UK TV Reach: SAB TV moves up to No.2

Sony SAB TV sprung a surprise in latest UK reach data by pushing pass other Asian entertainment channels to secure the No.2 slot, according to BARB data for week ending Sunday 22nd January.

Star Plus remained the nation’s favourite Asian channel with weekly reach of 817,000 viewers (last week 950,000 viewers), followed by Sony SAB TV with 616,000 viewers. It was movies on the channel that scored highly including ‘Insaf Ka Tarazu’ on Thursday with 22,000 viewers, followed by ‘Jab Tak Hain Jaan’ on Sunday with 21,000 viewers and ‘Crime Patrol’ the only non-film show to attract a similar 21,000 viewers.

Rishtey Cineplex was in third with 562,000 viewers (last week 603,000 viewers), followed by &TV with 548,000 viewers (last week 477,000 viewers), Colors with 523,000 viewers (last week 557,000 viewers), Rishtey with 479,000 viewers (last week 533,000 viewers), Star Gold with 454,000 viewers (last week 517,000 viewers) and Zing with 431,000 viewers (last week 495,000 viewers).

The bottom tier consisted of Life Ok with 391,000 viewers, Hum TV with 331,000 viewers, B4U Music with 297,000 viewers, Prime TV with 284,000 viewers, PTC Punjabi with 190,000 viewers, Geo TV with 176,000 viewers, Star Utsav with 172,000 viewers, Venus TV with 152,000 viewers, Brit Asia TV with 148,000 viewers, ATN Bangla with 122,000 viewers, PTV Global with 111,000 viewers, Sikh Channel with 95,000 viewers and Akaal Channel with 87,000 viewers.

ARY News continued to rule the South Asian news genre but its ratings have taken a hit. The channel fell from 337,000 viewers to 314,000 viewers. Geo News also slipped with 200,000 viewers. The next batch of channels included NDTV 24×7 with 195,000 viewers, SAMAA TV with 181,000 viewers, ABP News with 138,000 viewers, Aaj Tak with 130,000 viewers, Geo Tez with 126,000 viewers, Dunya TV with 125,000 viewers, Times Now with 44,000 viewers and News18 with 11,000 viewers.