TV viewership grew 9% in 2020 thanks to mythological shows, IPL13: BARC data

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With Indians staying at home due to coronavirus-led lockdown, television became one of their main sources of entertainment last year.

This is why last year total TV viewership grew by nine percent, according to Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC) in its recently released third edition of What India Watched report.

As people stayed at home 24x7, there was a visible impact on day-time viewing, and non-primetime viewing was up 53 percent last year from 51 percent in 2019.

Plus, Doordarshan saw significant gains last year thanks to old shows like Ramayan, Mahabharat, among others.

The contribution of mythological shows to Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) viewership increased from 14 percent in the pre-COVID period to 43 percent in week 15, which is the period between April 11 and 17.

Overall, DD Network saw a 68 percent growth last year as compared to 2019 in terms of viewership.

Along with viewership, Doordarshan witnessed an increase in ad volumes as well thanks to mythological shows.

"Doordarshan understood the lure of mythology for its audiences perfectly and used these shows to increase the viewership of its channels, reaping the dividends of this move. Advertisers quickly leveraged this spike in viewership, leading to a 31 percent increase (in 2020) in advertising volumes on DD channels as compared to 2019," the report said.

After mythological shows, the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) kept viewers glued to their TV sets.

Viewership of IPL 13 saw a 23 percent increase over the 12th edition, with a 65 percent contribution from the Hindi language broadcast.

While viewership from mega cities grew by six percent, states like Bihar/Jharkhand, Odisha and Kerala saw significant growth in viewership in 2020.

When it comes age groups, viewers between the age of 15 and 30 years remained the highest contributor with 34 percent viewership share.

Ad volume during IPL was also strong with Oppo India commanding a majority share and emerging as the number one advertiser for IPL 2020.