MUMBAIi: Media research and consulting firm Ormax Media has announced the launch of Opening Week Average (OWA), a scientific launch viewership forecasting model for Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs).

The model forecasts the opening week average viewership of all weekday launches across six Hindi GECs (Star Plus, Zee TV, Colors, Sony, Sab and Life OK) from two weeks before launch up till the week of launch.

Ormax informs that the OWA model takes into account a series of input parameters. These include inputs from Ormax Media‘s Hindi GEC awareness tracking tool Ormax Showbuzz, which tracks the performance of new Hindi GEC launches for more than four years now. Ormax Showbuzz covers 14 cities across India, with an annual sample size of over 42,000 Hindi GEC viewers. Other OWA model inputs include slot competition, audience profile and channel equity, on which normative data has been built by Ormax Media over the last five years.

Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor said, "The forecast will be available up to two weeks before launch, giving the broadcasters enough time to take corrective action in their creative and media strategies. The forecast model has self-learning built into it, guaranteeing progressively better results with time."