Doordarshan breaks own record; most-watched TV channel with 1.9 bn views

DD National popularly known as Doordarshan has become the most-watched channel for two consecutive weeks. In the 13th week of the year, from March 28 to April 3, DD national had received 1.5 billion viewership figures and has created a record for the highest viewership figures in the channel's long history. In Week 14, DD National has broken its own record achieving viewership figures of 1.9 billion, according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data.

Prasar Bharti, the government broadcaster and owner of DD National, celebrated the achievement of DD National in a tweet. The government broadcaster wrote, "DD National continues to be No. 1 for two consecutive weeks in a row."

DD National continues to be No. 1 for two consecutive weeks in a row#IndiaFightsCorona#IndiaFightsBack pic.twitter.com/HPT8MhdAsz

- Prasar Bharati (@prasarbharati) April 16, 2020

Ever since DD National started re-broadcasting classic shows such as Ramayan and Mahabharat as part of its lockdown broadcasting schedule,  the channel's TRP has gone through the roof. The inaugural episode of Ramayan had an audience of 34 million which is equivalent to a rating of 3.4 per cent. The re-telecast of the same episode in the evening garnered a viewership of 45 million Indians. The rating in the evening broadcast had increased to 5.2 per cent. These were the highest figures achieved by any Hindi GEC program

 since 2015 according to BARC.

In the 14th week of the year, from April 4 to April 10, the channel recorded 1.9 billion weekly impressions and was far ahead of Dangal which had the second-highest viewership figures. Dangal had managed 1.03 billion impressions in the same time period. In terms of shows, Ramayan continued to be rating juggernaut amassing 61 million impressions for the Week 14 of 2020.  The second position was also held by a DD National show. Mahabharat had 16 million impressions.

DD National topped in both Hindi GEC Rural and Urban. The channel garnered 810 million weekly impressions in rural areas. In Urban areas, it fared a bit better with 1.09 billion weekly impressions.

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