| MUMBAI:
The competition is getting stronger in the Hindi GEC space courtesy Zee TV. Star
Plus, which has held sway in the Hindi GEC space for the last six years, is starting
to feel the heat.
Zee has been making steady progress this year and the latest
Tam data (All India C&S 4+, 13-19 May 2007) tells a story.
In
terms of GRPs Star Plus has a GRP of 322. It is only 90 points away from Zee TV
which has 232 points.
In
fact, Star Plus the previous week had 343 GRPs. This means a loss of 21 GRPs in
the past week. However, it should also be pointed out that its sibling Star One
picked up some of the slack with its GRPs increasing from 70-83.
Zee's
GRPs, meanwhile, increased by two points from 230 to 232. As for the other channels,
Sony's GRPs have stayed flat over the last two weeks of ratings at 116. Sahara
One has 84 GRPs. Sab's GRPs have however, increased from 45 to 52.
What
would also be a big concern for Star is the fact that Zee's
flagship soap Saath Phere has displaced Star's Kasautii
as the number three prime time daily weepie in the Hindi GEC
space. Three of its episodes were ahead with a TVR of 3.7,
3.3 and 3.2. Kasautii has a rating of 3.1 and is at
number 18 overall (According to Tam All India C&S 4+,
13-19 May 2007 data).
It
is also worth noting that Zee TV's format show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa has penetrated
the top 10, which not long ago was considered Star's exclusive domain. That show
has delivered a rating of 4.
By
contrast Sony's music based reality show Indian Idol 3
is at number 29 with a rating of 2.7. As for the rival
music talent hunt on Star Plus - Star Voice of India -
it has delivered a TVR of 2.1 and is at number 69 in the Top
100 list.
It
is well and truly game on as far as Zee TV's challenge to leader Star Plus is
concerned. | 
