BENGALURU: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) free to air (FTA) Hindi GEC Zee Anmol has reached the realm that has been normally occupied by the Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV or by one of the Hindi channels that has been airing the Indian Premier League. What is remarkable is that Zee Anmol has reached alpha position in the closing and hence, the most interesting stage of the eleven edition of the BCCI’s cash cow league! Zee Anmol has upstaged Star India’s Hindi sports channel Star Sports 1 Hindi, pushing it to second place, and Sun TV to third rank in Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) weekly ratings for the top 10 channels across genre in week 20 of 2018 (Saturday, 12 May 2018 to Friday, 18 May 2018).

Five Hindi GECs, two Telugu GECs and one channel each from Hindi Movies, Tamil and sports genres made up BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres in week 20 of 2018. From the networks’ perspective, three channels each from Star India and Zeel, two channels from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and one channel each from the Sun TV Network and Viacom 18 comprised the top 10 channels across genres list in week 20 of 2018.

At first rank was Zee Anmol with a humongous 915.486 million weekly impressions in week 20 as compared to the 859.428 million weekly impressions in week 19 of 2018. Zee Anmol had been ranked third in BARC’s across genres weekly list in week 19 of 2018. Zee Anmol was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in the Hindi speaking urban and rural markets – HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) in week 20 of 2018. The Balaji Telefilms-produced family soap Kumkum Bhagya and Mahek that were aired on Zee Anmol were in BARC’s weekly list of top five Hindi GEC programmes the most watched Hindi GEC programme based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in week 20 of 2018 in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R). Another programme, Ganga, that aired on Zee Anmol was also among the top five Hindi GEC programmes, the most watched Hindi GEC programme based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in HSM (R).

At second rank was Star Sports 1 Hindi which is one of the ten Star India channels that has been airing IPL 11. Star Sports 1 Hindi had ratings of 886.309 million weekly impressions in week 20 as compared to 898.849 million weekly impressions in week 17 of 2018. Star Sports 1 Hindi topped BARC’s list of top five Hindi sports channels, and the match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab on the channel was the most watched sports programme based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat).

At third rank in week 20 of 2018 was Sun TV with 872.540 million weekly impressions as compared to 889.593 million weekly impressions in week 19. As has been the norm, Sun TV topped BARC’s list of top five Tamil channels in the Puducherry and Tamil Nadu markets and all the top five Tamil programmes based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in these markets were aired on Sun TV.

Retaining its previous week’s fourth rank in week 20 of 2018 was Viacom18’s FTA Hindi GEC Rishtey with 685.441 million weekly impressions as compared to 664.616 million weekly impressions in week 19. Rishtey was also ranked second in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) during the week under review.

Also retaining its previous week’s rank (fifth) in week 20 of 2018 was SPN’s women focused Hindi GEC Sony Pal with 574.575 million weekly impressions as compared to 658.188 million weekly impressions in week 19. Sony Pal was also ranked third in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in the HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) markets. The long running sitcom Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah was the third most watched Hindi GEC programme based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in HSM (R).

At its previous week’s sixth rank was Star India’s FTA Hindi GEC Star Bharat with 559.506 million weekly impressions in week 20 as compared to 584.369 million weekly impressions in week 19 of 2018. Star Bharat was ranked fourth in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and fifth in HSM (U) and HSM (R).

Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV held onto its seventh rank in week 20 with 542.782 million weekly impressions as compared to 546.466 million weekly impressions in week 19 of 2018.  Zee TV was ranked fifth in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R), ranked first in HSM (U) and ranked sixth in HSM (R). Kundali Bhagya, a spinoff of Kumkum Bhagya, Kumkum Bhagya and Ishq Subhan Allah that were aired on Zee TV were among BARC’s top five Hindi programmes based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U). Kundali Bhagya on Zee TV was ranked fifth in BARC’s weekly list of top five Hindi GEC programmes based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in HSM (R).

Also holding onto its previous week’s eighth rank was SPN’s Hindi movies channel Sony Max with 524.681 million weekly impressions in week 20 as compared to 529.920 million weekly impressions in week 19 of 2018. Sony Max topped BARC’s weekly list of top five Hindi movies channels in HSM (U+R) and was among the top five Hindi movies channels in HSM (U) and HSM (R).

Re-entering the across genres list was Star India’s Telugu GEC Star Maa with 490.339 million weekly impressions in week 20 of 2018. Star Maa topped BARC’s weekly list of top five Telugu channels in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana markets. Four of the top five Telugu programmes based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week were aired on Star Maa.

Zeel’s Telugu GEC Zee Telugu retained its tenth rank in week 20 of 2018 with 466.915 million weekly impressions as compared to 471.310 million weekly impressions in week 19 of 2018. The channel was ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top five Telugu channels in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana markets.