UK TV Reach: Star Plus reach falls below 700k for first time

With competition increasing amongst UK Asian TV channels, Star Plus is feeling the pinch after its weekly reach fell below to 700,000 viewers for the first time.

The channel, which in its glory days recorded weekly reach of 1 million viewers regularly, has seen a decline in recent weeks. Despite this, Star Plus remained the UK’s No.1 Asian TV channel – by far! In BARB data for week ending Sunday 25th June, Star Plus registered 690,000 viewers (last week 767,000 viewers). The channel’s audience saw a dent during the month of Ramadan, combined with the hot British weather.

It wasn’t just Star Plus that had its numbers fall, other channels also felt the strain. Hum TV did well at No.2 with 401,000 viewers, followed by Geo TV with 334,000 viewers, Colors with 308,000 viewers, Life OK with 307,000 viewers, Sony SAB TV with 303,000 viewers, Star Gold with 296,000 viewers, Rishtey with 274,000 viewers, Zing with 263,000 viewers, &TV with 258,000 viewers, Rishtey Cineplex with 255,000 viewers and B4U Music with 228,000 viewers.

The bottom tier consisted of PTC Punjabi with 182,000 viewers, Prime TV with 157,000 viewers, PTV Global with 138,000 viewers, ATN Bangla with 132,000 viewers, Akaal Channel with 85,000 viewers, Star Utsav with 84,000 viewers, Brit Asia TV with 58,000 viewers, Venus TV with 43,000 viewers and See TV with 16,000 viewers.

Looking at the South Asian news genre, Geo News stayed firm on top with 328,000 viewers, followed by New Vision TV with 311,000 viewers, NDTV 247×7 with 200,000 viewers, Dunya News with 184,000 viewers, Samaa TV with 180,000 viewers, UK 44 with 129,000 viewers and Aaj Tak with 115,000 viewers. The next tier consisted of ABP News with 99,000 viewers, followed by Geo Tez with 66,000 viewers, News18 with 14,000 viewers and Times Now with just 6,000 viewers.