BARB: Star jubilant over official UK ratings

Star Network UK is celebrating after officially claiming the top spot in the UK Asian TV market. The news comes after the network joined hands with BARB, last month. Up until now, the Star channels like other Asian TV channels did not have their viewership officially measured. However, since Monday 20th September, Star Plus and Star Gold’s ratings have been released in public for the first time. As the first South Asian pay channels to be BARB (Broadcasters Audience Research Board) rated, Star goes up against 300 + UK channels and this strategic well-thought decision has paid off predominantly due to the loyal viewer base. The results prove that the BARB rated Star channels have a very high appeal with the South Asian viewers across the Indian and the Pakistani communities. According to data released this week for week ending Sunday 3rd October, Star Plus lead the way with a weekly reach of 917,000, Star Gold followed next with 765,000. Other Asian TV channels that BARB reports ratings of are Sunrise TV, with a weekly reach of 493,000. Zing in fourth with 456,000. Pakistani entertainment channel, Prime TV was in fifth with 293,000 and Wedding TV Asia last with 136,000. Yeshpal Sharma, VP of Distribution & Sales, “We are extremely pleased with our performance on BARB. A lot of hard work has gone into making this project a success and it is satisfying to see how fantastic the results are. Star has always kept its viewers at the forefront especially when it comes to content and this has delivered a loyal audience base for us. The results are here for us all to see. It will be interesting for us to map the viewer preferences over time.” Star Plus has recently adopted a fresh new look, in terms of a channel re-brand, revamped content and scheduling strategy which has proved to be very successful with the viewers. The new content line-up includes innovative formats such ‘Masterchef India’ hosted by Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, the very new season of ‘Koffee with Karan’, blockbuster titles such as ‘Rajneeti’, recent hits like ‘I Hate Luv Stories’ and new drama series.