Ramayan Becomes Highest Watched Show In Hindi General Entertainment Space; Garners 170 Million Viewers

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan that returned to national TV amid lockdown not just got  joyous welcome from netizens setting no. 1 trend on Twitter, it has broken all records for Hindi General Entertainment Channel (GEC). 

The Doorshan show re-run that returned on March 28 has garnered high TRP in the first week itself. According to an official statement released by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Thursday,  its ratings are the highest ever since the Broadcasting Audience Research Council (BARC) started measuring the viewership of television shows in 2005. According to BARC, Ramayan garnered 170 million viewers in four shows over the last week.

While News had the highests growth in viewership 298%, Teleshopping and Devotional shows also witned growth. Social Networking saw a growth 89%. 

@BarcIndia and @NielsenIndia released the 2nd edition of the report on crisis consumption with their insights into TV, smartphone and audience behaviour during the lockdown. Here are a few glimpses of the report that show the spike in viewership. (2/2) pic.twitter.com/sB2ecxoqTZ

— BARCIndia (@BARCIndia) April 3, 2020

The inaugural show of the series on Saturday morning had 34 million viewers glued to their TV sets watching and enjoyed a rating of 3.4 per cent, while a telecast the same evening had 45 million viewers and a rating of 5.2 per cent. The show bettered its performance on Sunday, with 40 million and 51 million people watching it in the morning and evening telecasts, respectively.

Ramayan's comeback made netizens ask for other popular 80-90s shows during the 21-day nationwide lockdown. Soon the channel announced that other shows like Mahabharat to Shah Rukh khan's Circus and Byomkesh Bakshi will also be broadcasted again to take its audience down the memory lane. Other serials that made a comeback include Shaktimaan, Shriman Shrimati, Chanakya, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Buniyaad, Alif Laila and Upanishad Ganga.

#Ramayan and #Mahabharat became the top trend on Twitter as users took to social media to post pictures of their TV and family uniting to watch the show while practicing social distancing. Some even shared tills from the show with fond childhood memories and how till date it is etched in their hearts.

Tv audience can watch Ramayan on weekends one episode in morning 9 am to 10 am, another in the evening 9 pm to 10 pm. The initiative by the I&B Ministry was taken after the social media witnessed a deluge of posts by users demanding the rerun of the mythology-based shows such as Ramayana and Mahabharata during the coronavirus lockdown.

Celebrities from Kajol Aggarwal to Arun Govil ho played the part of Ram, watching Ramayan on television with his grandchildren had gone viral on social media. Talking about why the current generation should watch the mythological drama once Arun Govil recently told IANS: "The new generation will get a chance to watch it. They will get to understand the morals, teachings and values of Ramayan. If they will watch it with the family, they can interact also. If they have queries then their family members of the older generation can explain things. It is a family show. How relationships should be...has been shown in the show. Positivity is there. Right now there is a lockdown, you can't go anywhere. So watching it will be a good way to use the time."

(With PTI Inputs)