectively, the real excitement has been the battle for the No.3 spot. As per latest data from TAM subscribers for week 30 (July 20-26), Colors (398 GVTs) regained the No.3 spot, overtaking Life OK (361 GVTs). They were followed by Sony Entertainment Television (SET) and SAB TV who continue to trail behind in fifth and sixth position respectively.
Colors’ top running shows such as Comedy Night with Kapil (7.2 TVMs), Sasural Simar Ka (5.3 TVMs) and Balika Vadhu (5.3 TVMs) gained significant ground in rating points in week 30 compared with week 29 (July 13-19) where their ratings were 6.8 TVMs, 4.6 TVMs and 4.4 TVMs respectively. Comedy Nights with Kapil, which has enjoyed a good run, had guests such as top cricket star Virat Kohli in one episode and Sonam Kapoor and Fawad Khan promoting their latest movie Khoobsurat in another. The new talk show The Anupam Kher Show on Colors also performed reasonably well this week and maintained its ratings of 2.3 TVMs this week which saw father-daughter duo Mahesh Bhatt and Alia Bhatt appear as guests on the show. One of the key reasons which pulled up ratings for the channel was the new entrant ‘Shastri Sisters’ which opened at 2.6 TVMs with an average rating of 1.9 TVMs through the week.
Life OK, though it maintained the same ratings as last week (361 TVMs), saw a marginal dip in most of its top shows except for shows Savdhan India which increased marginally to 3.1 TVMs from 2.9 TVMs and Gustakh Dil to 2.1 TVMs from 1.9 TVMs previously. Shows such as Shapath and Devon Ke Dev Mahadev took a slight tumble from 2.5 TVMs and 2.0 TVMs in week 29 to 2.1 TVMs and 1.9 TVMs in week 30 respectively. However, the channel’s new show ‘Laut Aao Trisha’ had a remarkable performance and opened with 2.5 TVMs with an average of 2.2 TVMs in the opening week which pushed up rating for the channel.
The battle for No.3 continues
During the past four weeks (week 27 – week 30) the tug of war between Colors and Life OK has continued to play out on the ratings chart. What began with Life OK at No.3 spot on week 27 (June 29 – July 5) ended up being taken over by Colors in week 28 (July 6-12). Though Life OK had taken a tumble in the ratings in week 27 to 348 GVTs from 358 GVTs in the previous week, Colors too had suffered the same fate (reduced from 351 GVTs to 320 GVTs in week 27) and as a result stayed at the fourth spot. That however changed in Week 28 when Colors surged ahead of Life OK with to 342 GVTs with Life OK dropping to 325 GVTs.
The top rated shows of Colors especially Comedy Nights with Kapil grew by great leaps to 7.6 TVMs from 5.8 TVMs in the previous week. Famous Indian rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh and Karan Johar, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt promoting their latest film Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania as guests could be seen as the reason for this rise. Other shows that also grew included Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa that got 4.2 TVMs in week 28 from 3.3 TVMs earlier and Sasural Simar Ka scored 4.4 TVMs from 4.2 TVMs. The Anupam Kher Show in its opening week scored an impressive 2.5 TVMs and also contributed to the overall rise in the ratings of Colors. The opening episode saw Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan appear on the show and as a result saw ratings shoot go up.
Life OK in the same week saw its top shows either slip or make marginal gains in comparison. Shows such as Savdhan India and Tumari Pakhi slipped from 3.0 TVMs and 2.1 TVMs in week 27 respectively to 2.4 TVMs and 1.4 TVMs in week 28 respectively. While Shapath increased marginally in ratings to 2.1 TVMs from 1.9 TVMs and Gustakh Dil stayed put at 1.8 TVMs and wasn’t enough to hold the ratings and saw the channel slip to forth spot.
However, Life OK hit back the following week and took great strides to reach 361 GVTs regaining the No.3 spot in spite of Colors too rising (347 GVTs) in week 29. The reason for this cannot be attributed to any one show that made significant gains and was as a result of the marginal gains of all the top rated shows. Savdhan India increased to 2.8 TVMs from 2.4 TVMs, Shapath increased 2.5 TVMs from 2.1 TVMs, Tumhari Pakhi to 1.8 TVMs from 1.4 TVMs, Devon Ke Dev Mahadev to 2.0 TVMs from 1.7 TVMs and Gustakh Dil to 1.9 TVMs from 1.8 TVMs.
Though Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa saw significant gains for Colors by climbing up to 5.6 TVMs from 4.2 previously it wasn’t quite enough to beat Life OK. At the same time Comedy Nights with Kapil slipped significantly to 6.8 TVMs from 7.6 TVMs. The viewer’s interest definitely seemed to have reduced as the show had guests Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan and the second part of the show with Karan Johar, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. Talk show The Anupam Kher Show also saw a slight dip in viewership to 2.3 TVMs from 2.6 TVMs earlier with the second part of the interview with Shah Rukh Khan following into the next week.
Speaking about this Ajit Thakur, General Manager, Life OK said, “I have always maintained that becoming No.3 and all of that is nothing. Rank doesn’t matter, it is how we manage to create an impact and for us there are two or three things in our point of view which have helped us. When we started off we knew we will be the seventh or eighth GEC channel (and decided) we will not play by the rules of the GECs. For instance the first point was can we really be different from the kind of content that is there. I think that really worked for us because people see Life OK as different from the other GECs. Because with other GECs 80% of the programming is ‘Saas-Bahu’ soaps, we don’t do a single soap. We do some daily dramas but we never do a single ‘Saas-Bahu’ soap. And instead of that we have mythology, crime series, fantasy, cop series, super hero series and so on.”
Sony plunges, but regains stability
SET’s ratings have taken a beating throughout the month to only recover a little in week 30 by an increase to 288 GVTs from 270 GVTs. With the much awaited new fiction series Yudh with star Amitabh Bachchan failing to take off, the channel’s ratings have had to depend on other shows. The ratings of the show further declined to 0.8 TVMs in week 30 from 1.4 TVMs in the previous week. One of the longest running shows CID has still maintained its position on top and the channel has made gains on the back of it with its ratings increasing to 4.2 TVMs in week 30 from 3.7 TVMs.
Sister network SAB TV’s Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah show has been performing well with an average 6.5 TVMs and has maintained its consistency week in and week out. However, in week 30 the show slipped from 7.2 TVMs to 6.6 TVMs, while other shows on the channel have made marginal gains during the week.
Leadership position not under threat
With Zee TV failing to close the gap with leader Star Plus the gap at the top has widened. With Star Plus declining a little in week 30 to 709 TVMs from 712 TVMs in week 29, Zee TV’s marginal gain to 439 TVMs from 436 TVMs in the previous week has failed to threaten the leadership position of Star Plus. All the top shows of Star Plus marginally declined in week 30, with Diya Aur Baati Hum, Mahabharat, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Saath Nibhana Saathiya slipping from 10.5, 9.4, 8.3 and 8.0 TVMs in week 29 to 10.4, 9.3, 8.0 and 7.4 TVMs in week 30 respectively. While Zee TV’s top show Jodha Akbar declined to 8.6 TVMs from 9.3 the week before and other shows such as Kumkum Bhagya, Qubool Hai and Do Dil Bandhe Ek Dori Se gaining ground increasing to 7.6, 6.3 and 5.1 TVMs respectively from 6.6, 5.7 and 4.8 TVMs in the previous week respectively.
With battle for No.3 spot still raging on, it remains to be seen whether Life OK can once more defy Colors to take back the spot. The new shows on both the channels will definitely play a much bigger part in the coming week.
Source: Exchange4media.com
