BENGALURU: Two channels – one Tamil GEC from the Sun TV Network and one Telugu GEC from the Star India network were ranked first and second respectively in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of top 10 channels across genres for week 3 of 2019 (Saturday, 12 January 2019 to Friday, 18 January 2019). At fifth rank was another Telugu GEC from the Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) stable.

Four channels from Star India, three channels from Zeel and one channel each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN), Sun TV Network and Viacom18 made up BARC’s across genre list for week 3 of 2019. From the genres’ perspective, there were seven Hindi GECs, two Telugu GECs and one Tamil GEC in the weekly list.

At its normal first rank in week 3 of 2019 was Sun TV with a massive 1188.369 million weekly impressions as compared to 932.480 weekly impressions in week 2 of 2019. Sun TV also led BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry market and all the five programmes in BARC’s list of top 5 Tamil programmes during primetime in these markets based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week under review were aired on Sun TV.

At second rank was Star Maa with 777.884 weekly impressions as compared with 673.002 million weekly impressions and third rank in week 2 of 2019. Star Maa was ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu channels in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana market. Five of the programmes that were aired on Star Maa were present in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week under review in the same market.

Down one rank as compared to the previous week was Zeel’s FTA Hindi GEC Zee Anmol. At third rank, the channel garnered 759.756 million weekly impressions in week 3 of 2019 as compared to 828.610 million weekly impressions in week 2 of 2019. Zee Anmol was ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking markets or HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) and was ranked ninth in HSM (U). The Balaji Telefilms-produced soaps Kumkum Bhagya and its spinoff Kundali Bhagya were ranked fourth and third respectively in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and second and first respectively in HSM (R). Another two programmes aired on the channel - Mahek  and Ek Main aur Ek Tu were ranked third and fifth respectively in HSM (R).

Retaining its previous week’s fourth rank in week 3 of 2019 was Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV with 705.352 million weekly impressions during the period under review as compared to 658.052 million weekly impressions in week 2. Zee TV was ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and third in HSM (U), and was ranked seventh in HSM (R).

Zee Telugu, which re-entered BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres, was ranked fifth in week 3 of 2018 with 644.118 million weekly impressions. Zee Telugu was ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu channels in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana market.

Also retaining its previous weeks sixth rank in week 3 of 2019 was Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC channel Star Plus with 640.648 million weekly impressions as compared to 627.380 million weekly impression in week 2. Star Plus was ranked fourth in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and was ranked second in HSM (U) and ninth in HSM (R). The long running soap Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai Star Plus was ranked fifth in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U).

Another Star India pay-TV channel, Star Bharat, also retained its previous week’s seventh rank in week 3 with 622.466 million weekly impressions as compared to 622.664 million weekly impressions in week 2 of 2019. Star Bharat was ranked third in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and sixth and fifth in HSM (R) and HSM (U) respectively. The mythological soap Radhakrishn on the channel ranked fifth in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R).

Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC also retained its eighth rank in week 2 of 2019 with 621.420 million weekly impressions as compared to 615.203 million weekly impressions in week 1 of 2019. Colors was ranked sixth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R), eighth in HSM (R) and fourth in HSM (U). The Balaji Telefims-produced Naagin 3 and the reality show Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi Jigar Pe Trigger were ranked first and second respectively in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GECs programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R).and second and first respectively in HSM (U).

Continuing on at ninth rank in week 3 of 2019 was another Star India Hindi GEC Star Utsav with 608.530 million weekly impressions as compared to 611.019 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Star Utsab was ranked fifth, second and seventh in BARC’s list of top 10 Hindi GEC’s in HSM (U+R), HSM (R) and HSM (U) respectively.

SPN’s flagship Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television (SET) dropped down five places from the previous week to tenth rank in week 3 of 2019 with 600.428 million weekly impressions as compared to 654.455 million weekly impressions in week 2 of 2019. SET was ranked seventh in BARC’s list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and first in HSM (U). The comedy show – The Kapil Sharma Show was ranked third in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi programmes during primetime in HSM (U). Also, the reality show Super Dancer Chapter 3-Auditions on the channel was ranked fourth in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GECs programmes during primetime in HSM (U).