The Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space, Indian television?s most watched segment, is on the churn again. While the country?s largest broadcaster, Star India, continues to lead the genre through its flagship channel Star Plus, Zee Entertainment?s flagship channel Zee TV has climbed two places to the second position after being cornered by Sony and Viacom 18?s Colors for almost a year.
GRPs are a measure of a channel?s overall viewership during a week. Zee?s channel share also improved to 18.4% from 17.7% the week before. Zee has occupied the second position for two consecutive weeks.
Riding on the success of its marquee reality show Dance India Dance Little Masters, whose second season has just gone on air, Zee TV managed to topple both Colors and Sony. In addition, some of Zee?s prime-time fiction shows such as Punarvivah and Phir Subah Hogi have also grabbed eyeballs and clocked in TRPs in excess of 3.
?Most of our daily fiction shows are slot leaders and that has impacted the overall ratings of the channel,? Akash Chawla, senior vice-president (marketing) of Zee Network, told FE. ?Our new story lines have worked well with the audiences and some of the films shown on the channel have also garnered good ratings.?
On the other hand, Sony Entertainment Television, which enjoyed a dream run following the success of Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 5 and the popularity of fiction properties such as Balaji Telefilm?s Bade Achhe Lagte Hai and crime shows CID and Crime Patrol, is on the wane in terms of viewership.
?Anchor properties like KBC allows a channel to build other shows around it and Sony did that but sustaining eyeballs after the end of a high-profile show is the challenge,? Jehil Thakkar, head (media and entertainment) at KPMG India, said in an earlier interaction with FE.
Last week, Sony garnered 205 GRPs with a share of 16.3%, down from 17.8% the week before. Sony has launched its talent hunt show, Indian Idol?s sixth season, on June 1 and is betting big on it to push the channel further up in the GEC ladder.
?Every channel goes through cyclical ups and downs and it?s a matter of one good show to get the ratings back,? said Danish Khan, senior executive vice-president & marketing head, Sony. Indian Idol opened to decent ratings and will grow stronger over the weeks.
Colors, too, gained 20 points over the previous week to stand at 221 GRPs. The share for the channel has also increased from 16.3% to 17.5%. Media experts say that its upcoming reality show Jhalak Dikhla Ja is expected to boost its ratings and the channel could give serious competition to Zee TV in the weeks to come.
