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A quiet shift is underway in the Hindi General Entertainment Channel (GEC) landscape, with Free-to-Air (FTA) channels steadily climbing the viewership charts — a trend underscored by the BARC ratings for Week 17.
With a dip in fresh, high-impact content drawing audiences on mainline pay channels, viewers are increasingly turning to easily accessible FTA options, say industry experts.
Reflecting this shift has been STAR Utsav edging past Star Plus to reclaim the top spot in week 17, registering a rating of 117.7, up from 113.21 the previous week. Star Plus, in contrast, saw a drop to 112.68 from 118.55, but took the second spot.
According to industry experts, the momentum is clearly with FTA platforms, especially DD FreeDish, which continues to widen its reach in both urban and rural markets.
As per the ratings accessed by e4m for Week 17 for the Hindi Speaking Market (Urban + Rural, NCCS 2+), Sony SAB continued to consolidate its viewership, climbing modestly from 108.76 to 110.08, holding third place. Dangal, another major FTA player, retained its top 5 status with a rating of 87.15. Colors, a staple among pay GECs, continued its downward slide to 77.82 from 82.27.
“This marks a turning point where pay channels, despite having higher production values, are struggling to retain dominance in the absence of fresh, high-impact content,” said a broadcast expert.
Another expert said that, “FTA service DD FreeDish is gaining numbers and with no new popular content, which may be termed as must see on main line pay channels, FTA channels viewership numbers will continue to grow.”
He further explained that as Free-to-Air (FTA) channels continue to gain ground, advertisers — especially from the FMCG and beverage sectors — are expected to tap into this expanding rural audience, while pay channels may increasingly bundle FTA inventory with their flagship offerings to maintain advertiser interest.
“This will enable such FTA channels to offer opportunities to FMCG and cold drinks advertisers, which are normally big advertisers, to tap the reach of FTA channels to address rural markets where consumption is on the uptake. Pay channels will then bundle the inventory of such FTA channels with the mainline pay channels,” the expert said.
Sharing a similar view, Rohin Desai, Chief Client Officer - Media Buying, Madison Media, said, “The FMCG sector will look to increase their presence on the FTA channels by consolidating their monies with large networks. The smaller FTA players will have to work harder to ensure that investments are happening on their channels.”
However, he had a different take on the pay TV channels.
According to him most of the pay channels are investing in fresh content and high impact programming and “the surge in FTA viewership is primarily happening on account of DD Free Dish and the return of the 4 FTA GECs on the platform.”
Notably, Sony Pal, another FTA channel, jumped from 65.09 to 69.16, overtaking Zee TV, which rose only marginally from 65.61 to 66.38. Colors Rishtey slipped slightly from 48.11 to 47.21, while Zee Anmol remained steady at 37.04, down just a notch from 37.28. Chumbak TV decreased to 35.11 from 36.36, and Sony Entertainment Television saw a dip from 35.34 to 34.2.
Other FTA outlets saw slight dips. Manoranjan TV slid from 31.42 to 30.29, while Shemaroo TV dropped from 26.49 to 25.32. Dangal 2 fell from 26.57 to 22.03, whereas Manoranjan Grand managed a slight uptick, increasing from 20.3 to 21.57.
Unique TV declined from 23.52 to 21.22, and The Q dropped to 19.99 from 22.22.
Interestingly, Sun Neo rose to 18.58 from 17.65, while STAR Bharat climbed from 15.19 to 15.51. Shemaroo Umang, however, dropped from 17.88 to 15.51, bringing it level with STAR Bharat.
In the HD space, which continues to represent a niche viewership segment, STAR Plus HD dropped slightly from 8.35 to 8.02, Colors HD from 7.8 to 7.69, and Zee TV HD inched up from 7.45 to 7.53.
In the lower tier, Big Magic declined to 10.77 from 11.92, and &TV fell from 9.01 to 8.26. Nazara registered a mild drop from 8.85 to 8.05.
DD National slipped marginally from 4.36 to 4.27, and Sony Entertainment Television HD grew from 2.87 to 3.03, showing slight momentum.
Sony SAB HD also improved to 2.12 from 1.99.
Other marginal drops include Ishara TV which saw a slight change from 1.64 to 1.39, Star Bharat HD held steady at 0.75, and &TV HD fell from 0.5 to 0.42. Sun Neo HD declined from 0.38 to 0.35, Epic TV dipped to 0.28 from 0.31, and &flix HD remained static at 0.02.
The cumulative data indicates a crucial turning point in the GEC space: with no tentpole content currently driving tune-ins on pay platforms and viewers gravitating back to the easily accessible and cost-free FTA channels.
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