Mythological genre records 73% growth in Week 19; Comedy genre up by 36%: BARC

We Indians love our mythologies. Throughout most of Lockdown 1.0 and the first wave of COVID-19 last year, when entire India was confined to their homes and GECs ran out of fresh content, it were the re-runs of mythological serials and other immensely popular old shows that kept the viewers engaged. Re-telecast of ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’ on DD National and DD Bharat saw some of the highest viewership numbers in television history. Other versions of ‘Ramayan’, and serials like ‘Devon Ke Dev Mahadev’, among others, also garnered huge number of eyeballs.

Amid the second wave of COVID-19 infections, where people are once again confined to their homes, Mythological serials have registered tremendous growth. As per BARC India data [All India, 2+ | Viewing Minutes | Hindi GEC | Serials Mythologicals/ Costume Dramas] Mythological serials on Hindi GECs saw a 73% growth in Week 19 (Saturday, 8th May 2021 To Friday, 14th May 2021), over Week 14 (Saturday, 10th April 2021 to Friday 16th April 2021).

As per BARC data, Mythological shows garnered 15.2 billion viewing minutes in Week 19 and have been gradually increasing since Week 14, when it was reported at 8.8 billion viewing minutes.

Along with Mythology, Comedy is also a very strong genre in India – be it sitcoms or comedy shows. Kapil Sharma has been ruling the comedy shows for long. Indian television has given several talented comedy stars such as Bharti Singh, Sunil Grover, Krishna Abhishek, Manish Paul, Sugandha Mishra, among many others.

India’s longest running show is a sitcom – ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chasmah’, aired on Sony SAB. In Week 19, the sitcom was the fifth most watched show in Hindi GECs (Pay Platforms), garnering weekly AMA of 9,377(000).

As per BARC data [All India, 2+ | Viewing Minutes | Hindi GEC | SERIALS COMEDIES], the Comedy genre registered a growth of 36% in Week 19 over Week 14. At 31.8 billion, Week 19 saw the highest viewing minutes in the last six weeks. This genre has been witnessing a gradual rise from Week 14 (23.3 billion viewing minutes) to Week 19. 

Commenting on the growth of these two genres, a BARC India spokesperson said, "We had witnessed a spike in viewership for mythological content last year during the onset of the pandemic as well. Viewers had then tuned in daily to Doordarshan to watch Ramayan and Mahabharat. Given the current environment - with partial lockdowns and limitations on movement in several parts of the country - this trend is once more clearly visible. Week 19 data indicates there is a 73% increase in viewing of Mytho content and a 35% increase in viewing of Comedy content on Hindi General Entertainment Channels, when compared to Week 14."