Twelve general entertainment channels (GECs) in Hindi account for one third of TV viewership, leaving 300-plus others to fight it out for the remaining two thirds of the Hindi-speaking market. Of the total TV ad revenues of Rs 8,000 crore, these 12 account for a whopping Rs 2,900 crore. Ad and subscriber revenues are expected to more than double to $1,825 million by 2011. It is no wonder then that the GEC category is very closely watched and the players leave no stone unturned in their quest for rankings.

Amongst the current lot of GECs, the market leader (early August) is STAR Plus (channel share of 27 per cent) followed by ZEE TV (channel share of 18 per cent) and Sony (channel share of 8 per cent). Looking to challenge these incumbents - and specifically unseat Sony - are three new kids on the block - 9X, NDTV Imagine and Colors. And they are taking a pretty good stab at it. Consider the channel shares of the Big Three before they came along (9X was the first to launch in November 2007, NDTV Imagine came in January 2008 and Colors was launched just last month). Pre-November 2007, STAR had a channel share of 33, ZEE had 27, while Sony followed with 9. DD1, which is now at 3 per cent, was 14 per cent in October 2007. ... more