Ramayan, Mahabharat Old is gold for the quarantined couch potato!
The lockdown is turning out to be all about nostalgic TV for small screen lovers in India, with iconic shows including "Ramayan", "Mahabharat" and "Office Office" returning to entertain people. These old shows are suddenly finding new audience, and the trend could just continue in the post-pandemic world as well. With the production of new content suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, channels are rummaging through their archives to fish out old popular shows across genres to revive.
Ramayan
Mythologies have emerged as the winning genre, a trend which was reflected when Ramanand Sagar`s popular TV serial "Ramayan", which came back on Doordarshan, broke all records to become the world`s most-watched show on April 16 with 7.7 crore viewers. (Photo: YouTube)
Friends and The Office
"With television networks tapping libraries and the viewers` whole hearted embrace of this content, we are likely to see periodic revival of popular shows across media even after production starts again. Audiences are thirsty for `comfort content` in India as well as in the west -- as the continued popularity of `Friends` and `The Office` also showed," Jehil Thakkar, Partner, Deloitte India, told IANS. (Photo: Reuters)
Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashma, CID and More
Right now, on air are re-runs of "Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashma", different versions of "Ramayan", "Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya", "Balika Vadhu", "Dance India Dance", "Hum Paanch", "Horror Show", "Aahat", "Yeh Un Dino Ki Baat Hai", "Super Dancer: Chapter 3", "CID" and "Superstar Singer", to name a few. (Photo: YouTube)
Surge in average time spent
"We are currently airing `Ramayan` and `Chandragupta Maurya` on Dangal TV. Both the shows have got a positive initial sentiment and we believe that it would only get stronger in the weeks to come. We have witnessed an uptake of mythological and historical shows and a surge in the average time spent," said Arpit Machhar, Head of Marketing, Enterr10 Television Network, adding: "Well-produced thrillers and family dramas, makes it an interesting package for viewers in times of the restriction." (Photo: YouTube)
MTV Splitsvilla, Love School and more
There are also re-runs of youth-based reality shows, which includes "MTV Splitsvilla" season 10 and 11, "Love School" season 3, "MTV Ace of Space" season 1, "MTV Hustle" season 1 and "Girls on Top". In the English cluster, there are re-runs of "Koffee with Karan", "How I Met Your Mother", "The Walking Dead" on Star World and "Seinfeld" on Zee Cafe. (Photo: YouTube)
Splitsvilla, Ace Of Space
"On television, we have brought back previously aired seasons of `Splitsvilla`, `Ace Of Space` and `Love School` which have contributed to 35% of viewership while on digital we`ve stayed connected with our young audiences through a host of fresh properties such as `MTV Adda`, `MTV Lockdown Stars` and `MTV Hustle From Home`," said Ferzad Palia, Head, Voot Select, Youth, Music and English Entertainment, Viacom18.(Photo: YouTube)
MTV
"This approach of keeping ourselves agile has led to MTV`s continued category leadership with 65% growth in viewership. We are now one of the only channels in India, to showcase fresh, original content every weekend on TV through our `from home` programming, coupled with some of our most loved iconic shows to cater to the varying interests of our young audience," Palia added.(Photo: Reuters)