2022 was another stellar year for original shows and series on OTT platforms in India, with multiple platforms making a strong impression across diverse genres. Of the hundreds of Hindi shows that were streamed on Indian screens last year, two stood out in particular, according to the ‘Streaming Originals in India: The 2022 Story’ report released by Ormax Media. Topping the viewership charts for Hindi shows was Ajay Devgn’s gripping thriller Rudra: The Edge of Darkness (Disney+ Hotstar), while the Hindi show best appreciated across the country was Season 2 of Panchayat (Prime Video), starring Jitendra Kumar and Neena Gupta.

For viewership calculations, Ormax uses primary data gathered on a weekly basis, where only those who have seen one full episode of a show are counted as its audience. For assessing the content and how it is appreciated and sorted in the rankings of most-liked shows, Ormax deploys a specialised metric of Ormax Power Rating (OPR), which combines sampling and completion rates along with a variety of other data points to rate a show on a scale of 1 to 100.

Rudra narrowly beats Aashram as the most-watched Hindi show

Rudra finished 2022 at the top of the Hindi viewership charts with an audience of 35.2 million. This was marginally better than Season 3 of Bobby Deol-starrer Aashram (MX Player), which garnered 34.3 million viewers. In third place was the second season of Panchayat, which ended last year with 29.6 million viewers. The top five was rounded off by Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach (Disney+ Hotstar) and The Great Indian Murder (Disney+ Hotstar), providing further affirmation that crime fiction remains extremely popular in India.

The most-watched Hindi reality show of 2022 was Lock Upp (Alt Balaji and MX Player), with 21.2 million viewers. Of the top 15 most-watched Hindi shows of 2022, Disney+ Hotstar led the way with seven entries, followed by Prime Video and MX Player with four each.

Panchayat, Rocket Boys and Delhi Crime among the best rated Hindi shows

Only one of the top-five most watched Hindi shows of 2022 also features in the top five of the most-liked. Panchayat, an outlier in this sense, capped off 2022 with an OPR of 75, eight points clear of Rocket Boys (Sony LIV) and Delhi Crime Season 2 (Netflix) in second place. Physics Wallah (Amazon miniTV) and Gullak (Sony LIV), both shows that came with very little buzz, also earned their spots in the top five with scores of 65 and 64, respectively. Rudra, the topper of the previous category, finished seventh on the most-liked list, with a score of 63.

The audience’s love for Panchayat was so overwhelming, according to Ormax, that its OPR took it to number six on Ormax’s all-time list of most-liked Hindi shows on OTT, a list that is headed by Season 2 of The Family Man (Prime Video), with an OPR of 85.