MUMBAI: A fight for the top spot in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) hierarchy is finally surfacing. The gap between the top two positions has come the closest this year with Colors just 12 GRPs (gross rating points) away from Star Plus.
The last time the race got any closer was in the week ended 28 April when Sony Entertainment Television was 15 GRPs away.
The threat, however, has been brief so far and Star Plus has surged ahead each time there is any kind of challenge. So it will be interesting to observe what happens next week.
Colors‘ march in the week ended 23 June has come on the back of its celebrity dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa as it gained 24 GRPs compared to Star Plus‘ loss of 17 GRPs. The 9 pm weekend show, which runs for 90 minutes each episode, has 11 more weeks to help Colors reach the milestone.
Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa is Colors‘ third top-rated show, behind Balika Vadhu (4.4 TVR) and Sasural Simar Ka (3.3 TVR). It, however, is pertinent to mention here that the debut rating on Saturday of Jhalak... was 3.1 (captured in week ended 16 June), marginally more than the Sunday TVR of 3 and Saturday (2nd week for the show) TVR of 2.6. Still, Colors posted 239 GRPs compared to Star Plus‘ 251, according to TAM data provided by GEC‘s.
"We will have to see how much extra ratings Jhalak can bring. The early trend indicates that it would be around 3 TVR. So will that be enough to take Colors ahead of Star Plus? It is very difficult to predict but surely there is a note of caution for Star Plus," says a media analyst.
For the Viacom18 channel, it has been a long wait. The last time Colors was ahead of Star Plus in the ratings race was in the week ended 7 April of 2011 when it reached 300 GRPs while Star Plus had clocked 261 GRPs. However, it couldn’t sustain the momentum and fell to number two. Later, the closest difference between Colors and Star Plus was eight GRPs in the week ended 11 June 2011 when it pocketed 239 GRPs.
Star Plus witnessed a drop in the ratings of its top-rated fiction shows like Saathiya Saath Nibhana, Iss Pyar ko Kya Nam Du, Ek Hazaro Me Meri Behna Hai, Diya Aur Bati Hum and Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai.
Meanwhile, Zee TV is holding on to its No 3 position with the addition of two GRPs. It has ended the week with 214 GRPs and its home-grown dancing reality show DID Li’l Masters fetched ratings of 3.6 on 17 June and 4.4 TVR on 23 June, up from preceding week‘s 2.8 TVR, and higher than Jhalak‘s.
Set, which had gone below 200-mark last week, added 13 GRPs to close the week with 201 GRPs.
Sab continued to be fifth on the Hindi GEC ladder, though it lost seven GRPs to end the week with 109 GRPs. With the loss of 9 GRPs, Life OK closed the week with 97 GRPs.
Sahara One maintained the status quo with 36 GRPs.
