Tag: Arnab Goswami

Dominance of Republic TV continues as genre ratings plunge

BENGALURU: The Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV continued to lead the English News genre as the combined weekly ratings of the top 5 English News channels for week 41 (Saturday, 7th October 2017 to Friday, 13th October 2017) reached a new nadir – the lowest ratings in the second half year of 2017 to date.

The combined weekly ratings of the top 5 English News channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) in week 41 of 2017 according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) were a measly 1.986 million impressions, lower than the peak viewerships of the top two channels in some weeks of 2017. The combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels in week 41 were the fifteenth lowest in 2017 to date. It may be noted that ratings for week 21 have not been considered in this paper.

Despite topping the genre, Republic TV reported its lowest ratings since it launched on 6 May 2017 (Week 19 of 2017) – the channel scored just 0.685 million weekly impressions. Another regular in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 English News channels – CNN News 18, also garnered its lowest weekly ratings for the year to date in week 41 of 2017. The channel was ranked 5 in week 41 with 0.173 million weekly impressions.

Goswami’s previous employer – Times Now was ranked second in week 41 of 2017 – its usual rank after the launch of Republic TV, scoring its eighth lowest viewership in 2017 to date with 0.59 million weekly impressions. India Today Television scored its fourth lowest ratings in 2017 to date with 0.286 million weekly impressions in week 41 of 2017. India Today TV was ranked fourth in week 41 of 2017, after NDTV 24×7 that scored 0.252 million weekly impressions at third place. It may be noted that NDTV 24×7 has not found a place in the weekly top 5 English News channels during all the 41 weeks of 2017 till date, hence its ratings relative to other weeks in 2017 have not been mentioned in this paper.

In the meantime, just post 1100am when detailed BARC data is released to paid subscribers, both the leading English News genres channels – Republic TV and Times Now continued their online tirade, each claiming numero uno status in the genre after slicing and dicing BARC data in a manner than showed each in good light. It may be noted that BARC data is generally released on Thursday for the previous Saturday to Friday period at 1100 hours to paid subscribers. Data for top 5 or top 10 channels or programmes or advertisers is also released on Thursday to the public at 1300 hours on its website.

October 23, 2017
Republic TV tops once again as genre ratings fall

BENGALURU: Republic TV juggernaut continued its relentless dominance of the Indian English News genre according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly viewership for week 40 of 2017 (Saturday, 30 September 2017 to Friday, 6 October 2017). The Arnab Goswami led channel has been leading the genre right from its launch 22 weeks ago in week 19 of 2017.

However, BARC data for top 5 English News channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) reveals that the combined viewership of the top 5 channels of the genre plunged to lowest ever since week 22 of 2017. Also, Republic TV’s ratings in week 40 of 2017 were the lowest ever since its commencement. It may be noted that week 21 ratings have not been considered in this paper, because the other channels supported by the News Broadcasting Association had stripped their BARC audio watermarks to disallow viewership measurement in protest against what they termed as unfair practices by Republic TV. The errant channels returned to the BARC fold in week 22 of 2017.

Republic TV with 840,000 weekly impressions (Sums) for week 40 of 2017 led the genre, followed by the channel it had disposed from numero uno position when it was launched – The Times Group’s flagship English News channel Times Now that stood at second place with 717,000 weekly impressions (Sums). The previous lowest viewership ratings of Republic TV was in weeks 25 and 27 of 2017 – 868,000 weekly impressions (Sums).

The Prannoy and Radhika Roy led NDTV 24 x 7 climbed to third place in the genre with 347,000 weekly impressions (Sums) in week 40 from fifth rank in week 39 when it had garnered 328,000 weekly impressions (Sums).

NDTV 24×7 was followed by India Today Television at fourth place in week 40 of 2017 with 338,000 weekly impressions (Sums). In week 39 also the channel was ranked fourth with 353,000 weekly impressions (Sums). CNN News 18 dropped two ranks to fifth place in week 40 of 2017 with 244,000 weekly impressions (Sums). The channel had scored 368,000 weekly impressions (Sums) in week 39.

Overall, the Indian English News genre lost viewership in week 40 of 2017 – the combined ratings of the top 5 channels was 2,486,000 weekly impressions the lowest since week 22 of 2017 when the combined ratings of the top 5 channels was 2,463,000 weekly impressions. In week 39, the combined viewership of the top 5 English News channels was 2,888,000 weekly impressions. Please refer to the figure below for the combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels for weeks 1 to 40 of 2017.

October 12, 2017
Republic TV leads English News as genre ratings increase a bit

BENGALURU: The Arnab Goswami led Republic TV continued its supremacy over the English News genre in week 39 of 2017 (Saturday, 23 September 2017 to Friday, 29 September 2017). The channel has been topping Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly lists of top 10 English News channels All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals right from the very first week of its launch on 6 May 2017 (week 19 of 2017). The Times Group flagship English News channel Times Now, which had what seemed an unassailable first rank in the genre, was replaced by Republic TV. The combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels in week 39 of 2017 increased to 2.888 million weekly impressions as compared to the 2.716 million weekly ratings in week 38. All the top five channels in week 39 retained their week 38 ranks and places, with four of the five scoring higher ratings as compared to the previous week. Only NDTV 24 x 7 had slightly lower ratings in week 39 as compared to week 38.

In week 39 of 2017, Republic TV viewership increased to 0.982 million weekly impressions from 0.902 million weekly impressions in week 38. Times Now saw its weekly impressions in week 39 increase to 0.857 million as compared to 0.791 million in the previous week and was ranked second in the list. CNN News 18 was ranked third in week 39 with 0.368 million weekly impressions, higher as compared the 0.347 million weekly impressions in week 38.

India Today Television also retained rank four with 0.353 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2017 as compared to 0.343 million weekly impressions in week 38. NDTV 24 x 7 completed the quintet with 0.328 million weekly impressions in week 39 as compared to 0.331 million weekly impressions in week 38. In week 38, NDTV 24 x 7 had re-entered at fifth place in the top 5 English News genre list replacing BBC World News.

In the meantime, both the genre toppers – Republic TV and Times Now continued their on-air muscle flexing on their respective channels just after BARC ratings were released today after 1100 hours. Each once again showed different interpretations of BARC data to its genre leadership in terms of viewership, while accusing the other of mis-practice and unfairness. Detailed BARC data is generally released to paid subscribers at 1100 hours on Thursday and limited data that has been used to make this report to the public at 1300 hours. Since Thursday 5 October 2017 was a public holiday, the data was released one day later on 6 October 2017.

October 6, 2017
Times Now, Republic TV on-air ratings squabble continues

BENGALURU: The puerile on-air ratings squabble between one of the biggest names in Indian media Bennett Coleman’s Times Group’s Indian English News channel Times Now and the startup Republic TV now led by the former’s editor in chief, Arnab Goswami, continued without abating.

As is their wont every Thursday after the release of Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) ratings data, both the biggest players in the Indian English Television News genre continued boasting about how each was number one in the genre. This spat has been going on since the very first week that Republic TV data was published – this was data for week 19 of 2017 (Saturday, 6 May 2017 to Friday 12 May 2017).

Each channel slices and dices BARC weekly data for the genre in the manner that makes it appear the best and touts the results on its respective channel.

So how did they fare in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 English News channels for week 38 of 2017 (Saturday, 16 September 2017 to Friday, 22 September 2017) today? Let’s take a dekko at the BARC ratings numbers for All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals. Based on BARC’s demographics, Republic TV has led the English News genre right from the very first week of its launch – it is now 20 weeks that it has held the pole position for.

Republic TV continued to rule the top 5 channels in the English News genre list for week 38 of 2017 with 0.904 million weekly impressions, higher than the previous week’s 0.871 million weekly impressions. Times Now’s ratings also increased in week 38 as compared to week 37 by 20,000 impressions. The channel scored 0.791 million weekly impressions in week 38 as compared to 0.771 million weekly impressions in week 37.

CNN News 18 was placed third in week 38 of 2107 with a steady 0.347 million weekly impressions – the channel was placed fourth in the previous week with approximately the same weekly impressions. India Today Television lost a rank and 4,000 weekly impressions in week 38 as compared to week 37 of 2017. The channel notched fourth rank with 0.343 million weekly impressions in week 38 as compared to 0.347 million weekly impressions and third rank in week 37 of 2017.

NDTV 24×7 reentered the list and completed the top five channels quintet in week 38 of 2017 at rank 5 with 0.331 million weekly impressions. In week 37, it was BBC World News that was ranked 5 with the same number of weekly impressions – 0.331 million.

September 28, 2017
English News ratings’ slide continues although Republic TV viewership improves slightly

BENGALURU: The Arnab Goswami headed Indian English News channel Republic TV has been leading the genre in terms of viewership right from week 19 of 2017, the week the channel was launched. Republic TV started with a bang – it had garnered 2.117 million weekly impressions as per Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of top 5 English News channels All India (U+R): NCCS AB: Males 22+ Individuals in week 19 of 2017. The channel continued to lead the English News genre in week 37 of 2017 (Saturday, 9th September 2017 to Friday, 15th September 2017) with 871,000 weekly impressions, much better than the nadir of 854,000 weekly impressions in the previous week. Though Republic TV gained 17,000 more viewers in week 37, its other genre peers, except CNN News 18, lost ratings and the combined weekly impressions of the top 5 English News channels in week 37 of 2017 fell to 2.669 million weekly impressions which was lower than the previous week’s combined ratings of 2.76 million.

The gap between Republic TV and runner up Times Now widened to about 10,000 impressions as the latter recorded 771,000 weekly impressions in week 37 of 2017as compared to 813,000 weekly impressions in week 36. India Today Television also lost viewership in week 37 of 2017. The channel recorded 349,000 weekly impressions in week 37 of 2017 compared to 453,000 weekly impressions in week 36. CNN News 18 climbed to fourth place in week 37 of 2017 with 347,000 weekly impressions, better than rank 5 and the 310,000 weekly impressions in week 36 of 2017. BBC World News completed the quintet in week 37 of 2017 with 331,000 weekly impressions. The channel replaced week 36’s fourth placed NDTV24x7, which exited the top 5 English News channels list in week 37. Please refer to the figure below.

The average ratings of the top 5 channels in the English News genre between weeks 1 to 37 (except week 21 of 2017) were 2.466 million weekly impressions. The highest combined ratings of the top five channels from the English News genre were in week 11 of 2017 at 4.897 million weekly impressions, while the lowest were in week 2 of 2017 at 1.179 million weekly impressions.

September 21, 2017
Republic TV seeks more involvement in NBA India ahead of AGM

MUMBAI: It has shaken up the Indian news broadcasting space within just a few months of its existence. Now, Republic TV, co-promoted by Arnab Goswami, is seeking to sweep clean the functioning of an industry body— the News Broadcasters’ Association of India or NBA, which, incidentally, is holding its tenth annual general meeting next week.

Though recently it was inducted into the NBA India as a member, Republic’s Arnab, earlier in May, had dubbed the news outfit as a “cabal” and a “toothless body used for lobbying” by a chosen few people. Republic TV has now urged its concerns on the alleged “undemocratic” ways of NBA India to be discussed in the next meeting of the industry organization.

In a letter signed by its CEO Vikas Khanchandani and addressed to NBA India secretary general Annie Thomas, Republic TV has expressed that it would like to be an active participant in the process of addressing and finding solutions for the news broadcasters’ collective concerns.

However, it has pointed out that a couple of governance practices in NBA India’s charter are preventing it being an active participant, labelling them as quite “undemocratic.”

Amongst these is the provision that allows for seven “permanent” members. Republic TV’s assertions — “this may have been necessary in the early stages of the association, but maintaining a continued preferential even today is unjustified” — could very well set the cat amongst the pigeons if the note to NBA India is discussed at next week’s AGM and an amicable solution is not arrived at.

The second objection of Republic TV is a provision that the NBA India board has been given powers to “induct up to two permanent directors with the affirmative vote of all the permanent directors voting in that meeting.” The letter, reviewed by Indiantelevision.com, states, “This is an arbitrary power and needs to change with the new realities.”

Another rule, which it believes is restrictive, is the requirement of a six-month membership (before an ordinary general meeting), if a member wants to elect a representative to the association’s board. “This effectively keeps a new member like us outside the election process,” Khanchandani’s note points out, making it clear that Republic TV wants to be an office-bearer of NBA India.

Additionally, it has alleged that the election of the NBA India office bearers, including the president, happens more by consensus rather than by an open electoral process, a system that needs an “immediate change.”

Republic TV has stated that it would like these “permanent” practices and rules to be updated and made more relevant for today in its letter that has also been marked to the minister for information & broadcasting (MIB), secretary MIB and all NBA India members. Why the letter has been also copied to the government is not clear.

Indiantelevision.com on Friday evening reached out to Joseph to get the NBA viewpoint and she stated that she was not authorized to speak to the media “on these matters.” The association’s vice-president and CEO & MD of Times TV Network/Times Global Broadcasting MK Anand said he was clueless about the Republic TV letter.

Well, this was the news bulletin for today, but keep tuned in as we keep tracking this developing story.

Also Read: “The NBA is a toothless group,” says Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami

NBA urges BARC not to release Republic TV viewership data until LCN issue is resolved

New NBA member Republic TV wants regional & web players in

Republic TV files contempt petition against Times Group

India Today Group CEO Ashish Bagga resigns

September 15, 2017
Imam Bukhari challenges ‘fake’ story, Republic TV denies receipt of notice

MUMBAI: You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life, said Winston Churchill. There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that’s not being talked about, said Oscar Wilde. Arnab Goswami fits both.

The ‘shahi imam’ of Jama Masjid in Delhi, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, has reportedly served a defamation notice on Republic TV’s promoters including its founder and editor, Arnab Goswami, for what he says “was malicious reporting on the mosque.”

Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani however told Indiantelevision.com that the channel did not receive any notice yet. And, if at all the man had despatched the notice, the matter would become sub-judice. (In law, sub-judice, Latin for “under judgment”, means that a particular case is under trial or being considered by a judge or court.)

In his notice, Janta Ka Reporter wrote, Bukhari demanded an on-air apology from the channel and removal of any video content existing on the web platforms owned by Republic TV within 15 days.

In its programme on 30 August, Republic TV had claimed that electricity supply to the historic mosque was cut by the Delhi Electricity Department due to non-payments of bills. The channel had run this story repeatedly while also using its official Twitter handle to tweet about it. Its tweet reportedly read, “Imam Bukhari has money to buy luxurious cars but can’t pay electricity bills?”

Imam Bukhari said the story was baseless and defamatory, as the power of the mosque was never cut.

The notice reportedly stated: “It was expected that as an organisation having a wide broadcast television news channel audience, you should have verified the facts before embarking upon such unprofessional and irresponsible statements which are nothing but intended to defame our client. The aforementioned news report is not only a glaring case of false and fake reporting but has also been telecast with mala fide intent to adversely affect the image and reputation of our client,” the Indian Awaaz reported.

Media companies will not only need journalists but good lawyers too if they wanted “the show to go on.”

September 11, 2017
Arnab Goswami is free to report on Sunanda Pushkar case

MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court on Friday refrained from issuing any interim order restraining journalist and editor Arnab Goswami and his channel Republic TV from airing news or debate in connection with Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death case.

As the case was sub-judice, Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani chose not to comment on the latest order while talking to Indiantelevision.com

Pushkar was found dead in a South Delhi five-star hotel on the night of 17 January, 2014. The matter is being investigated.

Earlier, in May-end, the Delhi HC had sent a notice to Goswami asking him to avoid rhetoric in the story in the Tharoor’s defamation plea. Justice Manmohan had then observed: “You cannot call him names. That is uncalled-for.”

While the channel was then careful in how it reported about the case, a senior advocate, appearing for Tharoor, said some Republic TV reporters were not taking the same care while tweeting.
The Lok Sabha MP had filed a civil defamation suit against Goswami and the channel, seeking damages and compensation of Rs 20 million.
Now, a day ago, Justice Manmohan issued a notice to Goswami and the channel seeking their responses on Tharoor’s plea to restrain them from allegedly misreporting the contents of court proceedings in Pushkar case. The court said the subject needed detailed hearing and, only then, a detailed verdict could be given.

The judge now stated the Congress leader had not shown any law by which investigation could be done by the journalist/editor. “Show me that after the first date of hearing (29 May), he (Goswami) has called you a murderer,” the judge said, adding: “I cannot dictate what should be the editorial policy of a news channel.” “Certainly, the public surely has the right to know what has happened in the case. The police has not even filed a chargesheet for last three and half years,” the judge said.

Tharoor, who was second in the race to become the UN secretary-general, had alleged that, after the last date of hearing on 16 August, the journalist/editor and his channel continued to indulge in misreporting and had broadcast an eight-hour programme on 4 September related to his wife’s death.

The politician had also sought direction to the channel and its editor that they should not mention the expression “murder of Sunanda Pushkar” anywhere, since it is yet to be established by a competent court whether her death was “murder.”

Tharoor, in the petition earlier, had stated: “It is not out of place to say that Goswami and the TV channel broadcast news reports and ‘alleged expose’ which were intended to lead the viewers to believe that the deceased was murdered either by Tharoor or at his instance.”

Also Read:

Republic TV & Pushkar’s kin restrained, hearing on 21 Sept

Arnab Goswami told to respect Tharoor’s right, Delhi HC hearing on 16 Aug

Shashi Tharoor files defamation case against Arnab Goswami’s Republic

September 9, 2017
Republic TV leads even as ratings fall

BENGALURU: The Arnab Goswami-led Indian English News channel Republic TV continued to lead its genre in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of top 5 English News channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) in week 35 of 2017 (Saturday, 26 August 2017 to Friday, 1 September 2017).

The channel has been the genre leader right from the first week since its launch on Saturday, 6 May 2017 (Week 19 of 2017). Two channels lost viewership in week 35 as compared to week 34, while the other three gained viewership in terms of weekly impressions.

Though Republic TV topped the English News genre, it obtained only 0.899 million weekly impressions in week 35 as compared to the 1.048 million weekly impressions in week 34 or the 2.117 million weekly impressions in the week of its launch. Following on the heels of Republic TV was the previous genre topper Times Now with 0.868 million weekly impressions at second place in week 35. In week 34 of 2017, Times Now had obtained 0.836 million weekly impressions.

Times Now was followed by India Today Television at the third place in week 35 with 0.489 million impressions, better than the 0.437 million impressions in week 34. NDTV 24×7 climbed back to fourth place of week 33 in week 35. The channel scored 0.378 million impressions as compared to the 0.325 million impressions in week 34. CNN News 18 completed the quintet at fifth place with 0.308 million impressions in week 35, lower than the 0.333 million impressions in week 34.

September 7, 2017
Republic TV continues to lead English News genre for 16th consecutive week

BENGALURU: The Arnab Goswamin-led Indian English news channel Republic TV continued to lead the genre for the sixteenth week in a row (fifteenth, if numbers for week 21 are not considered) in week 34 (Saturday, 19 August 2017 to Friday, 25 August 2017).

Republic TV was launched on 6 May 2017, the first day of week 19 of 2017 and has been leading the genre since. The channel garnered 1.048 million weekly impressions, in week 34, almost the same as the 1.044 million weekly impressions it had in the previous week.

As reported by Indiantelevision.com earlier, just a couple of weeks after the launch of Republic TV – in week 21, its peer Indian English news channels had withdrawn their watermarks owing to which BARC was unable to fairly measure ratings for the English News genre – the rebelling channels didn’t want BARC to measure the new entrant’s ratings, claiming that Republic TV was using unfair means to garner more ratings. BARC refused to kowtow, saying that it was only a measuring agency, not a compliance agency. For one week ratings of Indian English News channels were not published by BARC, until the erring channels returned to the BARC audience measurement fold.

For a change, this Thursday, just post 1100 am when BARC reveals ratings to channels, Times Now did mention the breakup in percentage terms its overall relative share as has been the norm. The channel just ran a still showing that it had a relative share of 37 percent. It’s bête noire, Republic TV, however did give a breakup of primetime ratings from its perspective. Both channels however did continue their traditional ticker tapes boasts and claims, while running each other down.

Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data for Top 5 English News channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) for week 34 reveals that two of the top 5 English News channels lost viewership in week 34 as compared to week 33. While Times Now lost ratings, CNN News 18 and NDTV 24×7 interchanged fourth and fifth places in week 34, with the latter losing viewership. Overall, the genre seems to have reported lower viewership if one were to go by the combined weekly impressions of the top 5 English News channels in week 34 ad compared to week 33. The combined weekly impressions of the top five English News channels were 2.979 million in week 34 as compared to 3.091 million in week 33.

Republic TV’s closest competitor Times Now lost over 203,000 weekly impressions at the reported 0.836 million weekly impressions in week 34 as compared to the 1.039 million weekly impressions in week 33. India Today Television retained its third place in the list with 0.437 million weekly impressions in week 34 as compared to 0.366 million weekly impressions in week 33.

CNN News 18 was at fourth place in week 34 with 0.333 million weekly impressions as compared to fifth place in week 33 with 0.290 weekly impressions. NDTV 24×7 was fifth in the week with 0.325 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.352 million weekly impressions and fourth place in week 33.

August 31, 2017