Sun gains, neutral for Zee - New ratings data

The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has released its maiden all-India viewership ratings for Indian broadcasters, which includes data from rural India. Earlier, the ratings data was based only on urban TV households. According to the new data release, Zee Entertainment has significantly improved its position in the Hindi GEC space but it ceded viewership share to competitors in the regional markets.

Sun TV further consolidated its hold on Tamil Nadu, the largest southern market for television advertising, and it moved up in ranking in the Kannada market. Sun TV retained its competitive positions in Telugu and Malayalam. Note that this is a big overhaul of the rating system and for the first time rural markets have been
given ~50% weightage. Industry would wait for a few more readings before these data are taken as firm trends. Similarly, advertisers would take time to understand viewership patterns in their target markets before modifying media plans based on the new data. Prima facie, these data are positive for Sun TV and neutral for Zee Entertainment.

For the first time in India, rural data on such a wide scale with 50% weightage in viewership rating survey have been included. Earlier, urban households had disproportionate influence on ratings. In this maiden rating, pecking orders of several genres have seen material changes. We would like to wait for a few more readings before taking the new pecking order as sustainable. Note that, the trend revealed in BARC’s first release for urban viewership did not change materially later.