Since the launch and runaway success of Colors, a Viacom 18 company, (which is part of the Network 18 group that also publishes Forbes India), it has fought Star Plus and Zee in brutal battles to retain the top spot. Ironically though, ratings for all shows on every GEC have actually dropped. And in the last ten quarters, viewers in Hindi speaking markets have spent 26% more time watching Hindi GECs. Thanks to increased cable penetration, close to 40 million viewers are being added to the total viewer ship base every year. Hindi GECs still control almost a quarter of the total television-viewing base.

On the face of it, there is no need for panic. This is the newest twist in the battle for eyeballs on prime time television where a vicious war for higher ratings broke out around two years ago. Colors, Zee and Sony, archrivals all, have taken a call on who their core viewer is, what does she think like, and how she ought to be pandered to. Why? Because their research on women in their late twenties, across the large Hindi heartland, indicates she is the kind of person they'd like to emulate. On the contrary, they're at work creating a programming strategy around women like Suhana. On Star Plus, it is the fifth most watched prime time show and is some way off before it makes the list of Top 10 shows on all general entertainment channels even once.īut executives at Star aren't flinching. But twenty-two weeks since it was first given airtime, Suhana hasn't quite set the stage on fire. Viewers have variously described the show as funny and sweet. Unlike any other character in the past, Suhana is the kind of bahu (daughter-in-law) who doesn't give a damn for joint families, fancy saris, chunky jewelry and the melodrama that accompanies Indian homes. Let's begin with Star Plus which believes in Suhana, the protagonist of a prime time soap called Sasural Genda Phool. This story is about a band of such brave Grail hunters-Star Plus, Colors, Zee and Sony-general entertainment channels (GEC), each of whom believe they've figured what goes in the minds of women who watch their shows.

Star One Serials List 2010