Doordarshan with its classics like Ramayan driving growth for Hindi GECs

Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) witnessed record high viewership with four billion impressions since 2015 in urban Hindi speaking markets (HSM) in week 14, which is week starting April 4, BARC data revealed.

What is interesting is that Doordarshan's content is a big contributor to this growth.

While presenting the fourth edition of the report, titled 'TV & Smartphones Habits as India Braces for Lockdown 2.0', Sunil Lulla, BARC CEO, said, “DD is a big driver in GEC. Without DD, there would have been no growth in the Hindi GEC category.”

A look at BARC data from week 11 that is week starting from March 14 to week 14 shows that Doordarshan has seen a 600 percent jump in reach.

Plus, the channel topped the charts in the free plus pay urban segments with over 19 lakh impressions in week 14. Impressions are the number of individuals in thousands, of a target audience, who viewed an event, averaged across minutes.

But what is Doordarshan offering to keep viewers glued to the channel?

From Ramayan to Shah Rukh Khan’s Circus, TV audiences are lapping up the repeat content which is keeping DD on top.

But are all the repeat shows finding strong traction? Not really.

“Not all re-runs have been as well received as Ramayan and Mahabharat. Viewership figures for Dekh Bhai Dekh, Buniyaad and Chanakya are lower compared to the two epics. So, only re-running old content that was once famous is not the winning formula,” said Sandeep Goyal, Chairman, Mogae Media.

Ramayan on DD National is the top programme in the Hindi urban and rural market in week 14 with 61,397 impressions. The show is followed by another devotional classic – Mahabharat with 16,750 impressions.

“Both Ramayan and Mahabharat are performing well in both free and pay segment. So, it is not a lower SEC phenomenon. The appeal of the epics is universal, not just across SECs, but also across age-groups.  It cannot be all nostalgia. Both these epics first ran 30 years ago. That generation of the ones who watched the original-runs are over 40 today. The surge in viewership in the current airing has been exponential across age-groups,” he added.

Backing Goyal’s analysis is the BARC data which stated that 22 percent kids watched Ramayan with their grandparents or senior person at home in week 14. Similarly, 25 percent kids watched Mahabharat on TV.

“It was smart thinking on Doordarshan’s end to bring back the epics, air them twice a day, and surround the old stalwarts with equally strong other shows from the past. This way Doordarshan has maximised the available window of opportunity. Also, god is in full command of the airwaves at Doordarshan,” Goyal added.