The Sun Network’s channels were the most watched channels across the four South Indian languages for the first eight weeks of 2017 (Saturday, 30 December 2016 to Friday 24 February 2017).

This paper must be read with a caveat: It deals only with the players present in BARC’s top 5 lists of channels per week and programmes per week for each language. The sums/percentages of other genres/players’ ratings or Impressions (000s) Sums other than those indicated in BARC’s top 10 lists of channels and programmes have not been considered/mentioned in this paper during the period under consideration and those numbers could be more/higher. Further, Combined Total Impressions mentioned in this paper means the sum of all the Impressions (000s) Sums for all the weeks under consideration of a network, channel and/or programme/s.

Statistical analysis of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data for Top 5 Channels for the four South Indian regional channels shows that 8 Networks/affiliates/channels represented by their respective channels across the four South Indian languages shared the top five positions per week for the first eight weeks of 2017. The four languages are Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Channels such as ETV have been included in the Network 18 network by the author.

BARC data that has been referred to inthis paper is for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 is (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals for the following markets: Karnataka; Kerala; Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry; and AP/ Telangana

If all the channels of a network were present in the top 5 channels list for each of the four languages, that network’s frequency of appearance in the list would be 160 for the first 8 weeks of 2017 period. In order of frequency of presence of their respective channels in the top 5 lists and the total weekly impressions across all the eight weeks of the four main networks were:

(1)  The Sun Network (frequency 59, Combined Weekly Impressions 1,89,24,315 (000s) Sums). The Sun Network’s television channels in all the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

(2)  Star India (frequency 37,Combined Weekly Impressions 94,10,831 (000s) Sums). Star India’s television channels in all the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

(3)  Zeel(Frequency 24, Combined Weekly Impressions 70,47,165(000s) Sums). Zeel’s television channels in three of the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Its channels were absent from the lists for the Kerala market

(4)  Network 18 (frequency 16, Combined Weekly Impressions 59,16,540 (000s) Sums). Network 18’s television channels in two of the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Its channels were absent from the lists for the Kerala market.

The other networks whose channels found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 wereMalayalaManorama (Kerala market); Flowers TV (Kerala market); Polimer(TN/ Puducherry market); Jaya TV (TN/ Puducherry market).

The Sun Network’s and Star India’s channels were present in all of the Top 5 channels list across the four languages for all the first 8 weeks of 2017.

Top 5 programmes during Prime Time (1800 - 2330 hrs)

Only the programmes by channels of the top four networks were The top 5 programmes list across all the four languages/markets. BARC data that has been referred to in this paper is for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 (U+R) : NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 - 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals for the following markets: Karnataka; Kerala; Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry; and AP/ Telangana.

While the frequency of presence in the top 5 lists of programmes was highest in the case of Star India channels (frequency 60, Combined Weekly Impressions 3,31,289 (000s) Sums), the Sun Network channels (frequency 43, Combined Weekly Impressions 5,21,763 (000s) Sums) programmes garnered much higher viewership.

The Sun Network channels found a place in the top 5 programmes lists in three languages – Tamil (Frequency 40, Combined Weekly Impressions 502758 (000s) Sums Telugu (Frequency 2, Combined Weekly Impressions 14036 (000s) Sums and Kannada (Frequency 1, Combined Weekly Impressions 4969 (000s) Sums) during the period under consideration in this paper.

Star India channels programmes also found a place in the top 5  programmes lists for three languages – Malayalam (Frequency 40, Combined Weekly Impressions 2,09,083 (000s) Sums); Telugu (Frequency 18, Combined Weekly Impressions 1,14,637 (000s) Sums and the Kannada market (frequency 2, Combined Weekly Impressions 7,569 (000s) Sums).

Network 18 channels programmes found a place in the top 5 lists in 2 languages - Kannada (Frequency 28, Combined Weekly Impressions 1,43,113 (000s) Sums) and Telugu (Frequency 10, Combined Weekly Impressions 62,796 (000s) Sums).

Zeel channels programmes also found a place in the top 5 lists in 2 languages Telugu(Frequency 10, Combined Weekly Impressions 63,147 (000s) Sums) and Kannada (Frequency 9, Combined Weekly Impressions 38135 (000s) Sums).

Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (Tamil) market top channels

The Sun Network’s Sun TV is numerouno in this market, as well as across all television genres and markets in India, period!

The Tamil market had four channels from three networks in the first four positions for all the first eight weeks of 2017. The Sun Network’s Sun TV and KTV, Zeel’s Zee Tamil and Star India’s Star Vijay.

In the Tamil market, Sun TV found the first place eight times out of eight with Combined Weekly Impressions of 85,46,618 (000s) Sums. During the eight weeks under consideration in this paper, its KTV channel was number 2 most watched channel for 7 weeks with Combined Weekly Impressions of 20,47,381 (000s) Sums. In week 3, the number three Tamil player –Zee Tamil had second place.

Zee Tamil was the third most watched channel in the Tamil space for seven of the eight weeks with Combined Weekly Impressions of 18,56,448 (000s)Sums, except as mentioned above – it was at number two position in week 3 of 2017.

Star Vijay was the fourth most watched channel in the Tamil language TV space with Combined Weekly Impressions of 16,47,623 (000s)Sums during all the first 8 weeks of 2017.

Polimer’sPolimer TV was the fifth most watched Tamil language TV space with a frequency of 4 and Combined Weekly Impressions of 3,25,149 (000s)Sums, while its Polimer News was the seventh most watched Tamil language TV space with a frequency of 2 and Combined Weekly Impressions of 1,92,213 (000s)Sums in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

The sixth most watched Tamil channel during weeks 1 to 8 was Jaya TV with a frequency of 2 and Combined Total Impressions of 2,40,799 (000s) Sums.

Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (Tamil) market top programmes

Eight of the Sun TV’s programmes and two film telecasts grabbed all the five top spots during all the first eight weeks of 2017. The eight top programs in the Tamil TV space that had a combined frequency of 37 out of a possible 40 have been listed below:

The other three slots were taken by three films broadcast by Sun TV on Sunday in weeks 1, 3 and 5 of 2017. DeivaMagal had the highest primetime viewership during all the first eight weeks of 2017.

AP/ Telangana (Telugu)market top channels

The Telugu market also was dominated by the Sun Network’s channels. The two channels of the network had a frequency of 8 in the top 5 channels list for the Telugu market and the Sun Network had Combined Weekly Impressions of 52,80,885 (000s) Sums. Its Gemini TV was the most watched channel during all the weeks under consideration in this paper.

Gemini TV had a frequency of 8 in the top 5 channels list with Combined Weekly Impressions of 40,16,489 (000s) Sums. Zee Telugu was the second most watched channel during these first eight weeks of 2017 with a frequency of 8 and Combined Weekly Impressions of 3384804 (000s) Sums.

Network 18’s ETV Telugu was the third most watched channel in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017, also with a frequency of 8 in the top 5 channels lists for the Telugu market and Combined Weekly Impressions of 33,65,528 (000s) Sums. Star India’s Maa TV/Star Maa was the fourth most watched channel in the AP/ Telangana market with a frequency of 8 and Combined Weekly Impressions of 32,75,864 (000s) Impressions.

The fifth most watched Telugu channel during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 was the Sun Network’s Gemini Movies with a frequency of 8 and Combined Weekly Impressions of 13,12,922 (000s) Sums.
AP/ Telangana (Telugu)market top programmes

KumkumaPuvvu, (means Saffron) the Telugu edition of the 785 episode Malayalam soap opera Kumkumapoovu on Star India’s Maa TV/ Star Maa was the most watched primetime programme during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. The programme had a frequency of 8 in the top 5 programmes list during the period under consideration in the paper with Combined Weekly Impressions of 52,561 (000s) Sums. Though KumkumaPuvvuwas ranked first in terms of Weekly Impressions only during weeks 1, 2, 5 and 8 of 2017, the sum of its weekly impressions for weeks 1 to 8 was more than any other programme in this space.

Of the possible 40 slots in five weeks, 37 were shared by Television Programmes, while the remaining three slots were shared by movies – one aired by the Star Network and two aired by Gemini TV.

Please refer to the figure below for the top nine Telugu programs during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

Zee Telugu’s story of two strong willed women - MuddaMandaram was the second most watched Telugu programme in the first eight weeks of 2017 with Combined Weekly Impressions of 51,560 (000s) Sums and a frequency of 8 in the top 5 Telugu programmes.

Karnataka (Kannada) market top channels

Five Kannada channels were in the top 5 Kannada channels list during the first 8 weeks of 2017. The channels ranks remained unchanged during all the first eight weeks of 2017. The frequency of each channel was 8. Network 18’s Colors Kannada was ranked number one with Combined Weekly Impressions of 25,51,012 (000s) Sums, followed by Zeel’s Zee Kannada with 18,05,913 (000s) Sums.

Star India’s Star Suvarna with 15,30,643 (000s) Sums was the third most watched Kannada channel in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

Two of the Sun Network’s channels – Udaya Movies and Udaya TV were ranked fourth and fifth with Combined Weekly Impressions of 12,05,222 (000s) Sums and 9,36,342 (000s) Sums respectively. If one were to combine the viewership of these two channels, then the Sun Network would be the second most watched Kannada television network during the first eight weeks of 2017 with Combined Weekly Impressions of 21, 41,564 (000s) Sums.
Karnataka (Kannada) market top programmes

Colors Kannada’s daily soap PuttaGowriMaduve that chronicles the journey of child bride from the brink of childhood to womanhood was the most watched Kannada programme during the first 8 weeks of 2017. The programme was ranked first during all the first eight weeks of 2017 with Combined Weekly Impressions of 53,098 (000s) Sums.
Also from the Colors Kannada stable, Lakshmi Baaramma was the second most watch Kannada programme in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 with Combined Weekly Impressions and a frequency of 8 in the top 5 Kannada programmes list.

Please refer to the figure below for the top Kannada Programs in weeks 1 to 8.

Of the possible 40 top 5 program lists during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017, 38 were shared by television programmes, while two were shared by films.

Kerala (Malayalam) market top channels

Star India’s Asianet ruled the Malayalam television space during the first eight weeks of 2017. The channel was ranked first in terms of Weekly Impressions during all the eight weeks. It has Combined Weekly Impressions of 26,25,543 (000s) Sums. MalayalaManorama’s GEC MazhavilManorama also found itself in the top 5 channels list eight times with Combined Weekly Impressions of 6,81,232 (000s) Sums.

The Sun Networks Malayalam channel Surya TV also had a frequency of 8 was the third most watched Malayalam channel with Combined Weekly Impressions of 6,60,045 (000s) Sums. Flowers TV came in fourth with frequency of 8 and Combined Weekly Impressions of 5,77,569 (000s) Sums.

Star India’s Asianet Movies was fifth with a frequency of 5 and Combined Weekly Impressions of 3,31,158 (000s) Sums. The Sun Network’s second Malayalam channel – Kiran TV found itself in the top 5 channels list thrice during the first eight weeks of 2015 with Combined Weekly Impressions of 1,99,296 (000s) Sums.

Kerala (Malayalam) market top programmes

In the case of top 5 programmes for a week, it was Aisanet programmes that were amongst the top 5 ranks during all the first 8 weeks of2017. Parasparam, the daily family soap that completed 1070 episodes in end January 2017 was the most watched Malayalam programme during the first eight weeks of the year with a frequency of 8 and Combined Weekly Impressions of 50,100 (000s) Sums. Parasparamwas the most watched programme for three of the eight weeks of 2016 and the second most watched program for five of the eight weeks of the year.

Chandanamazha, a series about the trials and tribulations of two sisters who marry into the same family was the second most watched Malayalam programme during the first eight weeks of 2017 with Combined Weekly Impressions of 49,972 (000s) Sums.

Please refer to the figure below for the list of the Top Malayalam programs in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

Of the forty possible slots among the top five primetime programmes per week during the eight weeks under consideration in this paper, four were one off awards, while 36 spots were held by the channels regular programmes.

Conclusion

There is no denying the fact that the Sun Network’s Sun TV was the most watched channel across genres and languages in India, as is evident from BARC’s  list of top 10 channels Across Genre: All India (U+R): 2+ individuals as well as BARC data for the TN/ Puducherry market. It dominated the channel viewership in two of the largest media and entertainment (M&E) centres in the country with two channels each in the Tamil and the Telugu space through Sun TV, KTV and Gemini TV, Gemini Movies respectively. Two each of its channels were also among the lower top 5 in the smaller Kannada and Malayalam markets.

On the programme front, the Sun Network’s programmes were the only ones that made it to the top 5 Tamil programmes list during all the first eight weeks of 2017. However, in the other three South Indian markets, ratings performance of its programmes was sketchy.

Though the Star Network’s Combined Weekly Ratings in the four South Indianmarkets were a little more than half of the Sun Networks, the programmes of its respective channels dominated the Telugu and the Malayalam markets.

Zeel’s South Indian channels were a mixed bag and surprisingly the gap between its Combined Weekly Insertions and those the Star India South Indian channels was not large, considering the fact that its channels operate in only three South Indian markets as compared to the four markets that Star India operates in.

Network 18 has channels in only two of the four South Indian markets. Its channels and programmes have dominated the Kannada market, and its programmes Combined Weekly Impressions were not too far behind the second largest player in the Telugu market – Zee Telugu.

The other networks/channels that were present in the top five channels list for each of the markets can be consideredas work in progress before they begin to challengethe four major networks and their respective channels.