Ramayan On Doordarshan Creates World Record As The Highest Viewed Entertainment Program Globally

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown, most entertainment channels decided to re-telecast their old shows on popular demand. As a result, Doordarshan won millions of hearts with the re-broadcast of its iconic serials, Ramayan, and Mahabharat. The move has struck gold for the state-owned network, as DD National emerged as the most-watched channel in the country.

And now, according to the latest Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) ratings, the acclaimed series has achieved another massive milestone. Ramayan now has the world record of being the most viewed entertainment program globally. It amassed a massive 7.7 crore (170 million) viewers on 16 April in the 9 pm IST slot.

The aforementioned feat was confirmed by Prasar Bharati and BARC on their social media handles. The tweet read, “WORLD RECORD!! Rebroadcast of #Ramayana on #Doordarshan smashes viewership records worldwide, the show becomes most watched entertainment show in the world with 7.7 crore viewers on 16th of April.”

For the uninitiated, just a few days ago, the Ramayan re-telecast had also garnered the highest-ever rating for a Hindi GEC show since 2015 when BARC started measuring TV audience. CEO Prasar Bharti, Shashi Shekhar had tweeted, "Thrilled to share that the re-telecast of RAMAYAN on @ddnational has garnered the highest ever rating for a Hindi GEC show since 2015.”

Ramanand Sagar’s mega-series ran from January 25, 1987, to July 31, 1988. The celebrated epic ran for 75 consecutive Sundays in the morning on the national broadcaster. It’s unimaginable record success led to remakes on popular GEC’s such as Zee TV and NDTV Imagine.