ITV

Tag: Arnab Goswami

  • Republic TV to launch in Middle East and Singapore

    NEW DELHI: The unstoppable TV journalist Arnab Goswami keeps marching: Republic TV, which has already announced going digital with an app, is now going overseas. While Republic TV will launch in the middle east next week, it is going to launch in Singapore next month on the Star hub.  

    Launched in May 2017, Republic TV has been leading the English News genre ratings. The channel opened its launch week, week with a bang, displacing Times Now as the genre leader, with a massive 21,18,000 weekly impressions.

    As reported by Indiantelevision.com earlier, the launch of Republic TV gave rise to an ugly war between the existing Indian English News channels and the new entrant.

    For one week, week 21 of 2017, ratings of the top Indian English news channels were not published as they had stripped their new feeds of the BARC audio watermark. The NBA-backed channels returned to the BARC fold in week 22.

    Also read

    Republic TV retains lead as Times Now narrows gap

  • Republic TV retains lead as Times Now narrows gap

    BENGALURU / MUMBAI: The on-air spat continued unabated as the Broadcast Audience Research council of India (BARC) released it numbers to its paid subscribers for week 26 of 2017 (Saturday, 24 June 2017 to Friday, 30 June 2017) at 11am on Thursday.

    When BARC released public data, it was observed that while there was an increase from 868 to 965 impressions (000s) Sum — a difference of 97. Times Now, albeit at the second position, grew in impressions from 670 to 868 — a difference of 198 impressions (000s) Sum. India Today Television and CNN News18 interchanged their positions and this week featured at the third and fourth positions, respectively.

    Earlier, at 11am telecast, both channels continued to claim numero uno status in the English New genre on air, bandying their own interpretations of the statistics. BARC numbers of the top 5 English News genre channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) that are released at 1300 hours in the public domain show the new entrant Republic TV continued to lead ratings in week 26.

    Republic TV led the table at first place with 9,65,000 weekly impressions followed by once upon a time leader Times Now with 8,68,000 weekly impressions in week 26 of 2017. Following as if by rote at number 3 was India Today Television with 4,51,000 weekly impressions. Network 18’s English News channel CNN was placed fourth with 3,80,000 impressions followed by NDTV with 3,44,000 weekly impressions.

    Right from the time it was launched in week 19 of 2017 (Saturday, 6 May 2017 to Friday, 12 May 2017), Republic TV has been leading the English News genre ratings. The channel opened its launch week, week with a bang, displacing Times Now as the genre leader, with a massive 21,18,000 weekly impressions. Times Now, the second most watched English News genre channel in week 19 trailed far behind with 11,48,000 weekly impressions. Over time, the gap between the two has narrowed down and in week 24 of 2015, the difference in the ratings of these two main protagonists in the English News genre was 28,000 weekly impressions with Republic TV’s ratings at 963,000 weekly impressions to Times Now ratings at 935,000 weekly impressions.

    As reported by Indiantelevision.com earlier, the launch of Republic TV gave rise to an ugly war between the existing Indian English News channels and the new entrant. For one week, week 21 of 2017, ratings of the top Indian English news channels were not published as they had stripped their new feeds of the BARC audio watermark. The NBA-backed channels returned to the BARC fold in week 22.

  • COO Chauhan to lead Republic TV’s digital venture, formal announcement on 6 July (updated)

    MUMBAI: Senior journalist-turned entrepreneur Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV has announced the forthcoming launch of what it called “the largest conglomerate on digital news’ — republicworld.com.

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani said that the incumbent COO Jay Chauhan would lead the digital venture. “We are planning to make a formal announcement on 6 July — the logistics are being worked out,” the CEO said.

    Republic TV has uploaded on its Facebook page a video it has shot with actress Kangana Ranaut. “It’s a vertical video optimised for mobile,” Khanchandani said in a call from Delhi.

    Earlier, at Zee Melt in Mumbai., Republic TV had announced the launch of VR television for what it called ‘for the first-ever time in India’. Republic TV editor Goswami had  then said that VR would have a separate and original feed on Republic World digital platform.

    Republic World was said to have tied up with American and Canadian companies on the technology front. Virtual Reality (VR) is the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.

    Chauhan had then said that Virtual Reality was the first of Republic TV’s initiatives to bring new content experiences to the audience.

    Also Read :

    Arnab to start ‘original VR journalism’ on Republic World

  • Republic TV continues to rule English News genre ratings

    BENGALURU: The Arnab Goswami led Indian English News channel Republic TV continued to lead the ratings in its genre for week 25 of 2017 (Saturday, 17 June 2017 to Friday, 23 June 2017). Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly data for week 25 showed that Republic TV topped the charts with 868,000 weekly impressions, followed at a fair distance behind (29.6 percent behind) by the earlier genre leader Times Now which scored 670,000 weekly impressions.

    This analysis comes with a few caveats. BBC World News has been present in the weekly top five English News channels list for 18 of the first 25 weeks of 2017. It has not been considered here, since it is not an Indian English News channel, but its ratings have been added to the sum of ratings of the top 5 channels in the English New genre as well as to arrive at average weekly ratings. The combined weekly impressions (CWI) mentioned in this analysis includes only those numbers that the channels garnered when they were in the weekly top five channels’ lists. Their overall actual weekly average impressions during the 25 weeks of 2017 could be different. BARC data for weeks 1 to 25 of 2017 for Top 5 English news channels – All India (U+R): NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals has been used. For equitable comparison, week 21 of 2017 data for the genre has not been considered at some places in this analysis.

    Right from its launch in week 19 of 2017 (6 May 2017 to 12 May 2017) Republic TV has led the genre, displacing Times Now.  During week 19, Republic TV had 2,118,000 weekly impressions, almost double that of Times Now which had 1,148,000 weekly impressions in the same week.  As the weeks have passed, the curiosity factor in Republic TV seems to have diminished and in week 24 of 2015, the difference in the ratings of these two main protagonists in the English News genre was 28,000 weekly impressions with Republic TV’s ratings at 963,000 weekly impressions to Times Now ratings at 935,000 weekly impressions.

    The launch of Republic TV gave rise to an ugly war between the existing Indian English News channels and the new entrant. For one week, week 21 of 2017, ratings of the top Indian English news channels were not published as they had stripped their new feeds of the BARC audio watermark. The NBA-backed channels returned to the BARC fold in week 22. Please refer to the chart below for the comparative ratings of the two channels:

    public://F_0.jpg

    Though Republic TV seems to have helped increase the ratings for the genre, overall the genre has seen a progressive fall in the combined weekly ratings of the top 5 channels in week 25 from the high of week 19. Before the launch of Republic TV in week 19, the top 5 English News channels had an average combined viewership of 18,83,611 weekly impressions (for weeks 1 to 18 of 2017). After the launch of Republic TV, average viewership ratings of the top 5 channels from the English News genre climbed up by 15.4 percent to 2,173,417 weekly impressions during weeks 1 to 25 of 2017.

    Please refer to the figure below for English News genre ratings in 2017 until week 25.

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    Please refer to the figure below for the list of top 5 English News channels for week 25.

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  • No let-up in Times-Republic on-air spat

    BENGALURU: Over the past few weeks on Thursdays’, just post 1100 am, both the top ranked Indian English News channels-Times Now and Republic TV started flashing BARC data, each claiming the number one spot based on ratings. The channels have continued this on-air spat once again. Republic TV says that it has topped ratings for an unprecedented sixth week in a row. The channel claims that Indian ratings monitor Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data for week 24 (Saturday, 11 June 2017 to Friday, 17 June 2017) has declared it number one across all segments at primetime and super primetime in week 24. It claims 36 per cent viewership.

    BARC data flashed by Republic TV about viewership: Republic TV 48.42 per cent; Times Now 25.05 per cent; CNN News 18 – 9.38 per cent; Indian Tiday 9.68 percent; NDTV 6.3 percent; News X- 1.11 per cent.

    ‘Pecking Order Firmly Established’ ‘Slice & Dice Won’t Work’ ‘Self Styled Claims Don’t Matter’ announced some of the slides on Republic TV

    In the meantime, Times Now has been flashing on its channel that it is the number one in the English News genre with a relative viewership of 42 per cent while putting Republic TV at second place with a relative viewership of 32 per cent. Times Now puts CNN News 18 7 percent India Today TV’s relative share at 12 per cent, and NDTV 24×7 at 5 per cent.

    “The viewership debate is over, we are number 1. It is now one month since we have been in operation and we have now become undisputed leaders in this genre. The game has just begun and we are now absolutely unstoppable. We will take the game to the next level,” Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami had declared in week 22, during a live telecom with Republic TV anchor Hariharan aired on his channel, just after 11:15am on that day.

    It may be recalled that in a coordinated move, English News channels had pulled out of BARC on 18 May, only to return to the BARC fold on from midnight of 26 May. English News channels backed by the News Broadcast Association had stripped their signals of BARC audio watermarks. The NBA had requested BARC not to publish Republic TV’s ratings, alleging that the channel has resorted to rampant multiple LCN placements on cable TV networks across the country.

  • Indian English TV News, the combat zone

    BENGALURU: Indian English news channel Republic TV was launched on 6 May 2017 with Arnab Goswami as promoter and editor-in-chief. Right from the beginning, the channel has been making waves – for both, the wrong and the right reasons. Republic TV began beaming on the first day of Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) week 19 – Saturday, 6 May 2017 to Friday, 12 May 2017. Since then, the genre has never been the same again.
     This analysis comes with a few caveats. BBC World News has been present in the weekly top five English News channels list for 16 of the first 23 weeks of 2017. However, it has not been considered here, since it is not an Indian English News channel. The combined weekly impressions (CWI) mentioned in this analysis includes only those numbers that the channels garnered when they were in the weekly top five channels’ lists. Their overall actual weekly average impressions during the 23 weeks of 2017 could be different. BARC data for weeks 1 to 23 of 2017 for Top 5 English news channels – All India (U+R) :NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals has been used. For equitable comparison, week 21 data for the genre has not been considered at some places in this analysis.

    That the new entrant Republic TV raised the hackles of the existing players would be an understatement. The Indian English news genre was boiling. Accusations of theft, of ratings-rigging, running an on-air war by flashing viewership data on TV screens, rookie announcers shaming older peer channels, court cases, etc. have all been witnessed. Was it suddenly an all-out war of Goliaths getting together to demolish the fledgling David? At least that’s what the new entrant wanted the world to believe: that it is a Goliaths vs David battle.

    For one week, week 21 of 2017, ratings of the top Indian English news channels were not published as they had stripped their new feeds of the BARC audio watermark. The NBA-backed channels returned to the BARC fold in week 22.

    Ratings for weeks 1 to 23 of 2017 – excluding week 21

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    Until week 19 of 2017, Times Now was the alpha entity, the numerouno of the English news genre in India – be it Indian English news or overall English news beaming over India. Until week 19, the combined weekly impressions (CWI) of the top 5 English news channels in India averaged around 1.884 million impressions, and this included the highest ratings ever recorded by the genre in 2017 in week 10 when election results of the five states were announced.

    The top 5 channels from the English news genre recorded CWI of 4.897 million in week 10, with Weekly Impressions of 2.282 million for Times Now. Week 19 of 2017 saw the second largest ratings recorded until week 23 of 2017 by the top 5 English news channels with a CWI of 4.282 million. This included the Weekly Impressions of 2.177 million for Republic TV. This is alsothe second highest ratings recorded by any English news channel during the first 23 weeks of 2017.

    Please refer to the figure below:

    public://222222222222.jpg

    The figure below shows the average Weekly Impressions for some of the Indian English news channels that have been present in BARC’s list of top 5 English news channels during the first 23 weeks of 2017. It may be noted that Week 21 numbers have not been considered in obtaining the average weekly impressions for all the channels in the figure below. Even the average for Republic TV in the figure has been obtained without adding its viewership numbers for week 21. The numbers have been rounded off to the third decimal place.

    Republic TV’s viewership average weekly impressions at 1.463 million over the four weeks that have been considered in the figure beloware far higher than those of its closest competitor Times Now average weekly impressions of 0.770 million, or the 0.360 million by the third ranked India Today Television. The averages of Times Now, India Today Television, CNN News18 and NDTV 24×7 are for a 22 week period. News X appeared in the weekly list of top 5 English news channels only twice during the first 22 weeks of 2017.

    End points

    The real competition as of now seems to be the one between the previous ratings ruler Times Now and the supposed usurper Republic TV. As mentioned  earlier, the curiosity factor that Republic TV had aroused before and at the time of its launch seems to have waned. Republic TV’s viewership has been declining from the high of 2.117 million impressions in week 19 to 0.979 million impressions for week 22 of 2017, which then increased in week 23 to 1.054 millionimpressions. As a matter of fact, from the short term perspective, Times Now average weekly viewership during the four weeks after the launch of Republic (weeks 19, 20, 22 and 23) has gone up to 0.880 million impressions from the average weeklyviewership of 0.640 million during the four weeks before ( weeks 15,16, 17 and 18) the launch of Republic TV. There could be a number of factors responsible for this, including the end of IPL 10 in week 21. Please refer to the figure below:

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    It is still early days in the case of Republic TV. Only time will tell how the channel performs over the long haul. Will the gap between its ratings and other channels reduce or widen? However, in this war amongst the English news channels, on-air etiquette has been forgotten, especially on the day audience measurement data is announced. Crowing about one’s achievements and bashing the competition have become a norm. Well, if that is what the protagonist broadcasters reckon the viewers want, so be it, until their day of reckoning.

     

  • Times Now-Republic TV on-air ratings spat continues as each claims top spot in week 23

    BENGALURU: Last week on Thursday, just post 11 am, the newborn Republic TV and the grand old lady of the English news business Times Now, starting flashing BARC data, each claiming the number one spot in viewership. The channels have continued this on-air spat once again. Republic TV says that it has done it once again, if one were to go by the Indian ratings monitor Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) numbers flashed by it on the channel for week 23 (Saturday, 3 June 2017 to Friday, 10 June 2017).

    Republic TV claims that it has been number one across all segments in week 23. It claims 147 per cent greater viewership than Times Now across all segments across India and 247 per cent greater viewership than Times Now at super primetime.

    In the meantime, Times Now has been flashing on its channel that it is the number one in the English news genre with a relative viewership of 42 per cent while putting Republic TV at second place with a relative viewership of 31 per cent. Times Now puts CNN News 18 9 per cent India Today TV’s relative share at 7 per cent, and NDTV 24×7 at 5 per cent each.

    Republic TV shared viewership details of the other peers in the English News genre: Times Now-28.8 per cent; CNN News 18-12 per cent; India Today News-11 per cent; NDTV-19 per cent; News X-2.5 per cent.

    “The viewership debate is over, we are number 1. It is now one month since we have been in operation and we have now become undisputed leaders in this genre. The game has just begun and we are now absolutely unstoppable. We will take the game to the next level,” declared Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami last week, during a live telecom with Republic TV anchor Hariharan aired on his channel, just after 11:15AM.

    It may be recalled that in a coordinated move, English News channels had pulled out of BARC on 18 May, only to return to the BARC fold on from midnight of 26 May. English News channels backed by the News Broadcast Association had stripped their signals of BARC audio watermarks. The NBA had requested BARC not to publish Republic TV’s ratings, alleging that the channel has resorted to rampant multiple LCN placements on cable TV networks across the country.

  • Republic does it again – tops the English News genre in week 22

    BENGALURU: Republic TV has done it again, if one were to go by the Indian ratings monitor Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) numbers flashed by it on the channel. Republic TV claims viewership percentage of 43 percent overall and 57 percent during primetime for week 22 (Saturday, 27 May 2017 to Friday, 2 June 2017). The channel says that it has been number one across all segments in week 22.

    Republic TV shared viewership details of the other peers in the English News genre: Times Now-32.3 percent; CNN News 18-5.8 percent; India Today News-10.1 percent; NDTV-8.2 percent; News X-2.7 percent.

    “The viewership debate is over, we are number 1. It is now one month since we have been in operation and we have now become undisputed leaders in this genre. The game has just begun and we are now absolutely unstoppable. We will take the game to the next level,” said Republic TV editor-in-chief during a live telecom with Republic TV anchor Hariharan aired on his channel.

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    In the meantime, Times Now has been flashing on its channel that it is no one in the English News genre with a relative viewership of 39 percent while  putting Republic TV at second place with a relative viewership of 37 percent. Times Now puts India Today TV’s relative share at 7 percent, CNN News 18 and NDTV 24×7 at 5 percent each.

    It may be recalled that in a coordinated move, English News channels had pulled out of BARC on 18 May, only to return to the BARC fold on from midnight of 26 May. English News channels backed by the News Broadcast Association had stripped their signals of BARC audio watermarks. The NBA had requested BARC not to publish Republic TV’s ratings, alleging that the channel has resorted to rampant multiple LCN placements on cable TV networks across the country.  

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    In the first week of operations (BARC week 19), Republic TV had a viewership share of 52 percent, which fell to 49 percent in BARC week 20. Data for week 21 for the English News was irrelevant because of the withdrawal Republic TV’s major competitors from BARC ratings.

  • How Republic TV is spreading its wings through media partnerships

    MUMBAI: Republic TV has been hitting the headlines for its provocative stories ever since its launch and because of its attitude of taking the fight to the enemy camp, no matter how much muscle they may have.  The latest battle that has burst out is that of landing pages on distribution platforms such as DTH and cable TV operators being hijacked by older rivals for promotional feeds.

    But, not many know that the Arnab Goswami-helmed news channels has roped in a roster of partners with the aim of beefing up the channel’s news gathering reach. Memorandums of understanding have been signed with more than 20 media outlets, with partnership arrangements  in place with another 10.

    The media outlets which have got into bed with Republic TV include: Business World, OTV, Sambad, News Live, Niyomiya Barta, North East Live, Punjab Kesari, Aajkaal, S Newz, Dainik Bhaskar, Nirmana News, Kashmir Monitor, Lokmat, Vikatan TV, Polimer, Asianetnews.tv, Asianet News, Kannada Prabha, Suvarna News, News Mobile.in; across India and the community partners include tripoto.com, RSJ, LBB.in, yourstory.com, digit.in and AutoX.

    Says Republic TV editor Niranjan Narayanaswamy: “This is a first of sorts.  No other news channel has had such, and so many  tie-ups.”

    For Republic TV, which has 20 news bureaus, 10 DSNG vans and 50 news backpacks, the partnerships, says CEO Vikas Khanchandani, provide it “access into the district, local and regional areas adding to the capability of the networks’seamless exchange of news from the regional and local partners.”

    And that’s where the crux lies: the partnerships are in the form of editorial exchange. Republic TV editors and the partners’ teams continuously share news developments with each other, both, on national and regional levels. Editorial meets are held at least thrice a day to decide on stories that need highlighting and following up.

    Filters, and verification checks are applied by Republic TV editors to every one of the news breaks before they make their way on air. Each news story is credited to the source partner and even its logo is aired on the TV channel, along with the story. “There is no commercial exchange,” says Khanchandani. “They can also dip into our resources.”

    The idea to forge alliances popped up in Arnab’s crafty news brain, he reveals. “The experience he had gathered while working with the Times made him realise that a structure like that was essential for his channel to  be able to get news reports from the grassroots levels,” he explains.

    He points out to how these partnerships have helped, effectively referring especially to the news reportage by Republic TV on the raids that the National Investigation Agency carried  out in Kashmir following reports of alleged funding received by separatist groups for carrying out subversive activities in the Valley. “Other channels were sleeping, and we carried the story around at 5 am IST. We had a team five  to six  reporters, and we had gone to 14 locations which were raided,” says Narayanaswamy. “This was only possible because of our partners, and timely inputs from them which helped us strategically.”

    He discloses further partnership conversations are under way with four or five international news outlets and many more domestic media outlets are knocking on the company’s doors for alliances as they believe in the brand of Arnab Goswami, and what the channel brings to the table.

    “Russia Today, Sri Lanka’s Maharaja TV and Facebook are some of the international deals already in place,” he says.

    Khanchandani explains that the tieups are long term in nature, and will continue even as Republic TV expands its news stringers and its bureau presence all over India.

    And, many of the partners came out in full strength when Republic TV shouted its viewership dominance of the English news channel genre within the first week of its launch. “It was quite interesting to see all the corporate executives and media owners patting team Arnab on its back for breaking out into the top slot on television,” says a media observer. “This further lent credibility to what he had been talking about for so long.”

    Also Read :

    Arnab to start ‘original VR journalism’ on Republic World

    Republic TV insists it’s FTA, DTH platforms to charge subscribers for viewing?

    Republic TV has 51.9% viewership in debut  week: BARC gives data to paid subs despite NBA’s request

  • Number of TV channels reaches 882 – far from target, 10 entrants in past quarter

    NEW DELHI: India now has a total of 882 functional private television channels (as on 31 May 2017) which is way short of the claim made last year that the country will have 1500 channels by the end of March this year.

    The master list issued by the Government of 882 includes nine channels whose permission has been “cancelled by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry due to security denial by Home Ministry However stay order given by Court.” The list also names two channels MTV Beats HD (earlier STAY RAW) and the Bangla AATH (earlier Channel 8) which have changed names since the last list issued as on 28 February 2017.

    While permission was accorded to a total of 1071 TV channels, the licences of 189 were cancelled. (This does not include the nine whose cases were stayed by Courts.)

    Of the 882, 391 are news channels while 491 are general entertainment channels. Of these, 773 782 channels including 369 news channels are permitted to uplink from and downlink in India. Another 01 including sixteen news channels are uplinked from overseas and permitted to downlink into India.

    In comparison, the country has only eighteen channels including six news channels which are uplinked from India but permitted to downlinked in other countries.

    Interestingly, while the total number of operational channels has fallen by ten, a total of ten new channels have entered the field in the past three months till May-end.

    The number of total channels had grown from 869 in February-end 2016 to 892 in February-end this year but has fallen by ten since then. In fact, the number had risen to 899 by the end of December 2016 when the total cancellations were 155. By January-end this year, the number had fallen to 889 of which twelve banned channels had received stay orders from Courts.

    Channels permitted from March onwards include Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV, Tunes 6 Music owned by Movements Digital India Pvt. Ltd; Surya Samachar and Surya Sagar owned by Surya Sagar Surya Processed Food Pvt. Ltd; Sony Aath owned by Bangla Entertainment Pvt. Ltd; Cartoon Netwrok HD+ (earlier Cartoon Network HD) owned by Turner International India Pvt Ltd; Public Comedy owned by Writeman Media Pvt. Ltd; Zee Kannada HD and Zee Telugu HD owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited; and Euro News owned by Catvision Ltd.

    The list of the channels permitted as on 31 May 2017 along with their area and language of operation and the names of owning companies has been placed on the ministry’s site.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which goes into issues relating to Information and Broadcasting had last year noted that the State Finance Commission while drafting its proposals for the 12th Plan (2012-17) had assumed that the number of permitted TV channels would rise to 1500.

    Meanwhile, the Committee was told that the present set up of Electronic Media Monitoring Centre had developed logging and recording facility for 900 TV channels and is thus fully equipped to start monitoring of all permitted channels available on public domain.

    The Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd. (BECIL) is configuring all available free to air channels in the content monitoring system of the EMMC.