BENGALURU: At its normal number one position and at third rank in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of top 10 channels across genres in week 52 of 2018 were Sun TV and Star Maa respectively. BARC’s weekly list for top 10 channels across genres for week 52 of 2018 (Saturday, 22 December 2018 to Friday, 28 December 2018) had five Hindi GEC, two channels each from the Hindi movies and Telugu genres, and one channel from the Tamil GEC genre. From the network’s perspective, there were three channels each from Star India and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel), two channels from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and one channel each from the Sun TV Network and Viacom 18 Media Networks Pvt Ltd (Viacom 18).

As mentioned above at its normal first rank in week 52 of 2018 was Sun TV with 1,012.658 million weekly impressions as compared to 973.093 weekly impressions in week 51. Sun TV also led BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry market and four 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.

Continuing at rank 2 from the previous week in week 52 of 2018 was Zeel’s FTA Zee Anmol with 785.124 million weekly impressions as compared to 766.527 million weekly impressions in week 50. Zee Anmol was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) and was ranked ninth in HSM (U). The channel was the most watched Hindi channel across genres during the week. The Balaji Telefilms produced soap Kumkum Bhagya was ranked first 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 HSM (R).  Another two programmes aired on the channel - Mahek  and Ek Main aur Ek Tu were ranked fourth and third respectively in HSM (R).

Climbing up three places to third rank was Star India’s flagship Telugu GEC Star Maa with 782.262 million weekly impressions in week 52 of 2018 as compared with 683.707 million weekly impressions in week 51. Star Maa was ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu channels in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana market. Five 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 in the same market.

Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV also retained rank 4 in week 52 of 2018 with 700.671 million weekly impressions as compared to 752.121 million weekly impressions in week 51. 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). Two programmes that were aired on Zee TV- Kumkum Bhagya, and its spinoff Kundali Bhagya were at fifth and third ranks 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). Kundali Bhagya was ranked fourth respectively in HSM (U+R).

Viacom 18’s Hindi movies channel entered BARC’s across genres weekly list in week 52 of 2018 with 690.626 million weekly impressions at fifth rank. The channel ended 2018 with a bang – all the top five movies in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi movies programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) were aired on Rishtey Cineplex. Rishtey Cineplex was the most watched Hindi Movies channel in BARC’s across genres weekly list.

Star India’s pay TV Hindi GEC Star Bharat dropped a place from the previous week’s fifth rank to sixth rank in week 52 of 2018 with 658.078 million weekly impressions as compared to 693.134 million weekly impressions in week 51. 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 Hindi mythology Radhakrishn on Star Bharat was ranked fifth in BARC’s weekly 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).

Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus dropped four places from the previous week to seventh place in week 52 of 2018 with 654.141 million impressions as compared to 764.975 million weekly impressions and second rank in week 51. Star Plus was ranked fourth in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in in the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking markets or HSM (U+R) and was ranked first in HSM (U) and ninth in HSM (R).

Zeel’s flagship Telugu GEC Zee Telugu rose two spots to eighth rank in week 52 of 2018 with 634.910 million weekly impressions as compared to 529.277 million weekly impressions in week 50. The channel was ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu channels in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana market.

SPN’s Hindi Movies channel Sony Max also dropped a couple of spots to ninth rank in week 52 of 2018 with 625,252 millon weekly impresions as compared with 575.714 million weekly impressions in week 51. Sony Max was ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi Movies channels in HSM (U+R), first in HSM (U) and was ranked fourth in HSM (R). Hindi feature films (HFF) Sui Daaga, Bahubali the Beginning and Son of Satyamurthy were ranked second, third and fifth respectively in HSM (U).

SPN’s flagship Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television (SET) re-entered BARC’s top 10 across genres weekly list in week 52 of 2018 at tenth rank with 603.330 million weekly impressions. SET was ranked fifth in BARC’s list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and second in HSM (U). The reality show Indian Idol on the channel was ranked third and first 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 HSM (U) respectively.