Retro mode: classics triumph over, again!

As Doordarshan bags top slot among the most-watched channels, we find out what’s attracting audiences to old, iconic shows

Back in the ’80s and ’90s, Doordarshan’s viewership would regularly go through the roof. And then, private GECs (general entertainment channels) took over. But now, history is repeating itself as DD — as per the data by Broadcast Audience Research Council-Nielsen — has emerged as the most-watched channel across genres, in the week of March 28 to April 3. In the week before that (March 21-27), DD National didn’t even feature in the top 10 most-viewed channels in Hindi GECs category.

Still from the Ramayan TV show

During the ongoing national lockdown, DD has brought back many of its iconic shows such as Ramayan, Mahabharat and Shaktimaan. And the idea has worked. As per the data, DD National’s viewership went up to 580 million impressions in the 9am-10.30am slot [in the week of March 28 to April 3], compared to one million impressions in the previous week. Likewise, in the 9pm-10.30pm slot, the corresponding numbers stood at 835 million impressions, which was two million in the previous week.

Still from Dekh Bhai Dekh

TV industry insiders and experts feel DD shows “will always have a strong emotional connect and recall value.” “They will always remain classics. Also, these days, when people’s mood is gloomy, these shows bring positivity, and also make for a great family watch. Plus, they also stand out for their innate simplicity,” says TV director-producer Rajan Shahi. For trade analyst Taran Adarsh, it goes on to “prove the power of quality content”. “That’s why even if one may not have heard of the actors who worked in them, the shows still attract people,” he says.

According to TV producer Sumeet Mittal, people will “always have loads of nostalgia attached to DD shows”. “Also, there are no fresh episodes of the new shows. But it’s great that people are reconnecting to the classics,” he says.

Still from Shaktimaan

Shaktimaan actor-producer, Mukesh Khanna puts things in perspective: “It’s a great move by DD to bring back the iconic shows, which were extremely rich in content and educative, too. Today’s kids need much more ‘maarg darshan’ than the kids of that time,” he says.

The number game

Ramayan gave DD a major push as its viewership grew 454 times in the morning/evening slots combined to 545.8 million impressions.

Mahabharat took DD Bharati’s viewership up 365 times to 145.8 million impressions in the morning/ evening slots combined.

Shaktimaan contributed a 52-fold rise to reach 20.8 million impressions.

Byomkesh Bakshi went up 11 times to 4.5 million impressions. Other shows like Buniyaad, Dekh Bhai Dekh and Circus gave DD eight-fold boost.