More than 20mn viewers tune in to 'The Greatest Indian Grand Finale'

13 channels across Network18, Viacom18 & ETV aired the grand finale on August 15

August 23, 2012:

HISTORY TV18 and CNN IBN's hunt for The Greatest Indian which started in April, 2012 created history on Independence Day this year when an impressive 20 Million viewers across the country tuned into the show's grand finale on 15th August, 2012, garnering a commendable 4.83 NGRPs across all channels, thereby making it one of the most participated and highly watched show in recent times. The unprecedented reach and viewership are a first for an initiative led by a factual entertainment or English news channel.

The three month campaign finally culminated with the announcement of Dr. B R Ambedkar as The Greatest Indian post independence. In another first, 13 channels across Network18, Viacom18 & E TV (Colors, MTV, ETV, IBN7, IBN Lokmat, CNBC TV18, CNBC AWAAZ, ETV Urdu, ETV Uttar Pradesh, ETV Rajasthan, ETV Bihar and ETV Madhya Pradesh.) telecast the glittering and high octane excitement grand finale.

The Greatest Indian amassed tremendous buzz over the three month period with over 2 crore votes coming through missed calls and online. The campaign also sustained a healthy engagement on Social Media platforms reaching over 20 lac Facebook users through viral content. A large number of interesting comparisons and discussions followed on Twitter with hashtags related to the initiative trending consistently and reaching over 2 lac users daily.

The grand finale, featuring some of the best known names, was attended by eminent personalities like Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Shabana Azmi and Harsha Bhogle amongst the others. The show which was replete with interesting anecdotes and incidents related to the 'Greats', was also an occasion of celebration, with Kailash Kher mesmerising audiences with this performance.

The initiative is based on the path-breaking series featured on BBC called 'The Greatest Briton'. Launched in 2002 in the UK, the initiative reached out to millions of viewers and broke significant viewership records there. An astounding 21 countries have successfully adopted this format since then  including Germany (Konrad Adenauer- Greatest German),  South Africa (Nelson Mandela – Greatest South African)  and  the US (Ronald Reagan – Greatest American).

(Source: TAM, Market All India, TG CS 4+, 15th August, 24 Hrs & TG CS AB 15+, week 33'12, 24 Hrs, (NGRPs 30 min)

PR@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com