MUMBAI: It was a ten-week wait. And at the end of it, Zee TV has knocked out Colors to grab the second spot in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space that has seen less of a volatile ratings battle this year.
This is the third time in the year that Zee TV has stood just behind the market leader for a week, lifted by a dance reality show or a big-ticket movie or an events property. While the fiction content has stayed rock solid, it is these spikes that have helped the Zee Network‘s flagship channel to improve its ranking.
For the week ended 10 July, Zee TV has scored 265 GRPs, riding on a 37 GRP gain from the previous week, while Colors weakened marginally with a dip in weekend movie ratings.
Zee managed to surpass Colors (255 GRPs), which shed 14 GRPs during the week, while Star Plus (342 GRPs) still managed to enjoy the lead with a substantial gap even as it shed an additional 20 GRPs over the previous week.
For Zee TV, the win was primarily led by its fiction properties and weekend event. The channel pocketed 21 GRPs from Gold Awards, which clocked a TVR of 3.2 on 4 July.
"I am happy that we are number two again and all credit goes to the programming. Without any gimick or huge marketing push, all our shows are getting good response," says Zeel COO national channels and Zee TV business head Nitin Vaidya.
As per Tam data, Pavitra Rishta at 9 pm continued to lead the charts with an average of 6.1 TVR (the only show averaging at over 6 TVR). The show‘s last week average was 5.2 TVR.
Additionally, Jhansi Ki Rani’s average too jumped from 3.7 TVR in the previous week to 4.5 during the week.
Meanwhile, all other dailies- Chhoti Bahu, Yahan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli, Agle Janam…, Karol Bagh and Do Saheliyan added 0.2 TVR from their previous week average ratings.
"Our focus is only on doing our core programming properly. I am confident that the new show, Mera Naam Karegi Roshan, and upcoming properties, will further grow the channel," Vaidya adds.
Prior to this, Zee TV had reached number two spot in week 5 (week ended 30 January) and week 17 (week ended 24 April) on the back of Hindi movie All The Best and Dance India Dance 2 finale. However, as the spikes ended, Zee TV retreated from its new position the very next week.
Talking about Star Plus, the channel‘s newly launched 10 pm show Tere Liye saw a drop in average ratings by 0.4 TVR while Bidaai’s average fell from 5.3 TVR to 4.4 TVR. The one- hour special of Sasural Genda Phool clocked 3.7 TVR on 10 July.
Colors, on the other hand, did not see any major rise or fall in its weekday programming. The slump came from weekend movies that clocked just 17 GRPs as against 37 GRPs in the previous week. The New Talent Awards, aired on Colors, clocked a TVR of 1.8.
"The challenge for Zee TV will be to maintain the second position. It shouldn‘t let this opportunity lapse like it did on the earlier two occasions this year," says a media analyst.
