Chennai: Lockdown turned out to be testing ground for Brand loyalty among Broadcasters with no fresh content in hand making them fully dependent on movies and repeats. The scenario seems to have worked in favor of the broadcast giant Sun TV Network, as many of its GEC brands surged to new high with Surya TV revisiting the numero uno position in Malayalam market after many years and Udaya TV reaching No. 2 position in Kannada market.
To top it all, Tamil GEC Sun TV has championed many new records during this Lockdown period. The channel notched all-time high of 1857 GRPs in TN / Pondy market during week 15. In the Chennai market, it has garnered a record-breaking viewership of 2397 GRPs, which is its highest ever viewership numbers by any broadcaster so far in the history.
Moreover, It has recorded weekly reach of 89% which translates into 96% of TV viewing universe watching Sun TV during the week.
A closer look into pre and post Covid19 Lockdown reveals that Sun TV’s GRPs has jumped from the average of 1100 GRPs (week 7 to 10 pre-Covid)to 1828 GRPs in week 15. Star Vijay sustained with a marginal drop from 557 GRPs in pre Covid week to 549 GRPs in week 15. Zee Tamil took a beating as the numbers dropped from the average of 526 GRPs (week 7 to 10) to 292 GRPs in week 15. Colors Tamil witnessed marginal growth from 70 GRPs in pre Covid period to 75 GRPs in week 15.
The dominance of Sun TV went beyond Tamil Nadu market and as the channel has emerged as a leader in Bengaluru City with 717 GRPs, staying ahead of all Kannada channels in the market. This trend was prevalent a couple of years before and Sun TV has revisited the trend of record numbers during Covid19 Lockdown.
At All India level Sun TV scored 1.55 billion impressions during week 15 which is the highest by any regional channels since the inception of BARC.
Sun TV holds 2/3 rd of the market which is 66.5% among top 4 GECs in TN market.
Market sources expect the numbers to sustain and grow further with the extension of Lockdown.
