Star Plus maintains top position in rural-inclusive BARC data

BARC India has released its much awaited rural-inclusive all India data; A first in the country, this data starts with week 41 (October 10-16, 2015).

According to BARC ratings week 41 HSM : NCCS All : Individuals : BARC India base - All India (U+R), Star Plus maintains its no.1 position among Hindi GECs. Its ratings came in at 804 million in week 41. In week 40, without rural data inclusion, its ratings were at 403 million.

Colors is at second spot with ratings at 708 million versus 396 million in week 40. Zee Anmol, Zee's Free-to-Air (FTA) channel ranked third with a count of 609 million, while Zee TV followed at fourth position with ratings at 588 million.

With the release of the All India data, BARC India has expanded its reach to 153.5 million TV households, representing All India and all modes of signal. Of this 77.5 million are urban TV households and 76 million are rural TV households. The company will now be reporting megacities, 10-75 lakh towns, less than 10 lakh urban areas and rural.

The BARC India survey also shows that lesser time is spent on TV in rural areas. Two in five rural audiences fall in the NCCS AB category, rural India gives younger audiences in the age group of 15-40 years. Last but not the least, with rural India's 'Early to bed and early to rise' philosophy, the conventional definition of prime time for channels could see some change.

Highlights of BARC India Week 41 (October 10-16) ratings:

• Star Plus maintains its leadership with 804214 Rat (000s) followed by Colors at 708747 Rat (000s)

• Zee Anmol jumps to number 3 with 609189 Rat (000s)

• DD National registered an Average Time Spent (ATS) of 53 Min 39 Sec highest among Hindi GECs

• Rishtey is amongst top 10 Hindi GECs with 270072 Rat (000s)

• In the news genre, Times Now maintains its leadership with 560 Rat (000s) followed by CNN IBN at 233 Rat (000s)

• Sports sees major spike in ratings. Star Sports 1 holds number 1 position with 162592 Rat (000s) on the back of Paytm ODI Trophy 2015- India vs South Africa

• Star Gold becomes No 1 Hindi Movie channel with 486374 Rat (000s) with the premiere of 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan'

• Aaj Tak is number one in Hindi News genre with 72067 Rat (000s)

•Sun TV with 1092231 Rat (000s) topped the Tamil GEC genre. It also becomes the No 1 channel on All India basis ahead of Star Plus and Colors

•ETV Telugu maintains No 1 position in Telugu GEC market with 424252 Rat (000s)

• Colors Kannada maintains its ranking order in the Kannada GEC space with 211268 Rat (000s).

• Zee Marathi with 116598 Rat (000s) leads the Marathi GEC genre

• In the Malayalam GEC genre, Asianet topped the chart with 413385 Rat (000s)

• Star Jalsha tops Bengali GEC space with 241463 Rat (000s)

• Discovery Channel stays ahead of competition with 6433 Rat (000s)

• Kids genre sees spike in ratings, Nick is the number one kids channel with 97227 Rat (000s).

• MTV is the No 1 Youth channel with 14219 Rat (000s)

• ET Now tops the English Business news genre with 484 Rat (000s)

• Movies Now maintains its leadership in English Movies genre with 3200 Rat (000s) followed by Sony Pix at 1893 Rat (000s)

• Zee Café maintains its leadership in English Entertainment genre with 103 Rat (000s)

BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta said, "I am delighted to present to the broadcast and advertising industry the All India Ratings. We have been able to give to the country a view of 'What India Watches', as promised."

As for the latest TAM data, given below are the top Hindi GECs for Week 42 October 11 to October 17, 2015 HSM without LC1, C&S 4+

As per TAM data, Colors is the top channel with 250 GRPs, while Star Plus was at second position raking in 239 GRPs. Zee TV is at third spot (150 GRPs) and SAB TV came in fourth with 118 GRPs. Life OK came in fifth this time with 114 GRPs, while at sixth spot is Sony Entertainment with 104 GRPs.

&TV comes in seventh at 54 GRPs, and climbing up into the top ten, at the eighth slot, is DD National at 47 GRPS. Zee Anmol and Rishtey are at ninth and tenth positions, with 28 and 23 GRPs respectively.