 "News channels beat Hindi entertainment during Diwali week")
Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) saw a drop in ratings between November 8 and November 14 — which included all five days of Diwali — but English and Hindi news channels registered a significant growth in ratings.
TAM Media India data has over the past few years shown Hindi GECs registering a drop in ratings during the festive season. English news channels saw a jump of 17 per cent while Hindi news channels saw a spike of 44 per cent during the Diwali week, against last week.
The festive week began on November 8 with the Bihar Assembly election results, which gave news channels a boost in viewership. The momentum was maintained by the coverage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United Kingdom(UK) and was topped by the coverage on the multiple attacks in Paris on Friday night.
According to S-Group, the data analytics arm of TAM Media, these three stories together got 54 per cent coverage in the Hindi news channels and 63 per cent coverage in the English news channels. Reports on Diwali celebrations also got average viewership. “Among the three stories, the stories covering the blasts in Paris received higher viewership contribution from the higher SECs-A/B, whereas Modi’s visit to the UK had higher skewness from SEC-D/E.
Also, it was the news on Paris that had the maximum skew from male viewers,” the S-Group analysis revealed.
Usually, the upper-most segment of consumers are given A and B ratings, followed by C (middle segment) and D.
Hindi GECs saw a 4.24 per cent dip in aggregate ratings from 1,225 gross rating points (GRPs) in the preceding week to 1,173 GRPs in the week covering all five days of Diwali. Almost all the players in the genre witnessed a drop during the Diwali week, which escalated to a drop in the genre by 52 GRPs. Viewership on the whole increased by 130 GRPs (or four per cent).
STAR Plus, despite losing six GRPs, managed to regain its No.1 spot in the genre, which was lost to Colors last week. Colors lost 13 GRPs, Zee TV and Life OK lost 16 GRPs each. The channels to gain during the week were Sony Entertainment Television and SAB TV (four and two GRPs, respectively).
“The drop in ratings is more prominent in the three metros of HSM — Mumbai, Delhi & Kolkata. Whereas on TG level, the drop was more because of a fall in viewership of females, the age group of 25-34 & higher SEC-AB. The drop was largely seen in the primetime day part by Hindi GEC genre. Although the drop was seen largely throughout all days of the Diwali week, Laxmipujan witnessed the highest drop,” said the report.
Analysts said this trend had more to do with the festival customary practice that happens over the festive week, which makes watching GEC content a lower priority. Big-ticket films on movie channels and the occurrence of three major events in succession this year impacted the viewership on Hindi GECs.
Hindi movie channels saw an 18 per cent spike in viewership this year during the festive week due to the airing of Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Kick and Hero (on STAR Gold) and PK and 3 Idiots (Max). There were no major upsets in the pecking order of channels in the genre though UTV Movies, which gained 68 per cent viewership that week, aired Kapil Sharma-starrer Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon, which turned out to be the second biggest hit for the channel in the year after Gabbar is Back (aired on August 15).
