NEW DELHI: Even as the fight for the non-fiction genre of programming hots up in India, Discovery India, quoting TAM figures, says it has a viewership of 35,000 viewers, while that of rival National Geographic Channel (NGC) was 20,000 for the 44th week ended 2 November.

The figures (all cities, 24 hours and C&S 4+ audience) show that average viewership was as following: Discovery - 35,000, Animal Planet (AP) - 10, 000, NGC 20,000. Where the TRPs are concerned, Discovery India has claimed figures of 0.06, AP - 0.02, against NGC - 0.03.

However, NGC has a different view on this altogether. Quizzed on the issue of leadership and market share, NGC's South Asia head Zubin Gandevia told indiantelevision.com last week, "If Discovery is talking about leadership over NGC, good. I don't see competition as NGC is comparatively a younger channel (in India) compared to Discovery."

The list of Top 20 programmes on Discovery shows that crime programming is doing well. The list has a good mix of programmes from the different time bands and genres. NGC has a very high number of nature/wildlife shows in its list, and Nat Geo Max, which was doing better than Discovery at 9 pm on weekdays has stopped performing as well.