Losing viewers

Viewers in India have begun deserting Hindi entertainment channels due to the heavy repeats during primetime.

Its a week since STAR Plus, Colors, ZEE TV, Sony Entertainment Television Asia, NDTV Imagine, 9X and Sahara One went on the repeat rampage over the war between FWICE and TV producers.

TelevisionPoint has reported that entertainment channels have witnessed their market shares fall rapidly, all of which is being attributed to the dearth of fresh programming on Indian television.

New data has revealed that television rating points (TRPs) started plummeting even before the scheduled reruns from 10th November, with viewer fatigue setting in at the end of October itself. At the end of October, most viewers had already started moving away from GECs to movie, news, regional and cricket channels.

The unresolved dispute between television producers and the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has only worsened matters. GEC is the biggest category for investment by advertisers. The current impasse could destabilise future advertorial inventory with broadcaster, who are adopting a wait-and-watch policy.

Data for week ending 1st November shows the share of STAR Plus dipped to 24% from 27% in the preceding week. ZEE TV's share declined to 15% from its earlier 17% channel share. Sony TV was in the fourth spot with 8% share down from 9%, followed by NDTV Imagine and STAR One with 7% share (earlier 8%) each. Sahara One and 9X were on the same rung with 5% share each (earlier 6%) during the same period.

Colors was the only channel to see its share increase slightly from 18% to 20%.