ABSTRACT
In a population of more than 11 crores in Maharashtra, Marathi is the language of close to eight crores. That makes Marathi the third most spoken language in India, and as such, Marathi speakers constitute a huge media audience. In 2018, the viewership of Marathi language TV was ranked sixth in the country. The Mumbai Doordarshan Kendra (founded 1972) cultivated the audience with original content of quality in the golden years of Doordarshan when it enjoyed complete monopoly. Mumbai Doordarshan Kendra (later named as Sahyadri) lost its commanding position as a terrestrial channel and slipped quickly as satellite channels entered the market with entertainment that was ‘different’ and refreshing. Even then the Marathi GEC sector did not expand rapidly. Zee Marathi and ETV Marathi were the only two steady players. Post 2015, major international networks (Star, Sony, Colors, and so on) have started investing in Marathi channels, and a similar pattern has been observed for Marathi news channels also. For a long time only three major players (Zee 24 Taas, ABP Majha, and IBN Lokmat (now TV18 Lokmat)) could get a foothold in the news industry. Channels that are not a part of a national entity have found it difficult to survive in the GEC and news channel space, except for Saam TV, which, after becoming a news channel from GEC, has come in the reckoning. In the GEC sector, Zee Marathi has the largest viewership, thanks to its innovative programming strategy. Viewership of Marathi TV is getting concentrated in tier II and tier III cities. Channels, both GECs and news, are redesigning their content to suit the new markets.
