BENGALURU: Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors re-entered Broadcast Audience Research Council of India’s (BARC) weekly list of top 10 channels across genres - All India (U+R) 2+ in week 34 of 2018 (week under review, Saturday 18 August 2018 to Friday 24 August 2018) at tenth rank. The channel that was absent in week 33 has been present in BARC’s across genres list for 25 of the first 34 weeks of 2018. In BARC’s list of top ten Hindi GECs in the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking markets - HSM (U+R), Colors was ranked fifth, in the HSM rural or HSM (R) it was ranked tenth and in the urban HSM or HSM (U), it was ranked second in week 34 of 2018.

Six Hindi GECs, two Hindi movies channels and one channel each from the Tamil and the Telugu genres made up BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres in week 34 of 2018. From the network’s perspective, there were four channels from Star India, two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) and one channel each from the Sun TV Network and Viacom 18.

At its normal first rank in week 34 was Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV with 1017.394 million weekly impressions as compared to 1,027.548 million weekly impressions in week 33 of 2018. Sun TV also led BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry market and all the 5 programmes in BARC’s list of top 5 Tamil programmes during primetime in these markets based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week under review were aired on Sun TV.

Retaining its second rank was Zeel’s free to air or FTA Hindi GEC Zee Anmol in week 34 of 2018 with 807.267 million weekly impressions as compared to 762.485 million weekly impressions in week 33. Zee Anmol was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R). The Balaji Telefilms produced soap Kumkum Bhagya aired on Zee Anmol was ranked  second in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and was ranked first in HSM (R). Another soap from the channel, Mahek, was ranked third in HSM (R).

Climbing up three ranks was Star India’s flagship Telugu GEC Star Maa to third rank in BARC’s across genres list for week 34 of 2018 with 697.191 million weekly impressions as compared to fifth rank and 683.334 million weekly impressions in week 33. Star Maa was ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu channels in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana market. Three of the five top programmes that were aired on Star Maa were present in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week.

Also retaining its previous week’s fourth rank was Star India’s FTA Hindi GEC Star Utsav in week 34 of 2018 with 684.340 million weekly impressions as compared and 717.238 million weekly impressions in week 33. Star Utsav was ranked second in BARC’s list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) and was ranked seventh in HSM (U). The soap Rabba Ve aired on Star Utsav was ranked second in BARC’s weekly in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (R).

Continuing on with its previous weeks fifth rank was Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus with 674.437 million impressions in week 34 of 2018 as compared to 698.754 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Star Plus was ranked fourth in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and was ranked first in HSM (U). Director’s Kut Productions produced Hindi soap Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai aired on Star Plus was ranked fifth in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime  based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and was ranked second in HSM (U).

Climbing up a rank to sixth place was SPN’s Hindi Movies channel Sony Wah with 667.474 million weekly impressions in week 34 of 2018 as compared to 681.055 million weekly impressions in week 33. Sony Wah was ranked first in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi Movies channels in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) and fifth in HSM (U). Hindi feature films (HFF) that featured on Sony Wah – Karan Arjun and Aamdani Atthanni Kharcha Rupaiya were among the top 5 most watched Hindi movies programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) for the week in BARC’s list in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R). Two more HFF- Jamai Raja and Yevadu 2 on Sony Wah were also on BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi Movies programmes during primetime in HSM (R).

Dropping down four ranks to seventh place in week 34 of 2018 was another SPN Hindi Movies channel Sony Max with 664.337 million weekly impressions as compared to 718.388 million weekly impressions in week 33. Sony Max was also ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi movies channels in the HSM (U+R), first in HSM (U) and was ranked fifth in HSM (R). Kanchana 3 andTheri on Sony Max were among BARC’s list of the top 5 Hindi movies programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R). Further, Kanachana 3, Sultan and Bhairava on Sony Max were also among BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi movies programmes during primetime list in HSM (U).

Climbing up a rank to eighth place was Star India’s FTA Hindi GEC Star Bharat in week 34 of 2018 with 659.579 million weekly impressions as compared to ninth rank and 619.664 million weekly impressions in week 33. Star Bharat was ranked third in BARC’s list of top 10 Hindi channels in HSM (U+R), sixth in HSM (R) and HSM (U) in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GEC channels during the week under review.

Also climbing up a rank to ninth place in week 34 of 2018 was Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV with 628.308 million weekly impressions as compared to 619.458 million weekly impressions in week 33. Zee TV was ranked sixth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R), third in HSM (U) and seventh in HSM (R) during the week. Two programme that were aired on Zee TV- Kumkum Bhagya, and its spinoff Kundali Bhagya were in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R). Kundali Bhagya on Zee TV was also ranked fourth in HSM (U) in BARC’s lists of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week.

As mentioned above, re-entering the list in week 34 of 2018 at tenth place was Colors with 622.131 million weekly impressions. The third season of the Balaji Telefilms produced supernatural drama Naagin 3 was among BARC’s top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U). Another reality dance show – Dance Deewane was also present among the top 5 Hindi GEC programmes based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U).