NEW DELHI: Doordarshan, which was not long back irked at being ignored by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, has emerged as the most watched channel in terms of time spent per viewer and has left behind top touted Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) with the release of the rural ratings data.

DD National registered an Average Time Spent (ATS) of 53 minutes and 39 seconds, which is the highest among Hindi GECs in week 41 according to BARC ratings.

According to DD, this indicated that after tuning to the channel, viewers preferred to continuously watch the channel for a longer duration of time rather than frequently switching the channels, as compared to other GECs.

The channel also witnessed a significant rise in ratings and moved upto the seventh position according to BARC data in Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM), NCCS All, which comprises All India (U+R) in the week 41.

According to the data, the channel’s gross viewership in lakhs (GVL) rose from 479.9 lakhs in week 40 to a “massive” 4040.5 lakhs in week 41. “This monumental development comes in as BARC released the much awaited All India data, which includes rural India for the very first time,” DD said.

Of the total 153.5 million TV households tracked by BARC, representing All India and all modes of signal, 77.5 million are urban TV households and 76 million are rural TV households.

According to DD, this spurt in the channel's viewership can also be attributed to its current strategy of providing viewers with fresh content, supplemented by a robust publicity campaign; thus creating an active awareness of the changing face of Doordarshan.