MAM
Mixed debut for Hrithik’s Just Dance
MUMBAI: Hrithik Roshan shines on Indian television but not as much as the other Bollywood stars have done. And while his debut performance on flagship Hindi general entertainment channel Star Plus has been commendable, audiences on Star One and Marathi regional GEC Star Pravah have just not hooked on to the dance reality show.
Just Dance‘s debut episode on Star Plus earned a TVR of 3.7 while the Hrithik-powered show clocked 0.5 TVR each on Star One and Star Pravah (simulcast).
Collectively, the show has mopped up a TVR of 4.7, according to TAM data for Hindi speaking markets (C&S, 4+).
The debut episodes of other reality shows, with popular actors as hosts or judges, have rated higher on the Hindi GECs. Amitabh Bachchan’s return as anchor of game show KBC 4 on Sony Entertainment Television clocked a 6.2 TVR on debut, while Abhishek Bachcan’s entry on Bingo National Nights (Colors) got a TVR of 5.1. Khataron Ke Khiladi 4 with Akshay Kumar got 3 TVR (ratings was much higher in the earlier editions with Kumar as host), while the third season with Priyanka Chopra got a 5.5 TVR on the opening day.
“Hrithik has opened weaker on TV but this may not be a fair comparison. In the other reality shows, the Bollywood stars were right at the centre as hosts. Hrithik is part of the jury in this show. Besides, this is a weekend show. When Khataron Ke Khiladi 4 moved to the weekends with Kumar, the ratings were lower,” said a media analyst.
Star India COO Sanjay Gupta believes the strategy of simulcasting the show on three network channels has worked well. “Just Dance has demonstrated its combined impact in the 4.7 TVR that it has collected. It is the highest show opening for any non-fiction property in 2011. For instance, on Star Pravah the slot rating doubled versus the normal average, demonstrating the power of the content to transcend language and geography,” he said.
Several media observers, however, feel that Just Dance has to do much more on Star One and Star Pravah to make it a network success show. “Star One, for instance, has gone up by a single GRP to end the week at 38 GRPs. There has to be a stronger pull for the show on Star One and Star Pravah to term it as a success,” a media analyst said.
As for Star Plus, the show added 20 GRPs (gross rating points) to the channel’s kitty. For the week ended 18 June, Star Plus took its total GRPs to 284, up from 247 GRPs in the trailing week.
“We created high sampling of the show with a record 25.9 million viewers in the opening episode supported by a high decibel marketing campaign across multiple touch points and an augmented reality experience event. As the show progresses, we are sure it will attract a lot more interest and involvement, thereby making it the ultimate dance reality show on Indian television,” Gupta said.
The show on Star Plus has attracted 21.6 million viewers. The remaining 4.3 million viewers have come on Star One and Star Pravah.
“The show was aired just once in the week ended 18 June. We will have to give it more time to see where it settles,” said a media observer.
A peep into the other GECs: Zee TV, ranked No. 3, added 20 GRPs to its last week’s tally and came threateningly closer to Colors. Zee TV closed the week with 228 GRPs while Colors lost 9 GRPS to end with 230 GRPs.
For Zee TV, Pavitra Rishta did the trick once again. It stayed as the top-rated show with 6.2 TVR, according to TAM data.
Sony Entertainment Television remained stable with 161 GRPs (last week 163) while Sab reported 138 GRPs, a loss of 10 GRPs from the previous week. Imagine TV remained at No.6 with 89 GRPs (from 90 GRPs).
Sahara One fell by four points to end the week with 28 GRPs.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
