Due to the coronavirus outbreak lockdown, the shooting of all the serials as well as movies stopped. As people are locked inside their homes and as per their request, Ramayana and Mahabharat episodes are telecasted on Doordarshan again.
These shows have attracted the audience across India and keeping them entertained. Moreover, these shows have grabbed the attention of the advertisers as well. The viewership is at its peak since their repeat telecast on TV.
As per the data released by BARC on April 23, mythological shows recorded 109 billion viewing minutes as many as 353 million viewers watched shows belonging to this category. Till week 15, these shows were the main source of entertainment among Hindi GEC’s (general entertainment channels). Also, time spent on mythological shows increased by 43 percent as compared to the previous week.
Ramayan and Mahabharat saw an increase in Free Commercial Time (FCT) in week 15 and are the major contributors. Therefore, viewership is high which is enough for the advertisers to get in content belonging to this genre. Advertiser count on Ramayan and Mahabharat saw a 14x and 12x increase respectively.
According to Sunil Lulla, BARC CEO, both Ramayan and Mahabharat have managed to be add up inventory during the webinar titled ‘Deep Dive into content and advertising consumption during COVID’ because of the change in viewing habits of the viewers.
Besides, Ramayan and Mahabharat could be a major contributor that has helped GECs maintain the FCT level at 49 lakh in week 14 and week 15.
No doubt, both the shows have been a major source of entertainment during the quarantine.
