MUMBAI: Big Magic Ganga, the regional general entertainment channel (GEC) from the Reliance Broadcast Network stable, has carved out a niche for itself in the Bihar+Jharkhand region. The channel, which has been seeing a growth in television ratings week on week, reached a new high in week eight of TAM TV ratings.

Big Magic Ganga, which garnered 1474 GVTs in week seven of TAM TV ratings saw a 51 per cent jump in its ratings in week eight, registering 2238 GVTs.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Reliance Broadcast Network COO Lavneesh Gupta said that the week on week growth could be attributed to sustained insight backed programming. The time spent per viewer (TSV) for the channel currently stands at 58 minutes. “This too has been on a rise,” says Gupta.

The channel, apart from its regular programming, banks highly on festivities.

“For week 8, programmes related to Mahashivratri, aired across our various time slots did really well,” informs Gupta.

In order to catch viewers attention, Big Magic Ganga, named the week Shiv Sapta, which had elements revolving around Lord Shiva. This apart, it also organised an on-ground event ‘Jai Baba Baijyanath’ with devotional singers. The same was also telecast on the channel.

It also created a morning devotional band Bhakti Sagar, which telecast the Shivratri special from 6:30 – 9 am. A day-long programme on the case study of religious places called, Vishwas se Upar Aastha and Ram Charan Sukhdai telecast between 4-5 pm also gave a fillip to the channel’s ratings. Big Magic Ganga’s show Mahadev aired between 8-9 pm with repeats from 9:30 - 10:30 am also rated well, according to Gupta.

Gupta feels that considering the region is high on pride of association and celebration of festivals, and there are festivals each month, which the channel celebrates, there is a strong local connect between the channel and the audiences, both on-ground as well as on-air.

Big Magic Ganga has been the leader in the market for its devotional content and reality shows such as Bhakti Samrat, Beg Memsaab and Police Files. “Our strongest slot would be the morning slot – from 7:30 am right up to 10:30 am. This is highly skewed on devotion and resonates excellently with our viewers. Again in prime time evening too we do well,” adds Gupta.

With six hours of original programming, the channel has the maximum original content, as compared to its competition, which includes a mix of devotion, reality and socially relevant programmes. “We increase the amount of content at the time of festivals. But we are largely happy with the audience feedback and will continue to deliver engaging content to them,” Gupta says.

The channel is working towards giving audience the opportunity to engage with the brand. “In times of festivals, we craft our programming around devotion, festive and culture of the region and thus bring in fresh age groups including the youth as the channel is known for its programmes crafted on local connect and local festivals,” informs Gupta.

Big Magic Ganga believes that it is essential to keep communicating with its viewers. In order to facilitate that, the channel has built local teams in Ranchi and Patna, and it is through them, that the channel undertakes several audience engagement initiatives.

“From auditions on ground in the region to scout for talent, to consumer home visits to research we do it all. We also undertake regular focused group discussions and marketing through heavy on ground activations,” he informs.

Big Magic Ganga, which conducts extensive research before closing in on any concept, understands that programming pegged on devotion, festivals, reality, drama and musicals works for the region. “Quantitative research, followed by focused group discussions with the pilot is always done to ensure audience acceptability,” he says, adding that the channel is looking at launching a slew of new shows soon.

The channel has been standing strong, even after stern competition from the national GECs. Shedding light on how it deals with this competition, Gupta says, “Viewers watch national GECs because of aspirational value and not due to local connect. This is unique and we aim to provide local content with an aspirational and pride angle with higher relevance.”

The channel, as per Gupta, has connected with its audience by making Bhojpuri more aspirational and bringing in new elements, targeting even the youth.