Fig 1: Minute-by-Minute viewing trends
A storm has been raging unabated for the past month in the television industry in the form of a chain of events that took the viewers by surprise; be it the repeat telecasts of their favorite shows or the horrifying terror attacks. The swirling dust is just settling and now is a good time to retrospect on the impact of these events on the pattern of television viewing. Towards this purpose average time spent watching TV was analyzed, considering viewers 4 years and above in Cable & Satellite homes, in NWE market.
GEC
On any given day in October (a month where no exceptional activity was noticed) average time spent fluctuates by approximately 7%, either upwards or downwards. As usual, GECs as a genre dominates the other genres and dips slightly on weekends when movies gain popularity.
However this trend was significantly affected by the airing of repeat telecasts on Hindi GECs due to the standoff between the FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees) and producer bodies. Time Spend on TV dropped by 17% due to lack of fresh content on GECs. Understandably, the genre that benefited during this slump was movies that picked up by as much as 28%.
Fig 2: Drop in ratings during strike. Even re-runs of top program like Bidaai could retain only 20% of its usual audience.
News
The days of the terror attacks on Mumbai witnessed an unprecedented 24x7 coverage by news channels – when the average time spent on GECs plummeted by 78%. For the first time news channels outperformed all genres including GECs. This also resulted in the highest increment of 12% in total time spent on TV during the period of the attacks. The next increment of 21% coincided with the announcement of the outcome of the State Assembly elections |
Fig 3: Terror Attacks, reflecting concern
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GEC's back
Expectedly GECs were back with a bang from 1st December onwards when the strike came to an end and new episodes started being aired. To help them recover lost ground, a spate of new shows have been launched – Aap Ki Kachehri Kiran Ke Saath on Star Plus, Uttaran, Jaane Kya Baat Hui, Dancing Queen and Chhote Miyan on Colors, Chhoti Bahu on Zee TV, Oye! It's Friday on NDTV Imagine and Salaam- E – Ishq on Star One. |
Music, unaffected
During all this upheaval, the music genre remained oblivious and continued to register the same figures during and after the aforementioned events. It appears as though music provides some relief and also has a loyal fan base that tunes in to watch a certain amount each day, regardless of other simultaneous occurrences.
Cricket is a religion
Similarly, sports registers distinct jumps in time spent figures on all the days India plays international cricket matches. |
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Nothing gives us more joy than to see our measurement system capturing precisely the pulse of our audience. The panel captured everything; excitement (Cricket), boredom (GEC re-runs), grief (terror attacks) and apprehension (Election).
