Ramayan trumps Mahabharata in TV viewership as Indians crowd to DD National

• DD channels received the highest viewership across genres with 1.9 billion impressions in week 4th and 10th April.
  
• In fact, Ramayan received 3.5 times more views than yet another mythological epic - Mahabharata.
• The top 5 Hindi news channels — Aaj Tak, ABP News, India TV, Republic Bharat and Zee news — together received 1.4 bn impressions for the week 4th to 10th April.
  

Indians are not just binge-watching web series but are shifting to old-style TV which grew by 32% the week after April 4. According to CARE Ratings report, TV viewership in India grew to 20.4 billion impressions — total exposure to channels — within a week.

Unlike other times, it is not driven by sports as India’s biggest cricketing event, IPL was cancelled. In fact, the top five sports channels received a cumulative 238 million viewers during the same time, as per a CARE Ratings report.

“Sports channels are at a sure loss of viewership as well as advertisement income, as most sports events scheduled during this time of the year have either been postponed or cancelled. Other categories such as news, general entertainment channels, movies gained viewership,” the report said.

In India, about 298 million households have a TV connection — that’s 66% of the total population. And, there are more than 800 channels that people can browse through.

The return of the Golden Era

As the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping people locked down in their homes, 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 Ratings report.

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).

“This TV channel’s popularity can be largely attributed to the telecast of the super hit show ‘Ramayan’, which was initially telecasted on TV in the year 1987. In the week 4th to 10th April, viewership of DD national grew sharply by 22%,” said the report.

In fact, Ramayan received 3.5 times more views than yet another mythological epic - Mahabharata.

Among the top Hindi entertainment channels were DD national, Dangal, Sony SAB, Big Magic and Zee Cinema. Ramayan and Mahabharat continue to grab the highest number of viewers in India. Other shows which became popular during this week were ‘Pyaar ki Luka Chhupi’, ‘Mahima Shanidev ki’ and ‘Baba Aiso Var Dhundo’.

Hindi and Marathi news channels receive highest viewers

While people pass time with classics from the 80s, they are also keeping themselves up to date with current affairs. The top 5 Hindi news channels — Aaj Tak, ABP News, India TV, Republic Bharat and Zee news — together received 1.4 billion impressions for the week 4th to 10th April.

“Marathi news category was leading with 552 million impressions, followed by Kannada (484 million impressions), Telugu (417 million impressions), Tamil (387 million impressions), Bangla (286 million impressions), Malayalam (249 million impressions), Oriya (159 million impressions) and Assamese (121 million impressions),” said the report.


See also: Mukesh Ambani’s RIL loses ₹30,000 crore in the first few minutes of trading