Media – BARC rating: No encouraging signs for Zee and Sun

BARC has released its viewership data for week-34 of CY21 (22nd Aug to 28th Aug). Zee Entertainment and Sun TV have promised to increase their investment in programming to drive higher viewership in Hindi and Tamil GECs, but we have not seen any encouraging signs for either of them. Zee TV Hindi primetime viewership pie has not materially improved despite launch of two new shows; rather there has been incremental hurt from launch of KBC-13. Zee performance in Tamil and Marathi GECs is disappointing though it has fared well in Bangla and Kannada. Sun TV, as anticipated, lost viewership share in Tamil GEC primetime with fresh content from peers being aired post unlocking, while Sun TV failed to capitalise any from its gains.

• Hindi primetime GEC – Zee TV viewership marginally up. Zee TV’s primetime viewership share in Q2FY22-TD was 14.5% (vs 14.2% in Q1FY22 and 16.4% in Q2FY21), and was incrementally impacted from launch of KBC-13 from 12th Aug. Its top two shows Kumkum Bhagya and Kundali Bhagya have shown marginal recovery while trends for all other shows are unimpressive, barring a new show Bhagya Laxmi at 20.30hrs. Zee TV viewership share was at 15.1% in week-34. All shows of Star Plus starting from 20.30 to 23.00hrs are now enjoy strong viewership share, but are down post KBC. Sony TV viewership share is 7.8% for Q2FY22-TD, but was 11.8% in week-34. Notably, Zee TV has launched two new shows in Aug’21; Bhagya Laxmi seems to be doing good.
• Tamil primetime GEC – Sun TV’s viewership pie shrunk in Q2FY22-TD. Sun TV viewership share was at 38.2% in Q2FY22-TD (vs 40.8% in Q1FY22), and in week-34 it stood at 39.6%. Though Sun TV viewership share was expected to dip post unlocking as peers started airing fresh content, we anticipated part of share to be retained by Sun TV, but it looks unlikely. Star Vijay’s viewership share bounced back to 38.1%, close to that of Sun TV. Zee TV share remained low at 17.9% vs >20% earlier.
• Telugu and Kannada all-day GEC: Zee viewership improves in Kannada. 1) Zee Telugu viewership share in Telugu all-day GEC fell to 27.9% in Q2FY22-TD (down 60bps QoQ). Gemini TV (Sun TV) also saw this parameter rise to 15.2% (up 20bps QoQ). Star Maa gained 140bps share to 37%. 2) Zee Kannada viewership share in Kannada all-day GEC rose to 36.1% (up 370bps QoQ) in Q2FY22-TD. And, in week-34 it improved to 38.3%, which is comforting. Star Suvarna’s viewership share was down 150bps QoQ to 21.7% in Q2FY22-TD. Udaya TV (Sun TV) saw a 220bps decline under the same head to 13.7%.
• Zee struggles in Marathi GEC, gains in Bangla. 1) Zee Marathi’s viewership share in Marathi all-day GEC continued to contract – and was at 27.4% for Q2FY22-TD (down 370bps QoQ) and 26.5% in week-34, both disappointing. Star Pravah continues to gain viewership at 43% for Q2FY22-TD (up 90bps QoQ), and was at 41.5% in week-34; it is widening its leadership gap with Zee Marathi. Colors Marathi gained viewership share by 240bps QoQ to 16.9%; 2) Zee Bangla viewership pie in Bangla all-day GEC grew 150bps QoQ to 45.2% in Q2FY22-TD, and 45.5% in week-34. The corresponding figure for Star Jalsha was 41.8%, down 160bps QoQ. Zee Bangla maintained its leadership position. BCS Bureau