Entertainment
Looking Back at How TVF Won India’s Heart and IMDb’s Rankings Year After Year
From Pitchers, Permanent Roommates, and Kota Factory to Aspirants and Panchayat: Here’s how The Viral Fever dominated the IMDb Top 10 charts consistently from 2016 through 2026.
Over the years, apart from making content, TVF has built a mirror for middle-class India, capturing everything from the chaos of corporate life and the agony of competitive exams to the simple, slow-paced charm of village life. They turned everyday struggles into national conversations, proving that you don’t need fancy sets or foreign backdrops to hook an audience. You just need a heart and an honest script.
If anyone ever doubts the impact TVF has had on Indian streaming, you only need to look at the data. Year after year, IMDb’s report of the Top 10 Most Popular Indian Series has told a single consistent story: the audience knows who the real king is. Back in 2016, TVF came out swinging, claiming the top two spots with TVF Pitchers at No. 1 and Permanent Roommates at No. 2, alongside TVF Tripling at No. 9. They repeated this tight grip in 2017 with Pitchers (No. 3) and Permanent Roommates (No. 9), before striking an emotional chord in 2018 with the glorious 90s nostalgia of Yeh Meri Family at No. 9.
As the streaming boom picked up speed, TVF didn’t miss a beat. In 2019, Kota Factory grabbed the No. 4 spot by showing the harsh realities of student life, paving the way for Panchayat to enter the charts in 2020 at No. 7 and win over millions of hearts. Then came 2021, a monumental year where TVF absolutely swept the landscape, led by Aspirants taking the crown at No. 1, backed by Kota Factory at No. 6 and College Romance at No. 10.
The momentum never slowed down as we entered a new decade. In 2022, Panchayat climbed up to No. 2, accompanied by College Romance at No. 8. By 2024 and 2025, Panchayat became an unstoppable force, securing the No. 3 spot consecutively, while Sapne vs Everyone made an entry at No. 4 in 2024 and soared to No. 2 in 2026.
Looking at this unbroken decade-long streak, one thing is crystal clear. TVF isn’t just surviving in a crowded entertainment market but also setting the standard. By staying true to authentic characters and real-life struggles, they have written a definition of long-term success. And if these past ten years are anything to go by, TVF’s journey at the top is only getting started.
