"The Kapil Sharma Show," which marked the return of comedian Kapil Sharma on the small screen, opened on a grand note with Shah Rukh Khan as its first celebrity guest. The premiere episode of "The Kapil Sharma Show" was aired on April 23 at 9 p.m. on Sony Entertainment Television.
The first episode faced competition from rival channel's programme, but "The Kapil Sharma Show" managed to garner the second highest unique views. The television premiere of "Bajirao Mastani" too was scheduled on the same night on Colors TV, but Kapil's new show managed to garner more unique views than "Bajirao Mastani."
The first episode of "The Kapil Sharma Show" garnered 54 million unique views, according to a data we received from ZAPR. Although the much-awaited show initially opened with comparatively low unique views of 18.7 million between 9 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., it gradually increased to 28.6 million between 9:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.
As per the geographic distribution of viewers, Uttar Pradesh stands tall at 14.5 percent followed by Maharashtra with 14 percent. Other states where "The Kapil Sharma Show" was viewed the most are Gujarat, Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan with 10.1 percent, 7.1 percent, 7 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, Colors TV, which apparently made special changes in its schedule by not airing "Comedy Nights Live" on April 23, and instead replacing it with the television premiere of "Bajirao Mastani," garnered 44 million unique views. Apparently, Colors TV had aired "Bajirao Mastani" to sabotage the first episode of Kapil's show.
It should be mentioned that Kapil and his erstwhile "Comedy Nights With Kapil" (CNWK) team had a fallout with Colors TV, after which the comedian disassociated himself from the channel. Later, Krushna Abhishek's "Comedy Nights Live" replaced "CNWK" on the channel. A lot of comparisons were drawn between Krushna's and Kapil's shows. Although "Comedy Nights Live" was criticised by the audience in its opening episode, it is gradually wooing the audience.
Meanwhile, check out the unique views of other top shows aired on April 23. Indian Premiere League (IPL) on Sony MAX recorded the highest unique views with 76 million, while daily soaps Star Plus' "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai" and Zee TV's reality show "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2016" got 13 million unique views each. Star Plus' "Diya Aur Baati Hum" was at par with Zee TV's "Kumkum Bhagya" at 10 million views. "SuperCop Vs Supervillains" on Like OK garnered 2 million views.
The time band of "The Kapil Sharma Show" are – 18.7 million unique views (between 9 p.m.-9:15 p.m.), 23.9 million (between 9:15-9:30 p.m.), 28.6 million (between 9:30-9:45 p.m.), 24.5 (between 9:45-10 p.m.), 20.7 million (between 10-10:15 p.m.) and 25.5 (between 10:15-10:30 p.m.).
