Lockdown audiences push demand for DD classic

Amazon Prime Video’s Indian originals took two of the top three spots on the digital originals demand list in India for the week of 8-14 April. Although neither managed to top Netflix’s La Casa De Papel (Money Heist), Prime Video’s Four More Shots Please! and Mirzapur generated a combined 230 million demand expressions for the week, according to data science company 

Parrot Analytics. Two other Indian series appeared on the list – Sacred Games (Netflix) and Asure (Voot).  

But nothing during the week could touch classic fantasy drama, Mahabharat, on national network Doordarshan. Driven by India’s stay-at-home audiences during Covid-19 lockdowns, the show recorded 47.3 times the demand of the average TV series in India (last 30 days). Parrot Analytics says 0.2% of all shows in India have this level of demand. On a rolling 30-day average basis, demand for Mahabharat increased by 117.5% compared to the preceding 30 days.