Opinion: Why Is Audience Shying Away From Television?

Television has been blooming in business and as a medium of entertainment for many years now!! The competition between the many popular General Entertainment Channels (GECs) to deliver the best of content has been promising to watch!! To keep an account of the TVR game on television, especially concerning fiction shows is something that loyal TV viewers indulge in. They get happy when their favourite shows thrive in numbers and feel the urge to watch them more when they do not do well in ratings.

We at IWMBuzz.com had written a feature on how the IPL this season brought about a huge drop in the ratings of Hindi fiction shows on TV. If you have missed the write up, you can very well get a glimpse of it now (read here).

As per this write up, the top shows and their numbers looked like this in the first week of March 2022.

Anupamaa 3.5
Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin 3.1
Imlie 2.8
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 2.6
Yeh Hai Chahatein 2.6
Kumkum Bhagya 2.3
Udaariyaan 2.2
Kundali Bhagya 2.1
Naagin 6 2.0
Pandya Store 1.8

However, with the cricket frenzy fans getting their daily dose of IPL action, things changed dramatically. The 12 May 2022 readings looked like this.

Anupamaa 3.0 (had even touched 2.9 in April)
Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin 2.4
Imlie 2.1
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 2.2
Yeh Hai Chahatein 2.0
Kumkum Bhagya 1.6
Kundali Bhagya 1.5
Udaariyaan 1.4
Naagin 6 1.6
Pandya Store 1.4

However, with May ending, there was a renewed energy seen in every show that hit the television screens. The shows brought in big twists in the plots, shocking turnarounds, dramatic changes in the storyline and whatnot!! The IPL 2022 got to its closure, and there was this urge to get the television viewing audience back to the TV screens.

The thought process was that with IPL ending, the normal viewers of TV shows would get back to where they belong, in this case, to what they love seeing. However, there were no drastic changes seen in June and July 2022.

A lot of TV shows have bit the dust in fact, with them not picking up in numbers post the IPL phase. Colors has seen the axe falling on Choti Sarrdaarni, Nima Denzongpa, Fanaa – Ishq Mein Marjawan. Star Plus has lost its stronghold on the top 7 -8 slots in GEC.. Their top shows like Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin, Imlie, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai have failed to garner the same momentum and numbers that they enjoyed before the IPL phase. Now they have a few shows like Saath Nibhaana Saathiya, Kabhi Kabhie Ittefaq Sey, going off air. Sony TV has not been able to deliver decent numbers with respect to any of their newly launched shows like Kaamnaa, Mose Chhal Kiye Jaaye, Appnapan: Badalte Rishton Ka Bandhan. Star Bharat has been having a dismal phase with nothing working for the channel.

The number game looks something like this as per the ratings received on 21 July.

Anupamaa 3.0
Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 2.4
Yeh Hai Chahatein 2.2
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 2.1
Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin 2.1
Kundali Bhagya 2.0
Bhagya Lakshmi 2.0
Kumkum Bhagya 2.0
Imlie 1.9
Banni Chow Home Delivery 1.9
Naagin 6 1.7

It seems as though the only channel that has gained in viewership post the IPL phase happens to be Zee TV, with its three shows Kundali Bhagya, Bhagya Lakshmi and Kumkum Bhagya threatening to walk its way up the ladder.

So why is it that the loyal audience of TV has not gotten back to watching their favourite shows?

The boom of the OTT market has been on the rise for the last two and half years. The emergence of the pandemic phase has forced the viewers to keep themselves engaged by watching programs on the OTT space. So is it that the layman is not able to get out of the convenience of the OTT medium and watch TV at the selective programme timing?

Also, a fact that is to be noted here is that the idea of streaming the episodes of TV shows earlier on the OTT platform has meant that the viewers end up watching the episode even before it is shown on TV. This has brought about a huge impact on the numbers. However, the broadcasting platforms have been experimenting a lot with the airing of episodes earlier on the OTT platforms. Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin actually had its next 7 episodes available to watch on Disney+ Hotstar for many months. Thankfully, this absurd idea has seen a halt, and the ahead-streaming of episodes has been stopped now in case of Ghum Hai. However, a lot of shows have their episodes visible on the OTT platforms before the episodes go on air on TV.

Another reason for TV not garnering more attention can be because of the redundancy and the similar concepts that are shown at times. Every show starts on a very promising note but tapers down in its logic, reasoning, creative ideas and a decent story plot as time proceeds. This can also be a reason for the dip in numbers, especially for the shows that have seen a lack of creative urge in their plots.

It is also believed that the competition between the television and OTT medium has been looming large. So is the layman happier watching the OTT content as it brings in more creative satisfaction and variety? There is so much content available on the varied big platforms today, that the layman need not go anywhere out of OTT to binge-watch on anything good.

Are all these factors affecting the growth of television? Is it high time that the television industry came out with some out-of-the-box ideas to gain back the momentum?

After all, good content makes all the noise, right folks?