In the seventh edition of ‘Crisis Consumption on TV and Smartphones’, BARC India and Nielsen Media focused on the changing media habits as India enters week 6 of the lockdown.
During week 17 (25 April to 1 May 2020), total TV consumption in the country increased by 29 per cent, with the particular week recording 1.14 trillion viewing minutes.
Based on the analysis of channel genres, the kids sector continued to see a +42 per cent growth than the pre-COVID period in week 17. In the previous week (fifth week of the lockdown period), the sector witnessed a +43 per cent growth. In the genre-wise share, the kids sector remains quite stable at a +7 per cent growth in week 17 of 2020.
In week 17, Nick continues at number one among ‘Top 5 Channels’ followed by POGO, Cartoon Network, Sony YAY! and Hungama. In ‘Top 5 Programmes’ Nickelodeon’s Motu Patlu in Hong Kong: Kung Fu King 3 tops the list followed by POGO’s Bheemayan, Rudra and other stories of Motu Patlu.
Almost all of these channels have brought in fresh episodes, telemovies, exciting campaigns and contests to keep the younger audience entertained and engaged as the lockdown has now been extended to 17 May nationally.
In the HSM (Hindi Speaking Market), kids programming saw a yield of 56 in week 17, compared to 46 in the pre-COVID period. In the Southern markets, kids programming saw a yield of 46 in week 17, compared to 25 in the pre-COVID period. The SOD (Share Of Duration) and SOV (Share Of Viewership) stays the same at 1 per cent for kids programming in HSM during pre-COVID and post-COVID period. Whereas in the South, the SOD remained at 3 per cent while SOV stood at 1 per cent.
After DD National and DD Bharti started to re-telecast cult epic shows- Ramayana and Mahabharata respectively, mythological shows have witnessed a huge increase across GECs. It has in fact pushed other channels to rerun classics like Gurmeet Chaudhry and Debina Banerjee starring Ramayan, Mahima Shanidev Ki and Dwarkadheesh on Dangal TV, Mahabharat and Siya Ke Ram on Star Plus, Mahakali on Colors and many more.
These shows have continued to attract significant viewers, including kids and helped the channels increase the slot viewership. Earlier BARC revealed that almost 25 per cent kids (two to 14 years) watch these mythological shows along with their parents, grandparents, or senior members of the family.