MUMBAI: Its coverage of the cricket world cup may be zilch but for the urban yuppie male on the go who craves a quick fix in the form of action fare Ten Sports is the channel to log on to.
TAM figures for males over the age of 15 for SEC ABC who reside in the metros and cities with a population of over one million tell a story. It shows that despite the absence of high profile events on the channel the constant doses of wrestling have proved more than adequate in putting the competition on the mat in a manner of speaking.
For the week starting 23 February for its top ten shows the channel had an average TVR of 0.76. Its highest rated show was Smackdown with a TVR of 1.22. Raw followed with 1.01. None of the shows on the other English entertainment channels in the survey could touch 1. Count among them HBO, Star Movies, AXN, MTV and of course ESS whose attempts at Follow Through for the World Cup garnered TVRs of 0.39 and 0.36. In this context it is perhaps advisable for ESS to concentrate on building further cachet on the properties it does have rather than trying to divert peoples attention from Max with dull and poorly cobbled up fare.
Star Movies with an overall TVR tally of 0.48 took second place. The dinosaurs inhabiting Jurassic Park are still proving to be a winner with a TVR of 0.86. Arch rival HBO is some distance behind with an overall TVR of 0.34. Star Sports and ESPN are at the bottom of the food chain with TVRs of 0.25 and 0.23 respectively.
Though Ten Sports is the leader following it can backfire as Star World found out. Its wrestling programme TNA which airs over the weekend failed to shore up ratings. The show garnered ratings of 0.21, 0.15 and 0.14. Its high profile music awards show The Grammy Awards which aired live along with a primetime telecast generated a mere 0.18 TVR. That Tarun Katial and the gang have some serious thinking to do about the quality of shows aired can be gauged from the fact that the top three spots are taken up by news and filler items.
Coming back to Ten Sports the channel had its best result in the Punjab, Hariyana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh belt with an overall TVR of 3.53 followed by Gujarat with 2.19. On the flip side it is lagging in Bangalore with a TVR of 0.77. For the week starting 16 Feb it shows no reach in Andhra Pradesh. It also fares poorly in Calcutta reaching just 7.95 per cent of the males. Obviously there are some distribution hassles that have to still be resolved. Its total reach in the metros and cities with a population of over one million is 23.66 per cent. Max has the maximum reach with 80.43 per cent.