DOORDARSHAN BREAKS ITS OWN VIEWERSHIP RECORD WITH RAMAYAN AND MAHABHARAT RATINGS

Jyothi Venkatesh

It has been three weeks since Ramayan and Mahabharat re-telecast began on television. Acc ording to India Today portal, Prasar Bharati decided to bring back the old shows to engage the viewers in the lockdown and it has worked wonders for Doordarshan. The channel has been enjoying bumper ratings ever since. According to the data shared by BARC India, the overall viewership of DD National across all the GECs for the Week 14 was 1.9 billion impressions while DD Bharati garnered 51 million impressions.

DD National has been the number one watch GEC in India for two weeks in a row and has surpassed its own earlier viewership record of last week of 1.5 billion impressions. Shashi Shekhar, CEO of Prasar Bharati, shared the statistics and thanked the viewers. He wrote, "Record viewership for Ramayan continues. Thanks to all DD national viewers across India." part from mythological shows like Ramayan and Mahabharat, Doordarshan has also brought back thriller, drama and comedy shows like Byomkesh Bakshi, Buniyaad and Dekh Bhai Dekh.

The viewership would have exceeded even this record if only Dordarshan National authorities did not succumb to bureaucratic pressure and  instead of telecasting fresh episodes, decided to repeat the same old morning episodes of Ramayan on two occasions and decidedly put off the viewers.Will some one pull up the Doordarshan bigwigs/ babus who decided to repeat the one and a half hour episodes of Ramayan not just once but twice?