Lockdown impact: Ramayan, Mahabharat are luring TV viewers, as well as advertisers

Ramayana | Year: 1987-1988 (Image: doordarshan.gov.in)

The repeat telecast of Ramayana and Mahabharat on TV is not only keeping the audience entertained, but these shows are also attracting attention from the advertisers.

For advertisers, it is all about viewership and since their re-launch on TV,  both Ramayan and Mahabharat have kept viewers glued to TV sets.

Even in week 15, that is week starting April 11, mythological shows became the main source of entertainment among Hindi GECs (general entertainment channels).

Shows in this category recorded 109 billion viewing minutes and as many as 353 million viewers watched shows belonging to this category, according to BARC data released on April 23.

Time spent on such shows has consistently been increasing. In week 15, time spent on mythological shows increased by 43 percent as compared to the previous week.

Amid mythological shows, Ramayan and Mahabharat are major contributors.

So, viewership is high and that is enough for advertisers to get interested in content belonging to this genre.

This is why both Ramayan and Mahabharat saw increase in Free Commercial Time (FCT) in week 15.

Free commercial time is defined as the amount of secondage bought on a channel.

Advertiser count on Ramayan and Mahabharat saw a 14x and 12x increase respectively.

Daily FCT was hovering around 1900 to 2000 seconds across both programmes.

“Ramayan and Mahabharat have seen more advertisers in week 15 this is because the market saw change in viewing habits and rushed to these shows. Both the shows have managed to add up inventory,” said Sunil Lulla, BARC CEO, during the webinar titled ‘Deep Dive into content and advertising consumption during COVID.

If we look at ad volume by genre, GECs are sustaining the FCT levels with ad volumes staying steady in last two weeks.

And ad inventory increasing on shows like Ramayan and Mahabharat could be a major contributor that has helped GECs maintain FCT level at 49 lakh in week 14 and week 15.