Media matters and how. Lintas Media Services has churned out a comprehensive media guide, which is an analysis of media spends and buys in the year gone by. Released by Intellect, a part of the Lintas Media Group, it studies all genres; television, print, radio, internet, cinema, outdoor and gives a break up of the media environment and general media industry trends of last year.

In the second of the series, we take a look at the channels that dominated 2005 in the Hindi speaking markets as well as in the East, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

While Star Plus continued to reign supreme in the Hindi speaking market, Hindi movie channels like Max and Zee Cinema have managed to strengthen the position of the genre in 2005.

In the Hindi speaking markets, Star Plus continued to enjoy its leadership position throughout 2005. Its channel share, however decreased by one per cent last year to 19 per cent as compared to 2004's 20 per cent in the C&S 4+ SEC ABC Hindi speaking markets between week 40 - 44. Sony and Zee's channel shares, on the other hand, too dipped by a per cent last year to settle at six per cent and four per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, movie channels like Max and Zee Cinema gained momentum and overall managed to their strengthen the position of the genre in 2005. While Zee Cinema, which didn't figure in the 2004 charts, managed to rear its head with a channel share of five per cent; Max retained its channel share of five per cent in 2005. Thus, strengthening the movie genre in the overall pie.

Cable channels in the Hindi speaking markets too shed their numbers from 13 per cent in 2004 to 11 per cent in 2005. The channel share of DD1 dipped in 2005 from that of four per cent in 2004.

Also, the basket of "other" channels increased from 46 per cent in 2004 to 50 per cent in 2005 in the Hindi speaking markets.

In East India, as cable penetration increased, DD7 as a viewing choice of people reduced. Regional channels too suffered as ETV Bangla and Aakaash Bangla each lost two per cent market share last year as compared to a market share of 17 per cent and six per cent in 2004. Zee Bangla too lost one per cent in 2005 with a channel share of four per cent.

Star Plus, on the other hand, gained one per cent and stood with 12 per cent channel share. Sony managed to hold on to its share of five per cent, whereas Zee TV and Zee Cinema both managed a four per cent channel share in 2005.

In Tamil Nadu, Kalanithi Maran's empire continues to reign supreme. While the flagship channel - Sun TV - continues to rule with a channel share of 49 per cent, its sibling KTV has emerged as a frequency builder with a channel share of 12 per cent in 2005. Two other Sun channels Sun Music and Sun News also made their presence felt with channel shares of six per cent and two per cent respectively.

On the other hand, while specific time bands of Vijay TV and Jaya TV are doing well, both channels had a share of five per cent each in 2005. Jaya TV's share went down by one per cent in 2005, while that of Vijay TV's remained status quo. The share of "Other" channels dropped in Tamil Nadu from 17 per cent in 2004 to 14 per cent in 2005.

In Kerala, Surya TV and Asianet have been loosing their share to other channels. While Surya TV's share fell from 27 per cent in 2004 to 22 per cent in 2005, that of Asianet fell from 25 per cent to 23 per cent. "Other" channels have gained share from 24 per cent in 2004 to 31 per cent in 2005.

On the other hand, in Karnataka, while Udaya leads in terms of channel share, Ushe TV has been emerging as a frequency builder. Udaya's shares increased from 17 per cent in 2004 to 21 per cent in 2005. ETV Kannada, on the other hand, managed to retain its share of 12 per cent through 2004 and 2005, while Sun TV's shares in Karnataka dropped from seven per cent to nine per cent.

Stay tuned for the next in the series...