BENGALURU: The world television premiere (WTP) of the costliest Indian film to date – a sequel – 2.0 catapulted Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) Hindi Movies channel Zee Cinema into Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of top 10 channels across genres, albeit at rank 10, in week 17 of 2019. So strong was the impact of 2.0 on viewership, that it topped BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi movies programmes during primetime with about fourfold the viewership of the second ranked programmes across the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking market – HSM (U+R), as well as HSM (R) and HSM (U) individually.

And the icing on the cake was the continuation of four Zeel channels featuring amongst BARC’s top 10 channels across genres list in week 17 of 2019 (Saturday, 20 April 2019 to Friday, 26 April 2019).

Four channels from Zeel, three channels from Star India and one channel each from Enterr 10 TV, the Sun Tv Network and Viacom18 were in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres in week 17 of 2019. From the genres perspective, there were 5 channels from Hindi GEC, two channels from Tamil and one channel each from Hindi movies, sports and Telugu genres in the across genres list.

Enterr 10 TV’s Hindi GEC Dangal clawed its way back to first rank in week 17 of 2019 with 1,083.014 million impressions as compared to second rank and  993.817 million weekly impressions in week 16. Dangal also headed BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking market -HSM (U+R) and HSM (R).  Dangal was ranked sixth in HSM (U). Two Indian mythology programmes on Dangal  – Ramayan and Mahima Shanidev Ki were in BARC’s list of  Top 5 Hindi GEC programmes based on average rating across all original airings in the week in HSM (U+R). Further, four programmes on Dangal – the above mentioned Ramayan and  Mahima Shanidev Ki, Baba Aiso Var Dhundo and Saibaba were also among the top 5 Hindi GEC programmes in HSM (R).

Star Sports 1 Hindi dropped down a place to second rank in week 17 of 2019 with 1,037.164 million weekly impressions as compared to first rank and 1,046.642 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Star Sports 1 Hindi was ranked first with 1,046.642 million weekly impressions as compared with 1,111.416 million weekly impressions in week 15. Star Sports 1 Hindi was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 sports channels and all the top five programmes in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 sports programmes were aired on it.

Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV also retained its previous week’s third rank in week 17 of 2019. Sun TV garnered 870.531 million weekly impressions as compared with 934.025 million weekly impressions in week 16. Sun TV also headed BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry markets and three of the top 5 Tamil programmes based on average rating across all original airings in the week were aired on Sun TV.

Zeel’s Hindi GEC Big Magic also continued at its previous week’s fourth rank with 799.671 million weekly impressions in week 17 of 2019 as compared to 732.608 million weekly impressions in week 16. Big Magic was ranked second in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R). Big Magic was ranked eighth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U).  The Indian mythology drama Parmavtar Shree Krishna aired on Big Magic was present in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes based on average rating across all original airings in the week in HSM (R).

Climbing up one place to fifth rank was Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus with 710.937 million weekly impressions as compared to sixth rank and 668.534 million weekly impressions in week 16. Star Plus was also ranked third, fourth and first in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R), HSM (R) and HSM (U) respectively. One of the longest running family dramas Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Kulfi Kumar Bajewala on Star Plus were amongst BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes on average rating across all original airings in the week in HSM (U).

Dropping a rank to sixth place in week 17 of 2019 was Star India’s flagship Telugu GEC Star Maa with 687.334 million weekly impressions as compared to fifth rank and 673.766 million weekly impressions in week 16. Star Maa was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu GECs in the Andhra Pradesh/Telangana markets and all the five programmes in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu programmes based on average rating across all original airings in the week in these markets were aired on Star Maa.

Retaining its previous week’s seventh rank in week 17 of 2019 was Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV with 598.607 million weekly impressions as compared to 569.154 million weekly impressions in week 16. Zee TV was ranked fourth in HSM (U+R), second in HSM (U) and was ranked third in HSM (R). The Balaji Telefilms produced Kumkum Bhagya, its spinoff Kundali Bhagya and the Full House Media production Tujhse Hai Raabta aired on Zee TV were among the top 5 Hindi GEC programmes based on average rating across all original airings in the week in HSM (U+R), while Kumkum Bhagya and Kundali Bhagya were present in BARC’s top 5 Hindi GEC programmes list and in HSM (U).

Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors climbed two places to eighth rank in week 17 of 2019 with 520.724 million weekly impressions as compared with tenth rank and 511.636 million weekly impressions in week 16. Colors was also ranked fifth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R)  and was ranked fourth HSM (U). The Balaji Telefilms-produced supernatural fantasy show Naagin-3 aired on Colors was present in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC progrtammes based on average rating across all original airings in the week in HSM (U+R).

Zeel’s Tamil GEC Zee Tamil dropped a place to ninth rank in week 17 of 2019 with 511.698 million weekly impressions as compared with eighth rank and 538.701 million weekly impressions in week 16. Zee Tamil was ranked second in  BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry markets and two of the top 5 Tamil programmes based on average rating across all original airings in the week were aired on Zee Tamil.

As mentioned above, Zeel’s Hindi movies channel Zee Cinema entered BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres at tenth rank in week 17 of 2019 with 474.757 million weekly impressions. Zee Cinema topped BARC’s weekly lists of top 5 Hindi movies channels in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U) and was ranked third in HSM (R). The WTP of the Hindi version of 2.0 on Zee Cinema was ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi movies programmes based on average rating across all original airings in the week in HSM (U+R), HSM(U) and HSM (R).