Two months after launching 26 new programmes to perk up its flagship channel, Zee continues to trail in the third position, behind Star TV and Sony.
As per the TAM ratings for the week ended October 27, 2001, Zee has lost the maximum audience this week with its channel share dropping from 6.35 per cent to 5.19 per cent. Zee officials were unavailable for comment on the latest TAM ratings.
The target group covered by TAM is across all cable and satellite homes, covering only females between 15-44 years in ABC markets' Hindi speaking belt.
A look at the channels' audience share for the week Oct 21-Oct 27 shows that the mainstream entertainment channels have managed to hold on to their audience despite stiff resistance from the news channels over the past few weeks. Sony Entertainment Television was the only gainer in the week while Star Plus and Zee saw a marginal loss.
Zee's 'Kohi Apna Sa', one among the 26 programmes recently launched, which occupied 10 spots in the top 20 programmes last week, is now down to six spots. Zee's 'India's Most Wanted' surprisingly made a comeback this week to number 14 and had a TVR rating of 1.57.
The other Zee programmes such as 'Mehendi Tere Naam Ki' slipped from 6.31 to 5.07 during this week. 'Kohi Apna Sa' dipped from 5.80 to 4.35. Amanat, one of Zee's long-standing soaps, has dipped to 3.95 from 4.97. 'Koshish Ek Asha' dipped to 3.47 from 5.37.
According to a media analyst, "The revamp has made no major impact on Zee. The 'Lakshmi Project', which they called the new overhauling exercise two months ago, appears to have failed. Only one programme 'Kohi Apna Sa' produced by Balaji is among the top 100 programmes."
Subhabrata Majumder, media analysts at Motilal Oswal, said: "The programming initiative of Zee TV has a had a minimal effect in terms of boosting the overall channel viewership. 'Kohi Apna Sa' and one or two potentially promising programmes could show some signs of picking up in the coming months."
Star Plus saw its ratings dip a little this week for its top rated programmes 'Kyunki Saans Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' and 'Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki'. Despite the fall, these programmes still remain way ahead of competition as they together occupy 11 of the top 20 spots. The channel saw a slight dip in audience share from 19.52 per cent to 18.49 per cent as Sony, the nearest competitor, is gaining ground. Sony's channel share increased from 11.01 per cent to 11.29 per cent.
