Movie channels viewership booming in Coronavirus Lockdown

Channels of Movies genre are recording a continuous increase in viewership during COVID-19 time especially after the national lockdown. People staying at home are spending much more time in front of televisions than before and with general entertainment channels showing old/repeat episodes, more viewers are now watching movie channels.

The latest report from BARC-Nielsen shows that movie channels viewership has not only increased but even surpassed GEC channels in some markets. Although growth in movie channels is seen throughout the country however in the Southern regions, it has not been much significant. GEC is maintaining its lead in all 4 markets of South India.

In Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM) consumption of Hindi content has increased by 3% while that of other languages has either reduced or remained unchanged. In Hindi content, there is a 4% increase in movies and a 3% drop in GEC content, Hindi News, on the other hand, recorded the highest growth at 7%.

The decline in consumption of GEC is seen in South markets as well but it still has higher viewership than movie channels. Movies were leading over the News in Tamil and Telugu sub-genre while in Kannada and Malayalam News surpassed Movies.

Hindi Movie & News genre TRP is increasing but GEC viewership is also not on decline. In week 14, Hindi GEC has achieved an all-time high viewership since 2015 with 4 Billion impressions. Sports channels have also recorded growth in viewership. Growth in viewership of this genre is driven by WrestleMania 2020 and some classics like Indo-Pak match.