MUMBAI: The three-and-a-half hour debut episode of Bigg Boss 5, in which Colors unveiled the 14 housemates, has helped the channel claw back to the second spot ahead of Sony Entertainment Television.

The episode, aired at 8 pm on Sunday, clocked a TVR of 4.3 and added 30 GRPs (gross rating points).

As per TAM data for the week ended 8 October (HSM, C&S 4+), Colors added 50 GRPs to its last week‘s tally to collect 255 GRPs. For the Viacom18 GEC, the strategy of shifting three of its primetime shows to the afternoon slot seems to have worked. Bigg Boss 5 gave the channel an average TVR of 2.1 during the period Monday-Saturday.

For Colors, the debut of fifth season of the big-ticket reality show (fourth on the channel) has got reasonably good ratings, when compared to the previous seasons. The initial season with Shilpa Shetty saw a debut rating of 2.5 TVR, which jumped to 4.6 TVR in the next season when Amitabh Bachchan hosted the show.

Salman Khan, roped in for last year‘s season, debuted to a 4.7 TVR. This season has, for the first time, two actors - Salman khan and Sanjay Dutt - hosting the show.

Meanwhile, Star Plus maintained its lead in the genre with 304 GRPs (last week 306). The channel launched a new show in the 8.30 pm band - Ek Hazaro Me Meri Behena hai - which averaged 2 TVR.

Sony Entertainment TV slipped to third spot after winning the second rank for four straight weeks; it ended with 248 GRPs, one less than its preceding week‘s score. Set‘s new 8 pm show - Kuch To Log Kahenge - opened to a 1.1 TVR in a highly competitive time slot.

Zee TV touched a new low, shedding 15 GRPs in the week to collect 142 GRPs. The gap between Zee TV and Sab is now 21 GRPs.

Sab closed the week with 121 GRPs (last week 126), while Imagine TV fell to 66 GRPs (75 in previous week).

Sahara One and Star One closed the week with 34 and 33 GRPs respectively.