Sun TV Vs Regional Channels Ratings

A quick update on ratings of Sun TV Vs other Regional Channels

Tamil. Sun TV’s ratings have come off by about 10% over the past 3 weeks and it is at about 4.5-5X that of Star Vijay as against 5.5-6X earlier. That said, on an average, Sun TV's ratings are ~5X that of Star’s Vijay TV under BARC as against 3X TAM. The Movie channel KTV's ratings have also improved under BARC.

Telugu. Gemini TV has been pushed to a distant #4 position under BARC from #2 under TAM. Further, the quality of ratings is weaker, both in terms of urban/rural mix and composition (movies/non-movies). Gemini TV’s viewership share in the top four Telugu GECs has come down to 19% in the past two weeks as against an average of 21.4% since mid Oct 2015.

Kannada. Udaya TV has been pushed to #2-4 position under BARC from strong #1 under TAM. Colors Kannada is a clear #1 in a 4-player Kannada general entertainment genre. Further, the quality of ratings is weak both in terms of urban/rural mix and composition (movies/non-movies). Udaya TV’s viewership share in the top four Kannada GECs has come down to 17% in the past two weeks as against an average of 20% since mid Oct 2015.

Malayalam. Surya TV's position has dropped to #4 position in the four-player Malayalam GEC market dominated by Asianet. Flowers TV, a new GEC launched in 2015 has consistently surpassed Surya TV to settle at #3 spot. Surya TV’s share is down to single digits in the top four Malayalam GECs.

Sun TV Network & OTT Play

Sun owns perpetual rights for Television, digital and others platforms (in-flight entertainment) for most of its content. It has signed content deals with a few OTT players which include YuppTV and HOOQ among others. The management indicated that it usually enters into a minimum guarantee fixed fee contract
for six to12 months following which it moves to per subscriber basis. The management indicated that talks are underway for content contracts with Reliance Jio


Sun management indicated that negotiations with media agencies and advertisers are underway and ad revenue gains pertaining to improved viewership share under BARC will start from 1QFY17. We believe a part of the upside from potential increase in yields in Tamil Nadu will be offset by weak ratings in other markets.

Sun management indicated that it has signed content contracts with a few MSOs in phase III markets of Karnataka and Kerala. The benefits will start from March 2016 quarter even though modest. That said, the pace of digitization in phase III is slow, given temporary court stays in most states.