A brand new television show "Mahabharat" on Star Plus channel has found an impressive audience base with its opening episodes becoming the highest rated in the last three years.

The show, based on the legendary epic of the same name, raked in 8445 TVTs (Television Viewership in Thousands) which is around 8.4 million views, in its debut episode on 6 September.

"Our aim was to reach out to the youth through Mahabharat and with online receiving good traction, we have succeeded in our attempt," Star India CEO Uday Shankar said on the sidelines of the Business Today CEO Power Breakfast, on Tuesday.

The show is faring well with an average viewership of 6356 TVTs (6.3 million viewers) daily.

Nikhil Madhok, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Star Plus told IANS, "We are extremely happy with the grand welcome it has received. There is very encouraging positive feedback pouring in from all quarters. We are now looking at building further from here on."

The high viewership has also boosted the ratings of Star Plus. The entertainment channel has topped the TVT data with 535 million gross views in TAM (Nielsen Television Audience Measurement) subscribers' list for CS4+ HSM markets in week 38 (15 -21 September).

The TAM list places Colors TV channel in the second position with relatively 480 million gross views, while Zee TV is placed third with 414 million.

Sony TV has regained it fourth position this week with 327 million TVTs, while Life Ok slipped to the fifth spot with 313 million TVTs. Sab TV secured its sixth place with 289 million viewers.