Ramayan is the most-watched entertainment show in the world, says Doordarshan

^{Credits: Doordarshan}

• Ramanand Sagars popular TV serial 'Ramayan' — which is re-airing on Doordarshan — became the world's most-watched show on April 16 with 7.7 crore viewers.
  
• Ramayan had nearly 6 times viewers than HBO’s most-watched episode — the finale of Game of Thrones on April 16.
  
• Ramayan gained 174 million viewers within four days of re-telecast. Whereas, it received more than 500 million views between 28 March and 4 April.
  
  

Ramanand Sagars popular TV serial 'Ramayan' — which is re-airing on Doordarshan — became the world's most-watched show on April 16 with 7.7 crore viewers, says Doordarshan.



Ramayan had nearly 6 times viewers than HBO’s most-watched episode — the finale of Game of Thrones. . According to Nielsen data, an estimated 1.36 crore viewers watched the last episode of GOT.

Moreover, this isn't the time Ramayan made a world record . From 1987 to 1988, 'Ramayan' became the most watched serial in the world. Till June 2003, it remained recorded in the Limca Book of Records as "the most watched mythological serial in the world".

After India shut itself down to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, Doordarshan brought back all its classics from the eighties to entertain people. Ramayan gained 174 million viewers within four days of re-telecast. Whereas, it received more than 500 million views between 28 March and 4 April.

The re-telecast of three-decades-old mythological series Ramayan made DD national the most-watched channel. Its viewership grew 22% within a week (April 4-10), according to rating agency BARC.

Apart from Ramayan, Doordarshan brought back its Golden Era shows back on TV — Shaktimaan, Mahabharat, and Byomkesh Bakshi. In fact, DD channels received the highest viewership across genre with 1.9 billion impressions in week 4th and 10th April, said the CARE Rating report.

Ramayan was originally broadcast from January 25, 1987 to July 31, 1988. Then, every Sunday, at 9.30 a.m. the show was aired on TV.

Interestingly, when the serial started airing in the country for the first time, people used to remain glued to the TV sets. Since there were less TVs at homes then, most of the people used to gather at some neighbour's place to watch 'Ramayan'.

(With IANS)

See also: Ramayan’s 170 million views from four episodes says India still can’t get over popular mythological shows from the 80s