Tag: Arnab Goswami

English news genre ratings get a fillip from election results suspense

BENGALURU: The English news genre benefitted from the state elections results that were declared early this week. In the week leading to the Gujarat elections, the genre’s ratings climbed and that climb continued in week 50 of 2017 (Saturday, 9 December 2017 to Friday, 15 December 2017) as channels put forth their guesstimates about who would win one of the dirtiest fights during recent Indian elections. No abuse and misuse of emotions was spared by politicians who wanted to prove that the junta – the voter was still with them, or to attract that additional vote from the electorate.

In week 50 of 2017, as per data by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), the combined ratings of the top five English news channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) increased 22 percent to 2.889 million impressions as compared to the immediate trailing week. The top five channels retained their ranks from week 49.

As has become the norm since its launch in week 19 of 2017, the Arnab Goswami led Republic TV topped the genre with 20 percent higher ratings of 0.982 million weekly impressions in week 50 as compared to the 0.819 million weekly impressions in week 49. Goswami’s former employer, Times Now, was at second rank with 14 percent higher ratings during the week under review at 0.864 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.759 million weekly impressions in week 49 of 2017.

India Today Television was at third place with a 36.3 percent hike in ratings to 0.462 million weekly impressions in week 50 from 0.339 million weekly impressions in the previous week. CNN News 18 was at fourth rank with a 41.2 percent growth in viewership to 0.329 million weekly impressions from 0.233 million weekly impressions in week 49. At fifth place was the Prannoy and Radhika Roy-led NDTV 24×7, which saw its viewership grow by 15 percent to 0.252 million during the week under review from 0.219 million weekly impressions in week 49.

Dominance of Republic TV continues as genre ratings plunge

Republic TV, Times Now viewership moves up as genre ratings fall

Republic TV continues to lead English news genre despite bumps

Stunning victory for Republic TV, Republic watches Times Now

December 22, 2017
Gujarat elections boost news channel ratings as Republic continues to lead English News

BENGALURU: Rahul Gandhi’s shenanigans and Narendra Modi’s sudden and unexpected belligerence at rallies leading up to the Gujarat state assembly elections have resulted in bolstering sagging news viewership, especially for the English news genre. According to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data for week 49 of 2017 (Saturday, 2 December 2017 to Friday, 8 December 2017), combined ratings of the top-five English news channels (All India (U+R): NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) increased by 12 percent as compared with the previous week.

While the two politicians put on a spectacle for the viewers, it was the second-ranked Times Now that gained the most–both in terms of viewership as well as percentage of increase in viewership. The channel gained 0.138 million impressions and 22.2 percent increase in percentage of viewership growth during week 49 as compared to week 48 of 2019. However, this was not enough to beat its bête noire and displacer at the top spot–the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV. Times Now was ranked second during the week under review (week 49 of 2017) with 0.759 million weekly impressions as compared to the genre leader Republic TV’s 0.819 million weekly impressions. Republic TV gained 0.11 million weekly impressions in week 49 and grew by 15.5 percent as against the previous week.

At third was India Today Television in week 49 of 2017 with 0.339 million weekly impressions–the channel witnessed growth of 0.045 million weekly impressions, or 15.3 percent. Following India Today Television was CNN News 18 at fourth place with 0.233 million weekly impressions. CNN News 18 jumped a rank from the previous week’s fifth place with a gain of 4,000 impressions or 1.7 percent as compared to the previous week. Slipping a rank from the previous week’s fourth to fifth and losing 0.044 million impressions (losing 16.7 percent) was the Prannoy and Radhika Roy-led NDTV 24×7.

Hindi News

Hindi news channels also witnessed growth in ratings–the combined ratings of the top-five Hindi news channels-HSM (U+R): NCCS All : 15+ Individuals-grew by 6.6 percent in week 49 of 2017 as compared with week 48. All the channels in week 49 retained their week 48 rankings during the latest week. As expected, the biggest gainer during the week under review in terms of number of impressions as well as growth percentage was the genre leader Aaj Tak with a gain of 12.045 million impressions and growth of 11.1 percent. Aaj Tak recorded 120.442 million weekly impressions during week 49.

At second place in the Hindi News genre in week 49 of 2017 was Zee News with 95.018 million weekly impressions. The Essel group’s premier Hindi News channel gained 5.110 million weekly impressions and viewership growth of 5.7 percent in week 49 as compared to week 48. India TV with 94.135 million weekly impressions was ranked third – the channel had gained 4.568 million weekly impressions and grown by 5.1 percent in week 49 as compared to week 48.

At fourth rank in week 49 of 2017 was ABP News with 91.065 million weekly impressions. ABP News which recorded a gain of 2.6 percent and 2.288 million weekly impressions Completing the top five Hindi News channels quintet was News 18 India with 86.576 million impressions. News 18 India gained 6.269 million weekly impressions and its viewership grew by 7.8 percent in week 49 of 2017 as compared to week 48.

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December 16, 2017
Republic TV to track real-time data for Gujarat elections

MUMBAI: Republic TV has partnered data-science company Gramener to track real-time data, along with analysis, during the Gujarat elections. According to a release sent by Republic TV, “Gramener will help enhance the visual look both on-air and on Republic’s digital platforms to present the data in a comprehensible and meaningful manner.”

Gramener is an Indian data science company that handles large-scale data via non-traditional analytics and visualises it in real-time, helping identify the right questions and draw out insights. The company forayed in visual data journalism in 2013 and has since conducted multiple projects in visualising election campaign data with clear number-based analyses.

Republic TV editor-in-chief and founder Arnab Goswami said, “The Gujarat elections are strategically important as they will set context for the national elections in 2019. We are delighted to work with team Gramener once again and look forward to cutting-edge analysis and sharp visuals provided real time for the Republic audience.”

Gramener’s past projects include the national elections in 2014 and state elections since then.

“We are excited to partner with Republic TV and will bring our data science expertise to sharpen the Gujarat election analysis with analytics and visualisation tools in a real-time environment,” Gramener CEO Anand S said.

December 12, 2017
Republic TV continues lead as genre ratings rise

BENGALURU:Two of weeks earlier, we had mentioned that the English News genre’s four week average ratings and weekly ratings have been falling since weeks 29 to 32 of 2017. The fall continued until week 47 of 2017 when the combined Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly ratings of the top-five English News genre channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) fell to 1.877 million weekly impressions. The leader of the pack right from the week it launched–the Arnab Goswami-headed Republic TV–recorded the lowest ever ratings of 0.511 million weekly impressions in week 47 of 2017. The fortunes of the genre seem to have turned in week 48 of 2017 (Saturday, 25 November 2017 to Friday, 1 December 2017). The combined ratings of the top-five English News genre channels smartly increased to 2.116 million weekly impressions. However, this increase was not enough to avert the genre’s lowest four-week average ratings–1.893 million for weeks 45 to 48 of 2017 since the launch of Republic TV in week 19 of 2017.

Refer to the chart below showing the four-week average of the top-five English News channels between weeks 1 to 48 of 2017. It may be noted that that the data for week 21 has not been considered in this report and, hence, the four-week average weekly impressions of 2.6327 million for the W22-24 period is actually a three-week average.

Revisiting what we had said earlier—with addition of data for weeks 47 and 48 of 2017—the combined ratings of the top-five English News channels for weeks 1 to 48 of 2017 increased from the lowest viewership to date of 1.179 million weekly impressions in week 2 to the highest viewership in week 11 of 4.987 million weekly impressions. The ratings then started to decline until week 19 of 2017 which saw the launch of Republic TV.

In week 19 of 2017, the genre witnessed its second highest combined weekly ratings of the top-five channels to date of 4.282 million weekly impressions. Republic TV has topped the genre right from the first week of its launch to date in 2017. Goswami’s channel helped increase the genre’s overall ratings but its eyeballs pull could only retard the slow decline that the genre has seen since then as can be seen from the chart above.

Since news is event driven, the above statements also are evident if one were to go by the four-week average weekly impressions of the combined ratings of the top-five English News genre rather than weekly numbers. As mentioned above, the data for week 21 has not been considered in this report and, hence, the four-week average weekly impressions of 2.6327 million for the W22-24 period is actually a three-week average.

In week 11 of 2017 (Weeks 9 to 12), elections results in five states of the country were announced and hence the ratings of news channels peaked. Weeks 13 to 16 saw a decline in the genre’s ratings, because week 14 of 2017 saw the launch of the Indian Premier League, which adversely affected the News genre’s ratings. Weeks 17 to 20 were Republic TV’s launch period and everyone wanted to see how Goswami would perform on his new English News channel, the genre’s ratings climbed to a four week average of 2.972 million. The four weeks (or rather 3 weeks’ average in this specific case) of weeks 22-24 was a small blip, and since the other English News channels withdrew themselves from BARC ratings, the data will not be discussed any further here.

Weeks 25 to 28 numbers for the top-five channels saw the four-week average ratings climb to 2.9155 million weekly impressions, followed by the highest four-week average of the genre in 2017 until now of 3.2695 million weekly impressions in weeks 29 to 32. As is evident from the figure above, the genre’s four-week average ratings have only declined since then.

Will the genre be able to garner improved ratings for the rest of weeks of 2017? Or will they slide, or remain stagnant? This is something that time will tell.

Data for week 48 of 2017

The top-five channels for week 48 of 2017 were the same as week 47 of 2017. The channels retained the same ranks during the week under review as compared to the trailing week, but at the cost of lower viewership.

As mentioned above, Republic TV held the top rank in the genre during week 48 of2017 with 0.709 million weekly impressions, followed by Times Now with 0.621 million weekly impressions at second place. India Today Television came in at third place with 0.294 million weekly impressions, lower than the 0.340 million weekly impressions it had garnered for week 47 of 2017. NDTV 24×7 was ranked fourth with 0.263 million impressions in week 48, slightly lower than the 0.289 million weekly impressions in week 47. At fifth place was CNN News 18 with 0.229 million weekly impressions in week 48 of 2017 as compared to the 0.25 million weekly impressions in week 47 of 2017.

December 8, 2017
Republic TV, Times Now viewership moves up as genre ratings fall

BENGALURU: The two top-ranked channels of the Indian English news genre saw small increases in their weekly viewership in week 46 of 2017 (Saturday, 11 November 2017 to Friday, 17 November 2017, period, week under consideration) as compared to the nadir of the previous week. Data from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) show that the genre topper from the time of its launch 28 weeks ago Republic TV saw its ratings increase to 0.566 million weekly impressions in week 46 from 0.524 million weekly impressions in week 45. The second-ranked Times Now saw its ratings increase to 0.502 million weekly impressions during the week under consideration from 0.489 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

The other three channels from the top five English saw no change in ranks, but decline in viewership in the period as compared to week 45. They were: NDTV 24×7 at third place with 0.260 million weekly impressions (0.299 million weekly impressions in week 45); India Today Television with 0.250 million weekly impressions (0.295 million weekly impressions in week 45); and CNN News18 with 0.185 million weekly impressions (0.205 million weekly impressions in week 45).

Genre ratings continue declining

The English news genre has seen a decline in ratings over the past few weeks. Analysis of BARC data for the combined ratings of the top five English news channels for weeks 1 to 46 of 2017 increased from the lowest viewership to date of 1.179 million weekly impressions in week 2, to the highest viewership in week 11 to date of 4.987 million weekly impressions. The ratings then started to decline until week 19 of 2017 which saw the launch of the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV.

In week 19 of 2017, the genre witnessed its second-highest combined weekly ratings of top five channels to date of 4.282 million weekly impressions. Republic TV has topped the genre right from the first week of its launch to date in 2017. Goswami’s channel helped increase the genre’s overall ratings, but its eyeball pull could only retard the slow decline that the genre has seen since then as can be seen from the chart below.

Since news is event-driven, the above statements also are evident if one were to go by the four week average weekly impressions of the combined ratings of the top five English news genre, rather than weekly numbers. It may be noted that the data for week 21 has not been considered in this paper and hence the four week average weekly impressions of 2.6327 million for the W22-24 period is a three-week average. Further, the number for the last point on the graph (W45-46) of 1.7895 weekly impressions is a 2-week average.

In week 11 of 2017 (Weeks 9 to 12), elections results in five states of the country were announced and hence the ratings of news channels peaked. Weeks 13 to 16 saw a decline in the genre’s ratings because week 14 of 2017 saw the launch of the Indian Premier League. Weeks 17 to 20 were Republic TV’s launch period and as everyone wanted to see how Goswami would perform, the genre’s ratings climbed to a four week average of 2.972 million. The average of weeks 22-24 was a small blip, and since the other English News channels withdrew themselves from BARC ratings, the data will not be discussed any further here.

Weeks 25 to 28 numbers for the top five channels saw the 4-week average ratings climb smartly to 2.9155 million weekly impressions, followed by the highest four week average of the genre in 2017 until now of 3.2695 million weekly impressions in weeks 29 to 32. As is evident from the figure below, the genre’s 4-week average ratings have only declined since then.

Ratings for the same period of the previous year can’t truly be compared to see if decline is a periodic trend because news is generally event driven as mentioned above. For example, in 2016, demonetisation was announced on November 8; in week 28 of 2017, ratings of the Hindi news genre peaked because the Supreme Court’s Ram Rahim verdict was announced in that week.

November 24, 2017
Republic TV continues to lead English news genre despite bumps

BENGALURU: Broadcast Audience Research Council of India’s (BARC) weekly data for week 45 of 2017 (Saturday, 4 November 2017 to Friday, 10 November 2017) reveals that Republic TV’s viewership has reached a new low point since it was launched in May 2017. Despite garnering just 0.524 million weekly impressions during the week under consideration, Republic TV still led the Indian English news genre for the 27th week in a row right from its launch week—week 19 of 2017. The Arnab Goswami-led channel has steadfastly held on to the first rank that it grabbed from Times Now in week 19, garnering genre-topping viewership of 2.117 million weekly impressions. Even if one were to eliminate data for week 21 when the other Indian English news channels with the backing of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) withdrew from BARC ratings, Republic TV has had a remarkable run so far.

With a dip in Republic TV ratings, the combined ratings of the top-five channels (All India (U+R): NCCS AB: Males 22+ Individuals) during week 45 have also dipped to the lowest ratings ever since the launch of Republic TV. The combined weekly ratings of the top-five English news channels for the week under consideration are just 1.816 million impressions, much lower than the impressions that Republic TV alone had garnered in week 19 of 2017.

November 16, 2017
Hindi News genre versus Indian English News during festival week

BENGALURU: Previously, we asked if the Indian English News genre was faced with festival blues – pre, during and post the biggest Indian festival season of Diwali that happened in week 42 of 2017 (Saturday, 14 October 2017 to Friday 20 October 2017). How did big brother – the Hindi News genre fare? According to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India’s (BARC) weekly data, combined weekly ratings of the top five Hindi News channels also declined, but not as much as the smaller siblings have.

The variation in the Hindi News genre’s combined weekly ratings of the top five channels from its average ratings (between weeks 19 to 43 of 2017 excluding week 21) during weeks 41, 42 and 43 were -6.4 percent, -10.2 percent and -10.9 percent respectively. At the same time the variations in the Indian English News genre’s combined weekly ratings of the top five channels from its average ratings during weeks 41, 42 and 43 were -29 percent, -26.2 percent and -25.2 percent respectively.

The slide of the combined weekly ratings of the top five Hindi News channels continued pre, during and post Diwali. Their combined weekly ratings declined from 440.188 impressions in week 41 of 2017 to 422.233 million weekly impressions in Diwali week 42 of 2017 and slid even further to 419.260 million weekly impressions in week 43 of 2017. In the case the Indian English News channels, combined ratings of the top 5 channels dropped in the week 41 to 1.986 million weekly impressions, then rose a bit during Diwali week to 2.050 million weekly impressions and then fell slightly again in week 43 to 2.026 million weekly impressions.

The viewership and ratings of Hindi News and the English News genres differ. The Hindi News genre had a relatively steady viewership during the first 43 weeks of 2017. Ratings across the top three Hindi channels have had narrower margins between each other as compared to the English genre which was dominated by just two channels. Three top Hindi News channels garnered about 65 percent (almost two thirds) of the genre’s ratings. These were Aaj Tak (A little above 25 percent of the genre’s average ratings in 2017); Zee News (A little more than 20 percent of the genre’s average ratings in 2017) and ABP News (A little more than 19 percent of the genre’s average ratings in 2017).

The two channels that dominated the Indian English News genre were Republic TV (almost 36 percent of the genre’s average ratings in 2017); and Times Now (almost 30 percent of the genre’s average ratings in 2017). The Arnab Goswami led Republic TV was launched on 6 May 2017 (beginning of week 19 of 2017). In week 21 of 2017 English News channels, with the support of the News Broadcasters Association, excluding Republic TV, had withdrawn from BARC ratings measurement in protest against what they claimed were unfair practices by Republic TV. Hence the numbers considered above for the Indian English News genre, Republic TV and Times Now are for the period between weeks 19 and 43, and excludes data for week 21 of 2017.

Notwithstanding a difference in the consumer data classification for ratings for the two genres, the Hindi News genre has had a much larger viewership than the Indian English News genre. Ratings considered in this paper for the Hindi News genre have been measured across HSM (U+R) : NCCS All : 15+ Individuals, while those of the Indian English News genre have been measured across All India (U+R): NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals. This means that the data for the Hindi News genres includes persons of all genders above 15 years of age, while in the case of the English News genre, the data only covers all males above 22 years of age. NCCS is the new consumer classification system adopted by the audience measurement body BARC. The average weekly combined ratings of the top five Hindi News channels between weeks 19 and 43 excluding week 21 of 2017 was 470.307 million impressions, while that of the Indian English News genre during weeks 19 to 43 excluding week 21 was 2.875 million impressions.

The Hindi News genre started with relatively higher ratings in week one of 2017 and dropped in weeks two and three before rising to the genre’s second highest ratings in week 11 of 2017.This was the week during which election results of five states in India were announced. On the other hand, BARC weekly data for the top five English News genre showed that the lowest combined ratings of the top five English News channels in 2017 until week 43 were in week two of 2017 (Saturday, 7 January 2017 to Friday 13 January 2017) at 1.179 million weekly impressions. Week one of 2017, with 1.218 million weekly impressions, had the second lowest ratings in 2017 until week 43.

The ratings of the Hindi News genre declined during the weeks that IPL 10 was played (week 14 to 20 of 2017) and fell further for another four weeks after IPL 10. The ratings of the Indian English News genre also started to decline in week 14 with the commencement of the IPL, but then rose sharply again with the launch of Republic TV in week 19. The combined weekly ratings of the top five English News channels in week 19 at 4.282 million were the second highest ratings scored by the genre during the first 43 week of 2017, with Republic TV garnering about half the ratings of the genre – 2.115 million weekly impressions in that week.

The combined ratings of the top five Hindi News channels in week 24 at 350.836 million weekly impressions were the genre’s lowest ratings in 2017 until the time of writing of this report, before rising again to the highest ratings of the genre in 2017 to date. This was in week 35 of 2017, the week that saw the court verdict and the resultant arrest of Indian godman Ram Rahim. News about the fate of Ram Rahim on Monday, 28 August 2017 was one of the most watched events on news television in the recent past in India. Viewership of the Hindi News genre grew 2.1 times from 121.5 million impressions (the average viewership for the previous four Mondays’) to 256.1 million impressions on Monday, 28 August 2017 according to BARC data.

On the other hand, viewership of the top five the English News channels actually shrank by 1.2 percent in week 35 to 2.942 million weekly impressions from 2.979 million weekly impressions in week 34 of 2017. It is probably the Ram Rahim verdict day news that helped English News channels retain their previous week’s ratings. The English News Genre grew by 46 percent from 482 thousand impressions (Av Impressions for the last 4 Mondays) to 703 thousand impressions on Monday 28 August 2017 according to BARC data.

Please refer to the two charts below for ratings of the Hindi News and the Indian English News channels during the first 42 weeks of 2017, albeit with an explanation before the second chart.

The Arnab Goswami led Republic TV is a major force to reckon with in the English News genre. Right from its launch, the channel has been garnering a huge chunk of the genres combined ratings. It has usurped the previous leader Times Now’s numero uno position in the English News genre from the very first week of its launch to date in 2017.

Republic TV’s average contribution to the combined ratings of the top five English News channels is about 36 percent – more than a third. In its launch week, the channel had contributed 49.44 percent to the combined ratings of the top five English News channels. Its lowest contribution to the genre’s ratings has been 30.56 percent in week 35 of 2017 (Saturday 26 August 2017 to Friday, 1 September 2017) – the channel had scored 0.899 million weekly impressions of the genre top five channels ratings combined total of 2.942 million weekly impressions. Hence the figure below shows two curved lines – one that includes the ratings of the top five English News channels including Republic TV and another that shows the combined ratings of the second, third, fourth and fifth ranked channels, or ratings without Republic TV ratings (w/o Republic TV).

November 8, 2017
Republic TV launches Android app

MUMBAI: Republic TV is on a roll. From rocking the ratings chart in launch week itself to going international, the channel has added one more accomplishment to its kitty. The Republic TV Android app is now live.

Claiming to be the lightest on phone storage but ‘heaviest on news’, there are three unique features. First is the ‘vertical format’ feature which ensures a deeply personal and engaging HD live video streaming experience optimised for portrait viewing on mobile phones. This feature relies on the debate production being specially produced and streamed in real-time in a 9:16 video format.

Second is the ‘interactive format’ feature where the app users can directly engage and talk to Arnab Goswami, anchors and panellists on Live TV. This technological innovation will allow users to participate in on-air debates in real-time by expressing their opinion and immediately respond to breaking news stories on-air.

Written entirely in Kotlin with an extremely tiny memory footprint of just 3.6 MB, gives it its third feature of being the lightest English news app.

Republic TV founder and editor in chief Arnab Goswami said, “Republic has been on super-fast expansion spree – we launched the channel in May, the website in July and now the app in November. I am so proud of my entire team and the technology team especially, who after months of determined effort have produced one of the world’s lightest news apps without compromising on the content or video quality for a superior user experience. With the app, Republic has established itself as a media -tech company which reflects in our new tagline – Republic- Digital. TV. Media.”

RepublicWorld COO Jay Chauhan said, “Since our inception earlier this year, we’ve been focused on newer ways of driving engagement with our content and delivering the best possible user experience. That’s reflected in our strategy to invest in amazing technology and content teams, produce live and VoD content in mobile specific aspect ratios, our choice of the tech stack and a host of other interactive and personalisation features part of our product pipeline.”

The Republic World App brings to users the widest range of trending stories, viral videos and angular opinion from across news genres of politics, sports, business, regional, lifestyle, travel, wheels, music, gadgets and society.

Using its top editorial partnerships news stories and video content is provided in English, Hindi, and eight Indian regional languages including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Odia and Gujarati.

The iOS app will launch by the end of November.

November 7, 2017
Indian English News genre facing festival blues?

BENGALURU: Is the Indian English News genre facing pre and post festival blues? For that certainly seems to be case when one looks at Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly data for weeks 1 to 43 of 2017. Ratings of the genre dipped in the week leading to, during and the week after India’s biggest festival season – Diwali. The main Diwali days were in during week 42 of 2017. It may be noted that ratings for week 21 of 2017 have not been considered in this paper because in that week English News channels with the support of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) excluding Republic TV had withdrawn from BARC ratings measurement in protest against what they claimed were unfair practices by Republic TV.

BARC weekly data for the top 5 English News genre (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB: Males 22+ Individuals) shows that the lowest combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels in 2017 until week 43 was in week 2 of 2017 (Saturday, 7 January 2017 to Friday 13 January 2017) at 1.179 million weekly impressions. Week 1 of 2017, with 1.218 million weekly impressions, had the second lowest ratings in 2017 until week 43.

The highest combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels in 2017 until week 43 of 2017 were in week 11 (Saturday, 11 March 2017 to Friday 17 March 2017) at 4.897 million weekly impressions– this was the week during which the election results of five states in India were announced. The second highest combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels were in the week that Republic TV was launched – week 19 of 2017 (Saturday, 6 May 2017 to Friday 12 May 2017) and the combined weekly ratings of the top 5 English News channels were 4.282 million, with Republic TV garnering about half the ratings of the genre – 2.115 million weekly impressions.

After that second peak, the combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels have been on the decline, with a nadir of 1.986 million weekly impressions in the pre Diwali week 41 of 2017 (Saturday, 7 October 2017 to Friday, 13 October 2017). Ratings for week 41 of 2017 were the fifteenth lowest ratings of the genre during the first 43 weeks of 2017 and the lowest ratings after the launch of Republic TV. In week 42 or Diwali week, the genre experienced the seventeenth lowest ratings in 2017 to date, and the second lowest ratings after the launch of Republic TV – 2.050 million weekly impressions. In week 43 (Saturday, 21 October 2017 to Friday, 27 October 2017), the combined ratings of the top 5 channels experienced a slight dip again at 2.206 million weekly impressions.

Now, for slight digression. The Arnab Goswami led Republic TV is a major force to reckon with in the English News genre. Right from its launch, the channel has been garnering a huge chunk of the genres combined ratings. It has usurped the previous leader Times Now numero uno position in the English News genre from the very first week of its launch to date in 2017.

Republic TV’s average contribution to the combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels is about 36 percent – more than a third. In its launch week, the channel had contributed 49.44 percent to the combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels. Its lowest contribution to the genre’s ratings has been 30.56 percent in week 35 of 2017 (Saturday 26 August 2017 to Friday, 1 September 2017) – the channel had scored 0.899 million weekly impressions of the genre top 5 channels ratings combined total of 2.942 million weekly impressions. Hence the figure below shows two curved lines – one that includes the ratings of the top 5 English News channels including Republic TV and another that shows the combined ratings of the second, third, fourth and fifth ranked channels, or ratings without Republic TV ratings (w/o Republic TV).

November 6, 2017
Republic TV enters MENA via OSN Pehla

MUMBAI: English news channel Republic TV is riding to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with its first international launch. The newest kid on the block has tied up with local pay-TV provider to launch on OSN Pehla on 5 November.

Launched in May this year by stalwart journalist and former face of Times Now, Arnab Goswami, the channel surged up the records chart in its first week and has claimed a significant pie of the English news space.

Republic TV,president of distribution and international revenues Priya Mukherjee adds, “Since our inception earlier this year, Republic TV has strived towards widening the reach of our cutting-edge content. While we successfully executed the reach of Republic TV across all households in the fragmented Indian cable distribution ecosystem during the first six months of the channel, our next target would be to reach audiences across the world. Our launch in the MENA region is our first foray in international distribution and we hope to expand our reach further with audiences around the world soon.”

Indiantelevision.com had reported that the channel was to launch in the MENA market by June, followed by a launch in Singapore.

Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani says, “Demand from the market has been over whelming and we are extremely delighted to bring Republic TV to the audiences in MENA through OSN. We will also look to create original content specific to the MENA markets in due course and Priya and her team will be offering advertisers the most impactful news media platform reaching discerning audiences in the region.”

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November 3, 2017