Based on viewership and television rating points (TRPs), Hindi general entertainment channel Colors has managed to become number one during prime time band (7 pm-11:30 pm) on weekdays, nudging past Star Plus, the genre leader for several years now.

However, on a pan-India level within the Hindi speaking markets, Star Plus is still ahead of Colors by 6 gross rating points (GRPs) — Star Plus generated a GRP of 292.6, while the GRP of Colors stood at 286.3 for the fourth week of January, 2009, according to the data provided by ratings agency TAM. The viewership numbers of television channels and their rankings are prepared by the ratings agency based on the GRPs.

"We are the new leaders in the prime time band for the third and fourth weeks in January. Colors had a GRP of 139 and 149 during third and fourth week respectively in the prime-time band, ahead of everyone," said a senior executive of Colors.

Star Plus, according to the TAM data for the same period, got GRPs of 135 and 145 respectively in the third and fourth week.

"All our offerings bring something unique to our audiences and we are glad with the viewer response received towards our prime time line-up of shows, most encouraging highlight is that the graph of all our shows is upwards, even seven months post the launch," said Ashvini Yardi, head of Programming for Colors.

The GRP numbers are a function of viewership of any television channels. They are determined everyday by adding the TRPs generated every half-hour all through the 24-hours in a day. The GRPs numbers are normally used on a weekly basis as the parameter to determine the popularity and ranking of channels.

Also, as per the TAM data, Colors had a maximum of five shows running in the Top 10 slots including the much-talked about Balika Vadhu, that is now the top-rated show with a peak rating of 8.64 per cent. Colors is set to launch key properties like India's Got Talent, and an entire new bouquet of shows for the afternoon and weekend slots, says Yardi. There are 12 Hindi GECs that generate about Rs 3,000 crore of ad-revenue on television of a total of about Rs 8,000 crore generated annually.

Star Plus has remained at the top position based on GRPs since the past 4-5 years followed by Zee TV, and others. Colors is among the new channels launched only in July 2008. So far, it has generated high-ranking shows like Khatron Ke Khiladi, Bigg Boss and Balika Badhu.

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