Since the outbreak of COVID-19 and implementation of precautionary lockdown period, TV Viewership has reached new heights. As people are staying at home, they are relying on the television platform for their entertainment. From the beginning of the lockdown period, general viewership of nearly every genre achieved better figures. However, recent BARC and Nielsen Study stated that TV viewership slightly decreased in Week 14 as compared to Week 13 of the COVID-19 lockdown period. The report also revealed that TV viewership increase was mainly contributed by the younger generation and age groups of 31 to 40 years. The average time spent on TV by people in Week 13 was 4 hours and 48 minutes which reduced to 4 hours and 38 minutes. Also, TV viewership at Week 14 was 1.223 trillion minutes.
News Remains the most Demanding Genre
News Genre is still among the top watched channels in week 14 of COVID-19 lockdown period. Despite the low viewership in Week 13 and 14 news channels are still in demand. Also, apart from news related to Covid-19, people have inclined more towards business news in week 14 of the lockdown period to keep themselves updated with the current economic status of the nation. The growth of News Genre was almost constant in Week 13 and Week 14.
Hindi Speaking Market Grew in Week 14
As per the reports of BARC and Nielsen, Hindi GEC’s viewership was decreased to 29% in week 14 of Covid-19 lockdown. However, Hindi Speaking Market Viewership witnessed massive 4 billion impressions which amounted to 26 % growth in Week 14. The primary reason behind the growth of Hindi GEC was the introduction of old classics such as The Ramayana, Mahabharat and many more. Similarly, South Genre GEC saw higher viewership in Week 14.
OTT Platforms Viewership Increased
Along with TV Viewership, OTT platform viewership also increased. Since OTT platform offers original series, movies and documentaries, OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Zee5 and many more saw a massive increase in viewership in Week 14 of COVID-19 lockdown period. The prime audience of OTT platforms is the younger audience as these platforms offer a dynamic variety of storytelling content.
