BENGALURU: The Indian regional television space in this paper has been classified under 11 Indian languages covering the following languages/markets in alphabetical order:
(1) Assamese language - Assam / North East / Sikkim/(U+R)
(2) Bangla language –WB(U+R)
(3) Bhojpuri language - Bihar/Jharkhand (U+R)
(4) Gujarati language - Gujarat / Daman and Diu / Dadra & Nagar Haveli (U+R)
(5) Kannada language - Karnataka (U+R)
(6) Malayalam language - Kerala (U+R)
(7) Marathi language - Maharashtra/ Goa (U+R )
(8) Oriya language - Odisha (U+R)
(9) Punjabi language - Punjab / Haryana / Chandigarh / Himachal Pradesh / Jammu &Kashmir (U+R)
(10) Tamil language - Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (U+R)
(11) Telugu language Andhra Pradesh/ Telangana (U+R).
Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of India data has been referred to NCCS All: 2+ Individuals in the case of channels and programs in the respective markets.
This paper must be read with a caveat: It deals only with the players present in BARC’s top 5 lists of channels per week and programmes per week for each language. The sums/percentages of other genres/players’/channels of other players as well other channels of players in this paper ratings or Impressions (000s) Sums other than those indicated in BARC’s top 5 lists of channels and programmes have not been considered/mentioned in this paper during the period under consideration and those numbers could be more/higher. Further, Combined Total Impressions mentioned in this paper means the sum of all the Impressions (000s) Sums for all the weeks under consideration of a network and/or channel and/or programme/s.
Regional Channels ruled by bigger networks
Statistical Analysis of BARC data for the first eight weeks of 2017 (Saturday, 30 December 2016 to Friday 24 February 2017, the period under consideration in this paper) show that 67 channels from 27 networks/groups/channels were present in the top 5 lists for channels during the period under consideration in this paper. The larger groups or networks channels were generally the most watched during the period under consideration.
Eight Sun Network channels across four markets (or languages) with a frequency of 59 and Combined Weekly Impressions (CWI) of 1,85,46,618 (000s) Sums topped the regional space in terms of impressions. The Sun Network channels that appeared in the top five channels lists during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 were in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
The Sun Network was followed by Star India’s eight channels across 6 markets (or languages) that had a frequency of 60 and CWI of 1,22,72,247 (000s) Sums. Star India’s Bangla, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu channels were among the top five channels lists in terms of impressions.
Subhash Chandra’s Zeel Network’s nine channelsacross 6 markets (or languages) with a frequency of 63 and CWI of 1,15,85,581(000s) Sums came in at third place.Zeel channels topped the top 5 channels list in the Bangla, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu space.
Seven Network 18 channels across six languages came in fourth place with a frequency of 55 and CWI of 67,45,047 (000s) Sums. Network 18 channels were present in the top 5 channels list during the period under consideration in the Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya and Telugu languages space.
There were exceptions of course. Especially in Eastern part of the country in the Assamese space – none of the major channels or their programmes found a place in the top 5 channels or programmes lists during the first eight weeks of 2017. While the Sun Networks dominance across channels and programmes was huge, it was limited to the Southern regional channels. The other biggies channels and programmes- be they Zeel or Star India or Network 18 found places in their respective genre list in three regions – West, East and South. In the north zone, ETV Bihar-Jharkand was the only representative of the big four networks mentioned above.Music, films and news programmes and consequently news channels also found a place in the top five programmes list during the period under consideration in this paper in some of the markets.
Regional Programmes
Programmes of twenty-five channels from 12 networks/groups/channels found a place in the top 5 programmes in a week list of 11 markets during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.
In terms of frequency, the Zeel Network was far ahead of the pack with 99 times of a maximum possible of 440 that its programmes in five languages (or markets - Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya and Bangla) finding a place in the top five programmes list during the weeks under consideration. In the Marathi space, all the five places in the top five programmes list were topped by Zee Marathi during all the weeks under consideration in this paper.Zeel’s Oriya channel had a frequency of 35 spots in the top 5 spots per week of the possible 40 spots during the first 8 weeks of 2017 in the Odisha market.
However, in terms of impressions, both the Sun Network (3 markets, frequency 43, CWI of 5,21,763 (000s) Sums) and the Star Network (4 markets, Frequency 95, CWI of 4,52,433 (000s) Sums) programmes were ahead of the Zeel Network programmes 2,82,808 (000s) Sums.
Programmes of three Network 18 channels from three languages/markets (Kannada, Telugu and Gujarati) found places in the top five channels list during the first eight weeks of 2017 with a frequency of 72 and CWI of 2,10,252 (000s) Sums.
Network 18 was followed by programmes from the pubcasterDoordarshan’s (DD) two channels in two languages – Punjabi and Gujarati with a frequency of 46 and CWI of 40,340 (000s) Sums. While the popularity of DD’s programmes placed it at fifth position in terms of Combined Programme ratings, the CWI of its two channels could place it only at tenth place in terms the top five channels.
Unlike the South, where most of the top 5 programmes found a place on a consistent basis with ranks relatively unchanged, the other three zones and their respective market/language programmes had very few programmes that were constantly in the top lists. There were exceptions of course – such as some programmes from Zee Marathi, or some from Star Jalsha (Bangla)..
Let us look at the picture from the west, north, east and south zones’ perspective.
Top West Regional Networks in Weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 were Zeel and Network 18
The author has relegated two markets or languages to the West Regional television channels space (zone) – Gujarat, Daman, Dui and Dadra &Nagarhaveli with Gujarati as the language, and Maharashtra and Goa with Marathi as the language in this report.
In the west regional markets, Zeelwith three channels lead in Marathi was the most watched network with a combined frequency of 17 and CWI of 24,57,030 (000s) Sums in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Network 18 with three channels – two in Gujarati and one in Marathi was the second most watched networkwith frequency of 24 and CWI of 7,23,361 (000s) Sums. Star India’s Marathi channel Star Pravahmade it the third most watched network with a frequency of 7 and a CWI of 3,33,994 (000s) Sums. Two ABP Group channels – one each in Gujarati and Marathi made the group the fourth most watched network in west India with frequency of 13 and CWI of 2,50,600 (000s) Sums. The other four most watched networks in this zone were Enterr 10 Group (Frequency 3, CWI 1,02,132 (000s) Sums, Marathi);TV9 Network (Frequency 8, CWI 63,872 (000s) Sums, Gujarati); Sandesh (Frequency 7, CWI 35,556 (000s) Sums, Gujarati) and Doordarshan’s DD Girnar (Frequency 1, CWI 6,332 (000s) Sums, Gujarati)
In the Gujarati space, five networks had 6 channels among the top channels per week lists during the first eight weeks of 2017. Two of the Network 18 group’s channels – Colors Gujarati (Frequency 8, CWI 88,934 (000s) Sums) and ETV News Gujarati (Frequency 8, CWI 37,340 (000s) Sums gave the network CWI of 1,26,274 (000s) Sums, making it the most watched Network in the market during the period under consideration. Colors Gujarati was the most watched channel during this period followed 24 hours Gujarati news channel TV9 Gujarati. The ABP Group’s ABP Asmita came in next followed by Network 18 associated channel ETV News Gujarati. PrasarBharati’sDoordarshanGirnar or DD Girnar was next. Please refer to the figure below.
Seven channels from 5 networks or groups made it to the top five Marathi channels lists in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Three of Zeel’s channels – Zee Marathi (Frequency 8, CWI 18,70.387 (000s) Sums), Zee Talkies (Frequency 8, CWI 5,16,454 (000s) Sums) and Zee 24 Taas (Frequency 1, CWI 70,189 (000s) Sums) made it the top network during the period under consideration.
Network 18’s Colors Marathi was second with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 5,97,087 (000s) Sums). Star India’ Star Pravah was third with a frequency of 7 and CWI of 3,33,994 (000s) Sums). Please refer to the chart above for more details of Marathi networks/channels.
Top West Regional TV Programmes in Weeks 1 to 8 of 2017
One channel/network’s each programmes dominated the Gujarati and the Marathi languages regional television space. In the case of Gujarati, Network 18, Colors Gujarati programmes, shows and film offerings had a combined weekly frequency of 34 from a possible 40 listings during the first 8 weeks of 2017 with CWI were 4,343 (000s) Sums. The other 6 spots were shared by Doordarshan’s DD Girnars’ programmes/shows with CWI of 529 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the figure below.
In the case of the Marathi regional television space, it was all Zeel’s Zee Marathi programmes that grabbed the highest eyeballs during the first eight weeks of 2017.Zeel Marathi programmes had combined weekly frequency of 40 of of 40 appearances in BARC’s top 5 Marathi programmes of week list during the first 8 weeks of 2017. Please refer to the figure above for details.
Top North Regional TV networks in Weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 were PTC and Doordarshan
The author has relegated two languages to the North regional zone – Bhojpuri and Punjabi, despite the main market defined by BARC for the Bhojpuri language lying geographically in the East Indian of states of Bihar and Jharkhand.
The north zone had eleven channels from 10 groups that were present in the top five channels per week list in their respective genres or languages. In terms of CWI, the PTC Network with 2 channels in Punjabi was the most watched network with a combined frequency of 9 and CWI of 4,95,995(000s) Sums in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Doordarshan’s DD Punjabi with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 4,05,568(000s) Sumsduring the period under consideration was the second most watched network in the zone. The Charhdikala Group’s Punjabi channel Chardikla Time TV with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 2,37,178(000s) Sumscame next. Bhojpuri channel and Big Network’s Big Gangawith a frequency of 8 and CWI of 2,07,252(000s) Sumswas the fourth most watched channel/network in the northern zone during the period under consideration. The other network’s or groups or channels were MH 1Media’s channel MH One Music (Frequency 8, CWI 1,94,823(000s) Sums, Punjabi ); 9x Media Group’s 9X Tashan (Frequency 7, CWI 1,25,514(000s) Sums, Punjabi); CCTV Media Group channel (Bhojpuri Cinema, Frequency 8, CWI 1,19,325(000s) Sums, Bhojpuri); SAB Group’s Dabangg (Frequency 8, CWI 74,878(000s) Sums, Bhojpuri); Enterr 10 Group’s Dangal TV Frequency 8, CWI 70,181(000s) Sums, Bhojpuri); Network 18’s ETV Bihar Jharkhand (Frequency 8, CWI 14,387(000s) Sums, Bhojpuri)
Five channels from five networks were among the top 5 lists during all the eight weeks of 2017 in the Bhojpuri space. All had a frequency of 8 in the top 5 channels list per week during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Reliance Broadcast Network’s (Big Network) Big Ganga had CWI of 2,07,252 (000s) Sums. CCTV Media Group’s Bhojopuri Cinema was next with CWI of 1,19,325 (000s) Sums. The SAB group’s only channel in the top 5 lists in the regional space – Dabangg was next with CWI of 74,878 (000s) Impressions, followed by the Enterr 10 Group’s Dangal TV with CWI of 70,181 (000s) Sums. Network 18’s ETV Bihar-Jharkhand was fifth with CWI of 14,387 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the chart below.
Six channels from 5 Networks found a place in the top 5 Punjabi channels weekly list at least for 1 week during the first 8 weeks of 2017. PTC Network’s PTC Punjabi was the most watched channel during the first seven weeks of 2017. In week 8, it gave way to Doordarshan’sDD Punjabi to move to second place. The PTC Network had CWI of 4,95,995 (000s) Sums, and a frequency of 9. PTC Punjabi had CWI of 4,75,274 (000s) Sums. PTC Network’s Punjabi Music channel – PTC Chak de found a place in the top 5 list of Punjabi channels once in week 1 of 2017 at rank 5. The channel had CWI of 20,721 (000s) Sums.
The pubcasterDoordarshan’s DD Punjabi was the second most watched Punjabi television channel during the first 8 weeks of 2017 with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 4,05,568 (000s) Sums. The Charhdikala Group’s Chardikala Time TV was the third most watched TV Punjabi channel during the first 8 weeks of 2017 with a frequency of 8 and CWI of2,37,178 (000s) Sums. Music channels MH One Music from the MH1 Media Group and 9X Tashan from the 9X Media Group were at fourth and fifth spots respectively. Please refer to the chart above.
Top North Regional TV Programmes in Weeks 1 to 8 of 2017
In the Bhojpuri market, Big Network’s Big Ganga’s programmes were the most watched during the first eight weeks of 2017.The channel’s programmes had a Combined frequency of 24 with CWI of 6,165 (000s) Sums. Four of the Enterr 10 Group’s Dangal TV programmes with Combined frequency of 14 and CWI of 2,668 (000s) Sums. SAB TV’s Dabangg’s two film telecast’s brought the group to the third place with a Combined Frequency of 2 and CWI of 399 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the chart below.
All the 40 possible top spots were taken by DD Punjabi’s programmes and shows during the first 8 weeks of 2017.Please refer to the chart above.
Top East Regional TV networks in Weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 were Star India and Zeel
The author has designated Assamese, Bangla and Oriya language channels as those that comprise the East Regional television zone in India.
20 channels from 12 Networks (4 from each language) found place at least once in the top 5 channel lists during the first eight weeks of 2017 in the East Zone. The most watched network in the east zone during the period was Star India with two Bengali channels – Star Jalsha and Jalsha Movies with combined frequency of 16 and CWI of 25,27,422 (000s) Sums. Zeel with three channels – two in Bangla and one in Oriya was the second most watched network during the period with a combined frequency of 22 and CWI of 20,81,386 (000s) Sums. Four channels from Odisha Television Group in the Oriya language space with a combined frequency of 5,62,073 (000s) Sums made it the third most watched network during the period under consideration in the eastern zone. Bangla channel AakashAath was the fourth most watched channel with frequency of 8 and CWI of 2,61,406 (000s) Sums. Pride East Entertainments was fifth most watched network with three Assamese channels gave it a combined frequency of 20 and CWI of 2,06,338 (000s) Sums during the first 8 weeks of 2017.
The other six networks/groups/ channels in the zone were Network 18’s Colors Oriya (Frequency 8, CWI 1,01,446 (000s) Sums Oriya);ABP Group’sABP Ananda (Frequency 2, CWI 57,696 (000s), Sums, Bangla); Prameya News7’schannel News7 (Frequency 6, CWI 51,164 (000s) Sums, Oriya);Brahmaputra Tele Productions (2 channels, Frequency 8, CWI 30,723; Assamese); Pratidin Group’s Pratidin Time (Frequency 7, CWI 37,755 (000s) Sums, Assamese);A M Television’s Prag News (Frequency 7, CWI 36978 (000s) Sums).
In the case of Assamese language, 7 channels from 4 networks found a place at least once in the top 5 channel lists during the first eight weeks of 2017. Three of Pride East Entertainments Group’s channels made it the most watched network based on a combined frequency or 20 and CWI of 2,06,338 (000s) Sums. Though the Pratidin Group’s Pratidin Time and Prag News had frequencies of 7 each, two of Brahmaputra Tele Productions channels – DY 365 and Jonack with combined frequency of 6 and CWI of 39,237 (000s) Sums made the network the second most watched one during the period under consideration. Please refer to the figure below:
In the Bangla space, 6 channels from 4 networks made it to the top 5 channels per week list for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Two of Star India’s channels – Star Jalsha and Jalsha Movies each with a frequency of 8 pivoted the group to having the most watched Bangla channels during the weeks under consideration. The CWI of the Star Network were 25,27,422 (000s) Impressions.
Star India was followed by another national level network – the Subhash Chandra led Zeel with two channels – Zee Bangla and Zee Bangla Movies with a combined frequency of 14,36,237 (000s) Sums. AakashAath and APB Ananda followed with CWI of 2,61,406 (000s) Sums and 57,696 (000s) respectively. Please refer to the figure above for further details.
Zeel’sSarthak TV led the Oriya language space with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 6,45,149 (000s) Sums. Next was Odisha Television Network’s that had four channels – Tarang TV, Odisha TV, Alankar and Prarthana that had combined frequency of 26 and 5,62,073 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the chart above for further details.
Pride East Entertainment’s Rang programmes were among the most watched Assamese TV programmes and shows during the first eight weeks of 2017 with a combined frequency of 38 and CWI of 5,051 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the figure above for more details. In the case of Bangla programmes, Star India’s found themselves in the most watched programmes list 35 times out of the possible 40 times in the top five Bengali programmes during the first 8 weeks of 2017. Five of Zeel’s Zee Bangla programmes were also present in the list. Please refer to the figure above.
In the case of Oriya television,Zeel’sSarthak TV’s programmes had a frequency of 35 out of the possible 40 in the top 5 programmes per week lists of 2017. Two of Odisha Television’s Tarang TV programmes also found themselves in the list with a frequency of 5. Please refer to the figure above for details.
Sun Network, Star India rule channels and programmes ratings in South India
The data and basic analysis of the channels from the four Southern sisters languages (five states now) – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam by this author has already been published earlier on www.indiantelevision.com. Excerpts and updates of that article are here below.
The Sun Network’s channels were among the most watched channels across the four South Indian languages for the first eight weeks of 2017.
Statistical analysis of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data for Top 5 Channels shows that 8 Networks/affiliates/ channels represented by their respective channels across the four South Indian languages shared the top five positions per week for the first eight weeks of 2017. The four languages are Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Channels such as ETV have been included in the Network 18 network by the author.
In order of frequency of presence of their respective channels in the top 5 lists and the total weekly impressions across all the eight weeks of the four main networks were:
(1) The Sun Network (frequency 59, CWI 1,89,24,315 (000s) Sums). The Sun Network’s television channels in all the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.
(2) Star India (frequency 37, CWI 94,10,831 (000s) Sums). Star India’s television channels in all the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.
(3) Zeel (Frequency 24, CWI 70,47,165 (000s) Sums). Zeel’s television channels in three of the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Its channels were absent from the lists for the Kerala market
(4) Network 18 (frequency 16, CWI 59,16,540 (000s) Sums). Network 18’s television channels in two of the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Its channels were absent from the lists for the Kerala market.
The other networks whose channels found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 were MalayalaManorama (Kerala market); Flowers TV (Kerala market); Polimer (TN/ Puducherry market); Jaya TV (TN/ Puducherry market).
The Sun Network’s and Star India’s channels were present in all of the Top 5 channels list across the four languages for all the first 8 weeks of 2017.
Top 5 programmes during Prime Time (1800 - 2330 hrs)
Only the programmes by channels of the top four networks were in the top 5 programmes list across all the four languages/markets. BARC data that has been referred to in this paper is for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 (U+R) : NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 - 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals for the following markets: Karnataka; Kerala; Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry; and AP/ Telangana.
While the frequency of presence in the top 5 lists of programmes was highest in the case of Star India channels (frequency 60, CWI 3,31,289 (000s) Sums), the Sun Network channels (frequency 43, CWI 5,21,763 (000s) Sums) programmes garnered much higher viewership.
The Sun Network channels found a place in the top 5 programmes lists in three languages – Tamil (Frequency 40, CWI 502758 (000s) Sums Telugu (Frequency 2, CWI 14036 (000s) Sums and Kannada (Frequency 1, CWI 4969 (000s) Sums) during the period under consideration in this paper.
Star India channels programmes also found a place in the top 5 programmes lists for three languages – Malayalam (Frequency 40, CWI 2,09,083 (000s) Sums); Telugu (Frequency 18, CWI 1,14,637 (000s) Sums and the Kannada market (frequency 2, CWI 7,569 (000s) Sums).
Network 18 channels programmes found a place in the top 5 lists in 2 languages - Kannada (Frequency 28, CWI 1,43,113 (000s) Sums) and Telugu (Frequency 10, CWI 62,796 (000s) Sums).
Zeel channels programmes also found a place in the top 5 lists in 2 languages Telugu (Frequency 10, CWI 63,147 (000s) Sums) and Kannada (Frequency 9, CWI 38135 (000s) Sums).
Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (Tamil) market top channels
The Sun Network’s Sun TV is numerouno in this market, as well as across all television genres and markets in India, period!
The Tamil market had four channels from three networks in the first four positions for all the first eight weeks of 2017. The Sun Network’s Sun TV and KTV, Zeel’s Zee Tamil and Star India’s Star Vijay.
In the Tamil market, Sun TV found the first place eight times out of eight with CWI of 85,46,618 (000s) Sums. During the eight weeks under consideration in this paper, its KTV channel was number 2 most watched channel for 7 weeks with CWI of 20,47,381 (000s) Sums. In week 3, the number three Tamil player – Zee Tamil had second place.
Zee Tamil was the third most watched channel in the Tamil space for seven of the eight weeks with CWI of 18,56,448 (000s)Sums, except as mentioned above – it was at number two position in week 3 of 2017.
Star Vijay was the fourth most watched channel in the Tamil language TV space with CWI of 16,47,623 (000s)Sums during all the first 8 weeks of 2017.
Polimer’sPolimer TV was the fifth most watched Tamil language TV space with a frequency of 4 and CWI of 3,25,149 (000s)Sums, while its Polimer News was the seventh most watched Tamil language TV space with a frequency of 2 and CWI of 1,92,213 (000s) Sums in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.
The sixth most watched Tamil channel during weeks 1 to 8 was Jaya TV with a frequency of 2 and Combined Total Impressions of 2,40,799 (000s) Sums.
Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (Tamil) market top programmes
Eight of the Sun TV’s programmes and two film telecasts grabbed all the five top spots during all the first eight weeks of 2017. The eight top programs in the Tamil TV space that had a combined frequency of 37 out of a possible 40 have been listed below:
The other three slots were taken by three films broadcast by Sun TV on Sunday in weeks 1, 3 and 5 of 2017. DeivaMagal had the highest primetime viewership during all the first eight weeks of 2017.
AP/ Telangana (Telugu)market top channels
The Telugu market also was dominated by the Sun Network’s channels. The two channels of the network had a frequency of 8 each in the top 5 channels list for the Telugu market and the Sun Network had CWI of 52,80,885 (000s) Sums. Its Gemini TV was the most watched channel during all the weeks under consideration in this paper.
Gemini TV had a frequency of 8 in the top 5 channels list with CW
I of 40,16,489 (000s) Sums. Zee Telugu was the second most watched channel during these first eight weeks of 2017 with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 3384804 (000s) Sums.
Network 18’s ETV Telugu was the third most watched channel in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017, also with a frequency of 8 in the top 5 channels lists for the Telugu market and CWI of 33,65,528 (000s) Sums. Star India’s Maa TV/Star Maa was the fourth most watched channel in the AP/ Telangana market with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 32,75,864 (000s) Impressions.
The fifth most watched Telugu channel during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 was the Sun Network’s Gemini Movies with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 13,12,922 (000s) Sums.
AP/ Telangana (Telugu)market top programmes
KumkumaPuvvu, (means Saffron) the Telugu edition of the 785 episode Malayalam soap opera Kumkumapoovu on Star India’s Maa TV/ Star Maa was the most watched primetime programme during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. The programme had a frequency of 8 in the top 5 programmes list during the period under consideration in the paper with CWI of 52,561 (000s) Sums. Though KumkumaPuvvuwas ranked first in terms of Weekly Impressions only during weeks 1, 2, 5 and 8 of 2017, the sum of its weekly impressions for weeks 1 to 8 was more than any other programme in this space.
Of the possible 40 slots in five weeks, 37 were shared by Television Programmes, while the remaining three slots were shared by movies – one aired by the Star Network and two aired by Gemini TV.
Please refer to the figure below for the top nine Telugu programs during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.
Zee Telugu’s story of two strong willed women - MuddaMandaram was the second most watched Telugu programme in the first eight weeks of 2017 with CWI of 51,560 (000s) Sums and a frequency of 8 in the top 5 Telugu programmes.
Karnataka (Kannada) market top channels
Five Kannada channels were in the top 5 Kannada channels list during the first 8 weeks of 2017. The channels ranks remained unchanged during all the first eight weeks of 2017. The frequency of each channel was 8. Network 18’s Colors Kannada was ranked number one with CWI of 25,51,012 (000s) Sums, followed by Zeel’s Zee Kannada with 18,05,913 (000s) Sums.
Star India’s Star Suvarna with 15,30,643 (000s) Sums was the third most watched Kannada channel in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.
Two of the Sun Network’s channels – Udaya Movies and Udaya TV were ranked fourth and fifth with CWI of 12,05,222 (000s) Sums and 9,36,342 (000s) Sums respectively. If one were to combine the viewership of these two channels, then the Sun Network would be the second most watched Kannada television network during the first eight weeks of 2017 with CWI of 21, 41,564 (000s) Sums.
Karnataka (Kannada) market top programmes
Colors Kannada’s daily soap PuttaGowriMaduve that chronicles the journey of child bride from the brink of childhood to womanhood was the most watched Kannada programme during the first 8 weeks of 2017. The programme was ranked first during all the first eight weeks of 2017 with CWI of 53,098 (000s) Sums.
Also from the Colors Kannada stable, Lakshmi Baaramma was the second most watch Kannada programme in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 with CWI and a frequency of 8 in the top 5 Kannada programmes list. Please refer to the figure below for the top Kannada Programs in weeks 1 to 8.
Of the possible 40 top 5 program lists during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017, 38 were shared by television programmes, while two were shared by films.
Kerala (Malayalam) market top channels
Star India’s Asianet ruled the Malayalam television space during the first eight weeks of 2017. The channel was ranked first in terms of Weekly Impressions during all the eight weeks. It has CWI of 26,25,543 (000s) Sums. MalayalaManorama’s GEC MazhavilManorama also found itself in the top 5 channels list eight times with CWI of 6,81,232 (000s) Sums.
The Sun Networks Malayalam channel Surya TV also had a frequency of 8 and was the third most watched Malayalam channel with CWI of 6,60,045 (000s) Sums. Flowers TV came in fourth with frequency of 8 and CWI of 5,77,569 (000s) Sums.
Star India’s Asianet Movies was fifth with a frequency of 5 and CWI of 3,31,158 (000s) Sums. The Sun Network’s second Malayalam channel – Kiran TV found itself in the top 5 channels list thrice during the first eight weeks of 2015 with CWI of 1,99,296 (000s) Sums.
Kerala (Malayalam) market top programmes
In the case of top 5 programmes for a week, it was Aisanet programmes that were amongst the top 5 ranks during all the first 8 weeks of2017. Parasparam, the daily family soap that completed 1070 episodes in end January 2017 was the most watched Malayalam programme during the first eight weeks of the year with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 50,100 (000s) Sums. Parasparamwas the most watched programme for three of the eight weeks of 2016 and the second most watched program for five of the eight weeks of the year.
Chandanamazha, a series about the trials and tribulations of two sisters who marry into the same family was the second most watched Malayalam programme during the first eight weeks of 2017 with CWI of 49,972 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the figure below for the list of the Top Malayalam programs in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.
Of the forty possible slots among the top five primetime programmes per week during the eight weeks under consideration in this paper, four were one off awards, while 36 spots were held by the channels regular programmes.
