News Broadcasting

What’s exciting Times Now’s Arnab Goswami these days

Published

10 years ago

November 8, 2015

MUMBAI: With the explosion in social media such as Twitter and Facebook, the very nature of news is being redefined. New news icons have emerged, whether personalities or organisations, in the digital ecosystem having as many followers – if not more – as a TV channel. One tweet or update – on most occasions sent out even before traditional print and TV news – is enough to send shockwaves running through the globe.

The digital shift has resulted in cord cutting with many subscribers preferring the cheaper OTT services in many other parts of the world. India is going through its digitization pangs. Internet penetration complemented by aggressive growth of smartphone has grabbed the attention of many wealthy investors to invest in digital assets and Mukesh Ambani’s visionary weapon to overcome bandwidth issue Reliance Jio looks set to rejuvenate the entire ecosystem.

But all this does not faze Times Network (Times Now, ET Now and Magic Bricks Now) news president and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami at all. He believes that television is “super young in India” and he is hedging his bets on it being the first medium of choice at least for the foreseeable future.

“As a medium TV will continue to be dominant,” he says. “I think for the next 10 years TV will lead and digital will follow. In the coming six to seven years TV and Digital will co-exist, which it does now days also.”

To shore up his argument he points towards the viewership his prime time show Newshour notches up. “While the digital interaction counts between 10000 to 20000, through television we reach out to millions,” he explains.

According to the flamboyant journalist there is a huge room for innovation in news television – something which existing players are hardly exploring. “If you ask me what are the innovations that we are doing in the television news space, I don’t think there are any. Innovations are key to prosperity. Newshour was an innovation, and we keep innovating with it. We open up phone calls, use social media to make it interactive. Emergence of digital will bring in way more innovations,” asserts Goswami.

Sharing his assessment on demographic segmentation Goswami says, “I believe the people who are over 25 will consume TV and ones below 20 will prefer digital.”

Despite being upbeat about television Goswami is not ready to leave any stone unturned to establish his news network as the leader in the digital space. The Times Now app which at this stage has approximately 700,000 downloads (as per Times Now) is what he has trained his eyes on.

A specialist team of 25 people has been put in place to expand The Times Now digital presence. “If there is an audience between 10-20 years which is a digital-only audience, I don’t want to lose them. That’s why we are aggressively innovating in the digital space,” informs Goswami.

The most successful part in the mobile app as per Goswami’s observations is the Newshour Shorts, a section where small clips consisting key moments of a debate are uploaded.

And it’s not just video, Goswami and his team have enabled an audio only feed of Newshour to cater to the bandwidth impoverished. Says he: “The story of our country is we have poor bandwidth even in cities, so what about the guys in the rural area who don’t have the bandwidth to buffer the audio visual feed. They are taking the audio feed and enjoying Newshour as a radio series. We find that at 9 o’clock, a huge number of people tune in to the app to enjoy the audio only version of Newshour.”

What’s engaging him these days is the quickly evolving consumer, he confesses. “People now want to watch content when they want and how they want. We service providers cannot be arrogant and say we will only be on TV if you want to watch us tune in at 9. It is important to be appealing to each and every segment.”

Marking one of the moments of 2015 television audience measurement body Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India started rolling out its rural data from week 41. Even as advertisers and media planners are waiting for the viewer panels and data reportage to settle down, still every one expects air time pricing to enter a new dynamic.

Times Now has had a tendency to attract urban advertisers, mainly because it is an English news channel and is perceived to have premium audiences. So the fact that the rural monitoring would start coughing out viewership numbers needn’t have perturbed Arnab.

But the TV scribe says he spent sleepless nights before week 41 data. He reveals: “People from the fraternity told me to relax as the advertisements and revenues come from the urban areas. But my question was: What is the point of being relevant at urban areas if nobody watches in rural areas? I am a journalist, advertising can come from urban areas but if people don’t watch in small towns I will feel that I don’t have the impact in those areas. If I am doing a story on Lalitgate I want people from Bongaigaon as well as Bombay to watch it. I was very nervous but next day I was thrilled that in terms of viewership, rural is higher than urban. I thank BARC (India) for doing us a great service by breaking the myth that English news is consumed only in metros by males.”

Despite not being on social media, Arnab Goswami often turns out to be the trending topic amongst Indian netizens across platforms. And he points out that he promotes every hashtag with optimum zest.

“The hashtags are important to us,” he says. “For me conversation is important. I feel like involving the audience up to the time where they feel like sharing their opinion. Even if you agree or disagree I want to involve you in it and that’s where the hastags play a vital role.”

But it’s not as if only positive hastags relating to Arnab go viral on social media. Often irked netizens, have expressed their angst in a flood against the channel’s and Arnab’s views. One such scenario was #ShameonTimesNow which trended for four days after the news broadcaster aired a Newshour debate #ShameinSydney describing the performance of Team India in Cricket World Cup semifinal.

“The performance of Team India was shameful and I had no fear in calling it so, I will not change my opinion even now. But people talked about the episode because they watched it and I am happy that they watched it. I want to have that conversation and I want to track the conversation, and go back and read the tweets. I may not change my point of view, but I am aware of what other people are thinking. I do follow lot of conversations so it gives me sense of how it works and what is going on” Goswami asserts.

The English News genre as per the Ficci-KPMG 2015 report has 0.1 per cent of total television viewership. As against that, five per cent of the entire TV adspend of Rs 155 billion is spent on the genre.

And even in this space Times Now is setting the pace. “In terms of revenue through advertising Times Now is a clear number one in the English News genre,” informs a senior media planner. He further adds, “The primetime show Newshour charges approximately double when compared to the other competitors.”

The rate for a 10 second slot during Newshour is over Rs 45,000, and there are close to 12 advertisers on board, “We have more advertisers than we can accommodate and I am grateful to the advertisers for helping us do what we do,” says Goswami.

Looking back at 2015 Goswami terms it as one of the best years in recent times. And that’s broadly because of four reasons, he states, pausing for a few seconds.

“Four things make me term this as one of the best years. Firstly Times Now has got 90 per cent channel share multiple times in terms of viewership. Secondly Times Now has over 50 per cent channel share despite some channels trying to change their names in the market where there is no number two. Thirdly, the new innovation The National Debate, got over 91 per cent of viewership share. And lastly we were able to increase the viewership of ET Now by 15-20 per cent after taking over. So now I have three shows Newshour, Frankly Speaking, and The National Debate. I am excited about them,” he says, signing off with a confident smile on his bespectacled face.

Related Topics:Arnab Goswami BARC ET Now Facebook Magic bricks Now Mukesh Ambani OTT Reliance Jio Times now Twitter

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News Broadcasting

Barc forensic audit in TRP row awaits as Twenty-Four probe gathers pace

Published

1 month ago

February 4, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

KERALA: A forensic audit commissioned by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India has emerged as the centrepiece of the government’s response to fresh allegations of television rating point manipulation involving a regional news channel in Kerala, with both the audit findings and a parallel police investigation still awaited.

Replying to a query in the Lok Sabha, minister of state for information and broadcasting L Murugan, said Barc had appointed an independent agency to conduct a forensic probe into the conduct of senior personnel allegedly linked to the case.

The move followed media reports claiming that a Barc employee had accepted bribes to manipulate viewership data in favour of a regional television news channel.

“The report from BARC is still awaited,” Murugan told Parliament, signalling that the forensic exercise remains ongoing.

Industry specialists say forensic audits are crucial in alleged TRP fraud cases, as they examine internal controls, data access trails, panel household integrity, staff communications and financial transactions. The outcome could determine whether the alleged manipulation was an isolated breach or a deeper systemic weakness in India’s television measurement framework.

Running alongside the audit, the Kerala Police has formed a special investigation team to probe the allegations. The ministry has sought a preliminary report from the state’s director general of police, including details of action taken on the first information report. That report, too, is yet to be submitted.

The episode has revived long-standing concerns over the vulnerability of India’s TRP system, particularly in regional news markets where competition for ratings is fierce and advertising revenues hinge on weekly viewership rankings.

India’s sole television audience measurement body Barc, has faced scrutiny before, most notably during the nationwide TRP controversy involving news channels in 2020. While tighter compliance norms were introduced in the aftermath, the latest allegations suggest enforcement challenges may persist.

On regulatory consequences, the government said any punitive action against television channels, including suspension or cancellation of uplinking and downlinking permissions, would be governed by the Policy Guidelines for Uplinking and Downlinking of Television Channels issued in November 2022, and would depend on investigation outcomes and due process.

The ministry also pointed to ongoing efforts to overhaul the ratings ecosystem. Television measurement continues to be regulated under the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies, 2014. Draft amendments were released for public consultation in July 2025, followed by a revised version in November 2025, aimed at tightening audit mechanisms and improving transparency and representativeness.

In November 2025, Barc said it had taken note of allegations aired by Malayalam news channel Twenty-Four, which linked an internal employee to irregularities in audience measurement. The council said it had engaged a “reputed independent agency” to conduct a comprehensive forensic audit, underscoring the seriousness of the claims.

The ratings system sits at the heart of India’s broadcast advertising economy, shaping billions of rupees in annual ad spends. With trust in audience data once again under strain, advertisers, broadcasters and regulators are closely watching the outcome of the investigations.

Barc has urged industry stakeholders and media organisations to exercise restraint while the probe is underway, calling for an end to “unverified or speculatory claims” and reiterating its commitment to integrity and accountability.

Until the forensic audit and police findings are submitted and reviewed, the government said it would refrain from drawing conclusions.

News Broadcasting

Rajat Sharma defamation row: Delhi court summons Congress leaders Ragini Nayak, Pawan Khera and Jairam Ramesh

Published

1 month ago

February 4, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has ordered the summoning of senior Congress leaders Ragini Nayak, Pawan Khera and Jairam Ramesh in a criminal case filed by veteran journalist Rajat Sharma, sharpening a legal battle over alleged defamation and doctored digital content.

The order was passed on Monday by Devanshi Janmeja, judicial magistrate first class at Saket Courts, after the court found prima facie grounds to proceed under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including forgery, creation of false electronic records and defamation.

Sharma, chairman and editor-in-chief of India TV, had approached the court over allegations made in June 2024 that he had used derogatory language against Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak during a live television debate. He denied the charge, claiming it was fuelled by a manipulated video circulated online.

According to the complaint, a clipped version of the broadcast carrying superimposed captions, which were not part of the original programme, was first shared on social media platform X by Nayak and later amplified through retweets and public statements by Khera and Ramesh. Sharma said the viral spread caused serious reputational harm and personal distress.

The court took note of forensic science laboratory findings that pointed to visible post-production alterations in the video, including added titles and captions. It also cited witness testimonies from those present during the live broadcast, who stated that no abusive or objectionable language had been used.

In a related civil matter, the Delhi High Court had earlier observed a prima facie absence of abusive remarks and directed the removal of the disputed social media posts.

With criminal proceedings now set in motion, the case adds to mounting scrutiny around political messaging, digital manipulation and accountability on social media platforms.

News Broadcasting

Mukesh Ambani, Larry Fink come together for CNBC-TV18 exclusive

Reliance and BlackRock chiefs map the future of investing as global capital eyes India

Published

1 month ago

February 4, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: India’s capital story takes centre stage today as Mukesh Ambani and Larry Fink sit down for a rare joint television conversation, bringing together two of the most powerful voices in global business at a moment of economic churn and opportunity.

The Reliance Industries chief and the BlackRock boss will speak with Shereen Bhan, managing editor of CNBC-TV18, in an exclusive interaction airing from 3:00 pm on February 4. The timing is deliberate. Geopolitics are tense, technology is disruptive and capital is choosier. India, meanwhile, is pitching itself as a long-term bet.

The pairing is symbolic. Reliance straddles energy transition, digital infrastructure and consumer growth in the world’s fastest-expanding major economy. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, oversees more than $14 tn in assets and sits at the nerve centre of global capital flows. When the two talk, markets tend to listen.

Fink’s appearance marks his third India visit, a signal of the country’s rising strategic weight for the Wall Street-listed firm, which carries a market value above $177 bn. His earlier 2023 trips included an October stop in New Delhi, where he met both Ambani and Narendra Modi.

India is now central to BlackRock’s expansion plans, notably through its joint venture with Jio Financial Services. Announced in July 2023, the 50:50 venture, JioBlackRock, commits up to $150 mn each from the partners to build a digital-first asset-management platform aimed at India’s swelling investor class.

The backdrop is robust. BlackRock ended 2025 with record assets under management of $14.04 tn, helped by $698 bn in net inflows, including $342 bn in the fourth quarter alone. Scale gives Fink both heft and a long lens on where money is moving.

He has been openly bullish on India. At the Saudi-US Investment Summit in Riyadh last year, Fink argued that the “fog of global uncertainty is lifting”, with capital returning to dynamic markets such as India, drawn by reforms, demographics and durable return potential.

Expect the conversation to range beyond balance sheets, into technology’s role in finance, access to capital and the mechanics of sustainable growth in a fracturing world order. For investors and policymakers alike, it is a snapshot of how big money is thinking about India.

At a time when capital is cautious and growth is contested, India wants to be the exception. When Ambani and Fink share a stage, it is less a chat and more a signal. The world’s money is still looking for its next big story, and India intends to be it.