MUMBAI: New kid on the news block Republic TV has claimed it made a “stunning debut on Hotstar” crossing “a million viewers” within a day of its launch.
In an official joint statement of Republic TV and Hotstar, the news channel announced it has “created leadership in the most coveted news audience in the country, the urban viewers”.
Republic’s reach on Hotstar’s OTT platform exceeded that of the top English news channels on television, including Times Now, India Today TV, CNN News18 and NDTV 24×7 amongst both the urban M15+ audience as well as viewers in the top 60 cities in India, according to the statement put out by Republic TV, helmed by Arnab Goswami and funded, amongst others, by entrepreneur-turned-politician Rajeev Chandrashekhar, a vice-chairman of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that rules India.
Claiming that it is a “dramatic announcement given the viewership benchmarks are from a single digital platform”, the Republic TV-Hotstar statement said the new news channel’s viewership figures exceeded that of “traditional news channels significantly”.
According to the claims, Republic TV’s viewership percentage was 208 per cent of Times Now, 229 per cent of India Today, 311 per cent of CNN News18 and 254 per cent of NDTV 24X7. It further claimed that the comparisons are vis-a-vis TV figures that BARC India would collect within all-India 1mn+ towns, including mega-cities, for 22 April 2017.
Indiantelevision.com is not in a position to independently verify the viewership figures submitted by Republic TV and Hotstar. BARC India, the country’s present audience measurement currency, has not yet come out with data relating to Republic TV and other Indian news channels for the period under consideration till the time of writing this report.
Commenting on the matter, the official statement quoted Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan as saying, “This is an exciting start and is a testimony to the impactful launch of Republic and the strength of the Hotstar platform, which has become the de facto destination for young, digital India.”
Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani said in the statement, “Republic will be the largest and most impactful news platform. We are excited to partner with Hotstar and bring in an entirely new audience to the Republic community. We are also thrilled to have taken a leadership position on debut itself. ”
MUMBAI: Buying a house one day is a dream that most Indians have. CNN-News18, through a special campaign ‘#WhereIsMyHome?’ done by the channel last year had highlighted the plight of families from all across the country, who have been waiting for their home to be delivered for years. It is against this background that the Central Government has brought the Real Estate Regulation & Development Act (RERA) into force on 1 May 2017. The objective of the Act is to bring transparency and accountability to the real estate sector and is likely to bring tremendous relief to home buyers.
Given this development, CNN-News18 is once again bringing back its special campaign ‘#WhereIsMyHome?’ This time, the campaign will focus on RERA and educate viewers about the Act through stories and case studies. The programming will also have stories which will question and expose the ‘Builder-Sarkar’ nexus along with cornering the builders to get answers from them on the same. Through the campaign, the channel will highlight stories of corruption in various development authorities which leads to a delay in the construction process and ultimately results in late deliveries.
MUMBAI: CNN-News18 recently launched several new shows in its primetime programming.
Continuing with the same, the channel has launched a new show ‘Epicentre @ 7’. Co-hosted by award-winning journalists, Senior Editor Shreya Dhoundial and Deputy Political Editor Marya Shakil, Epicentre @ 7 goes between the faultlines and beyond the headlines to cut through the big story of the day. Catch Epicentre @ 7, weeknights at 7 PM on CNN-News18.
Epicentre @ 7 concentrates heavily on biggest news of the day, articulating the alternative idea which generally gets lost in the heat and noise of daily debates. The show talks to young and fresh voices across the social and political spectrum who are fearless and disregard political correctness, to get their opinion. The show includes not just Delhi-centric news but also puts the spotlight on the North-East and South India curating headlines, stories, and opinions to bring out the big picture.
‘Trending Truth’, a special segment towards the end of the show showcases trending videos or messages of the day with an aim to distinguish facts from fiction.
MUMBAI: “Can the cocktail circuit media and Maoist sympathisers please stand up and name themselves?: Arnab Asks”. The latest tweet from Republic stated. With Arnab Goswami and his new project Republic TV, it cannot be the normal. Rather, true to his style, honed to a level of art, hype is the new normal and the pre-launch marketing campaign of his new venture too is no exception.
Now that Republic TV is set for a confirmed 6-May launch, Arnab chose to tease the audience, mostly comprising 20-40-year something who survive on high adrenalin, with a series of online ‘Wait, I am coming soon’ creative that highlight more Goswami the man than the actual fare, which, if people have forgotten, is news.
A series of campaigns with catchy taglines like “Long time since we met….”, “Gaikwad has done it again…” and “Good Times has come to an end” are doing the rounds of social media on Republic TV’s FB page, Twitter TL and on LinkedIn posts — all targeting and featuring people who may be in the news for some reason or other.
In the “Long time since we met….” video Congress party veepee Rahul Gandhi is featured, for example. However, Gandhi no longer conjures up most Indians’ fancies, what with the man and the party doing badly for the moment in national politics. Similarly, the Ravindra Gaikwad creative too is a tad tame as he owes allegiance to a regional party that seems to have lost its charisma vis-à-vis its bigger political ally. And, the one on king of good times, runaway liquor baron Vijay Mallaya too seems like an obvious one. The media created a hype over his arrest in London, which turned out to be a routine affair in the very long journey of his extradition to India (if that happens at all) and laughed at by the man himself via tweets from London.
While critics have panned Goswami and Republic TV for choosing ‘soft’ personality-targets for his marketing campaigns, others have criticised him for failing to highlight real issues that media should be really seized of.
Issues such as Article 370 in the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir where BJP, along with its partner PDP, is in power or the financially beleaguered farmers from south India protesting in the Capital city, a few kilometers from the Parliament, over government apathy or the Rs 20,000 crore (Rs. 200,000 million) Ganga clean-up initiative that’s making little progress or why PM Modi’s Clean India campaign still has people scratching their heads or why pseudo-nationalists and patriots call for boycott of China-made goods, while the PM’s picture is used in an advertisement of digital wallet company that’s more than 40 per cent controlled by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba or was it correct to try rewrite science by saying a cow inhales and exhales oxygen or…many other such examples could have been taken up, but were not in favour of issues that were aimed at getting more eyeballs and create more noise.
Still to be fair to Goswami, he cannot be faulted for not being true to himself and believing in a philosophy that, he feels, should be the norm instead of being a rarity — opinionated news instead of old school news shorn of opinions. The series of videos started hitting the social media platforms with the first one coming on 15 April where the star is sitting in his office with the voiceover ‘Dear Viewer’ setting the tone for the rest of the narrative.
Goswami has had his share of controversies too in the lead up to the launch of his news channel and its digital avatar. First, BJP MP Subramaniam Swamy questioned the use of the world ‘republic’ for commercial use, citing Indian laws and forcing the name to be changed to Republic TV from just being called Republic. Then, the star anchor’s previous employers, the Times TV Network challenged him for trying to poach personnel and cautioned him against using his pet phrase — the nation wants to know — claiming IPR over it.
Pointing out that he had received “another legal threat” from Times group, Goswami on social media took a high moral ground: “A media group has sent me a six-page letter threatening me with imprisonment if I ever use the phrase ‘Nation Wants to Know.’ They say they own the phrase. I have watched the nervous antics of this media group with amusement and horror for the last few months. Today, I am replying to them. I say: The threat of imprisonment will not deter me. Bring your moneybags and your lawyers, file the criminal case against me for using the phrase (the) ‘Nation Wants to Know.’ Do everything you can, spend all the money you have and arrest me. I am waiting right now in my studio floor. Come, enforce your threat.”
In a recent interview with Indiantelevision.com, Goswami mentioned his company was facing problems in distributing the soon-to-be launched TV channel as some other news channels were allegedly offering MSOs and LCOs more commissions to not carry Republic TV on their distribution platforms. That the promoter of a big MSO, DEN Networks Ltd, along with his brother, is an investor in Goswami’s company gets failed to be highlighted by him.
Though such one-upmanship does resonate with his target audience, it raises other questions too. Questions like why he did not raise a storm when one of his main investors had sent a legal notice to an online news site and forced it to take down a news article on the investor and his investments in Goswami’s venture?
Some incumbent news channels and competitors of Goswami’s TV channel may not be saying it in so many words, but aren’t amused much. “We will not simply make noise. We will concentrate on good reporting, fact-checking and research,” said CNN News18 managing director Radhakrishnan Nair while speaking to Indiantelevision.com about the change in news presentations’ style in recent times.
But don’t for a minute think that Arnab’s marketing advisors are playing a mindless game. Though the English news viewership universe may not be very big — according to BARC India, it’s approximately 1.5 per cent of the total TV viewership that has risen to 27.3 billion impressions as of Week 15 — it does cater to the middle class viewers. All these teasers — targeting ‘soft’ targets or featuring not-so-serious-issues — resonate widely with the target audience nowadays, bred on a staple diet of hyper-nationalism and on thoughts like a Congress-free country. Good or bad, such hype does create a buzz, apart from disruptions.
So keep tuned in for Arnab-ism on the small screen and on social media.
MUMBAI: With an aim to provide differentiated content to viewers, CNN-News18 recently initiated a revamp of its primetime with the launch of new shows – Face-Off At 9 at 9 PM and Viewpoint at 10 PM. Continuing with this process, the channel will unveil two more shows starting tonight at 8 PM with India 360 and The Crux at 8.30 PM. Anchored by the senior associate editor Arunoday Mukharji and the executive editor Anubha Bhonsle, respectively, the shows will add further to the channel’s primetime offering.
Hosted by Mukharji, India 360 will be a one-stop destination for the day’s top news stories. The 30-minute news bulletin will provide the viewer with non-stop news from India and around the world. Statistically rich and based on facts, the show will keep the viewers updated with all the latest news from the field of business, politics, sports, crime and entertainment. With an aim to focus on stories that have not been covered through the day, India 360 will present only news in a fast-paced, crisp and concise manner.
The Crux, anchored by award-winning journalist Bhonsle, will deep dive into a top story of the day through modern storytelling. With the help of high-quality reportage and a commitment to rigorously un-layer the stories, the show will have quick reactions from the guests on the story, sidestepping long and noisy discussions. The platform agnostic show will combine the strengths of both television news and social media, and will build on the channel’s commitment of immersive journalism.
Commenting on this, CNN-News18 managing editor Radhakrishnan Nair said, “I am very excited about all the changes that we are doing to our primetime programming. Our objective is to be the one-stop destination for views, discussions, credible opinions, day’s highlights or in-depth coverage. We are confident that with this programming line-up we would be able to achieve this objective.”
MUMBAI: With the exponential growth of social media, innumerable photos, videos and stories are shared every second, but there is no way to check the authenticity of all this content. This results in a lot of misinformation impacting opinion and resultant actions by people believing these false & fabricated stories.
As verification of such viral content becomes all the more vital, News18 India brings ‘Khabar Pakki Hai?’ – a show that will not only check facts and test the authenticity of viral content but also try to assess whether it is real or just propaganda.
TV18 Broadcast Limited, is a part of Network18 Group. Through its subsidiary, TV18, the group operates news channels such as CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, CNN-NEWS18, and News18 India. TV18 also operates a JV with Viacom called Viacom18, which houses a portfolio of popular entertainment channels such as Colors, Colors HD, Rishtey, MTV India, MTV Indies, Comedy Central, Vh1, Nick, Sonic, Nick Jr and Viacom18 Motion Pictures.
News18 will also reach out to the relevant authorities and try to get the official statements on the unverified news. In the event of two conflicting versions of the same story that are hard to fact-check, the show will present the opposing narratives highlighting the contradiction in the story.
Through this show, the channel will examine news doing the rounds on various social media platforms and attempt to debunk disinformation and try and tell fake from real news. Watch ‘KhabarPakki Hai?’ starting 22 April, every Saturday & Sunday at 7.30pm.
MUMBAI: Network18’s Q4 results showed a five per cent YoY growth (driven largely by its TV operations) over last year, posting consolidated revenue of Rs 3,471 crore in FY17 (including proportionate share of JVs) . Segment profits were significantly impacted by pullback in advertising spends in the latter half, operating losses of the new initiatives in regional and digital broadcasting, and losses in digital commerce businesses.
Financials for the quarter
The consolidated revenue (including proportionate share of JVs considered for segment reports) for the quarter ended 31 March, 2017, stood at Rs. 898.4 crore versus Rs. 898.8 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The FY17 consolidated revenue stood at Rs. 3471.1 crore, up five per cent from Rs. 3321 crore last year.
Segment loss before interest and tax on a consolidated basis, including the performance of joint ventures for the quarter ended 31 March, 2017, stood at Rs 65.5 crore versus segment profit of Rs. 65.3 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Excluding the impact of new initiatives and one-time expenses, the segment profit for the quarter is Rs 5 crore.
The consolidated revenue as per Ind AS (accounting the JVs under equity method) for the quarter ended 31 March, 2017, stood at Rs. 387.7 crore as compared to Rs. 473.2 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The FY17 consolidated Ind-AS revenue stood at Rs. 1491.0 crore, down two per cent from Rs. 1527.3 crore last year.
Operating loss on a consolidated basis under Ind AS for the quarter ended 31st March, 2017 stood at Rs. 20.7 crore versus segment profit Rs. 82.7 crores in the corresponding quarter last year. Excluding the impact of new initiatives and one-time expenses, the operating profit for the quarter is Rs. 55.2 crores.
Highlights
One of the highlights of quarters were the tepid ad-industry environment dragged revenues, especially in regional markets. The media industry is still facing impact of deferment of advertising spends that kicked-in from November-December 2016 on likely slow-down in consumer spending.
Further, the revival of advertising spends has been witnessed at a much faster clip for national channels, while regional markets are still recovering with a lag. This has been exacerbated by our launches of regional news and entertainment channels over the last 18 months, including four in early-FY17.
Despite headwinds, Network18’ s consolidated topline (including JVs) was flat YoY. Listed subsidiary TV18 posted 7 per cent YoY topline growth and its operating profits excluding impact of new initiatives was Rs. 92.6 crores (vs. Rs. 96.7 crores in Q4 FY17).
The viewership around key events demonstrated the network’s’ news franchise leadership and excellence of coverage. CNBC TV18, during the live coverage and analysis of the Union Budget on 1 Feb 2017, garnered 86 per cent market share. On Counting Day of the Assembly Elections of five states, CNN News18 was the number one english news channel.
Another highlight for the network was the Viacom18, which continues to showcase its strength in Hindi general entertainment, regional entertainment and Kids genres. Colors is now a number two channel, while Nick and Sonic together place us as the top Kids content provider with a 29 per cent market-share.
OTT entertainment app VOOT continues to gain traction, and are witnessing more sticky usage patterns than competition. Opinions website “Firstpost” and flagship finance portal “MoneyControl” were standout performers, and have posted impressive growth in traffic.
HomeShop18 has contributed substantially to the weakness in Network18 profitability.
The TV home-shopping business continues to face challenges due to a hit to cash-on-delivery payments and a poor spending appetite since November, competition from e-commerce and regulatory issues including imposition of entry tax by several states. The management is taking steps to cut costs and accelerate operating break-even.
Network18 chairman Adil Zainulbhai said, “The digital space in India continues to become more and more vibrant, as bottlenecks around connectivity and cost reduce substantially. We see the emergence of new formats and services, and rapidly-evolving business models; and aim to be at the forefront of this change. Our strength in linear media provides us the edge, helping us leapfrog in our aspiration to be a channel-agnostic provider of top-drawer content”.
New initiatives & one-time charges
The new initiatives of Viacom18 (2nd Kannada GEC Colors Super, OTT video destination VOOT and movie channel Rishtey Cineplex) continued to perform well on all operational metrics. The aggregate operating loss of the new initiatives considered in the consolidated segment results for the quarter is Rs. 36.1 crores.
Three regional news channels — News18 Kerala, News18 Tamil Nadu and News18 Assam/N.E — that were launched during the first quarter of the current year incurred an operating loss of Rs. 26.9 crores during the quarter.
“fyi TV18”, a lifestyle programming channel from the AETN18 stable (a JV between TV18 and A&E Network), commercially launched in July 2016, gained a market share of 21% in the quarter. The channel incurred an operating loss of Rs. 7.6 crore during the quarter.
MUMBAI: Now it’s the turn of CNN-News18 to once again make news – rather than just report on it. The English language news service went live on 17 April with two shows — ‘Face-Off At 9’ and ‘Viewpoint at 10pm’. Anchored by award-winning journalists – Zakka Jacob and Bhupendra Chaubey, the shows aim to build further on the channel’s positioning of ‘On Your Side.’
“We have always pushed the envelope in bringing our viewers differentiated content and formats,” says CNN-News18 managing editor Radhakrishnan Nair. “The new shows that we are launching are a reflection of our viewers’ expectations from us to continue to raise the quality of the news content that we offer – especially in terms of the credibility and substance of the debates and in-studio discussions that form the mainstay of prime time news television today.”
The two shows are just for starters; the main course is yet to follow in the shape of a clutch of other programmes which will be unveiled in a phased manner over the next couple of weeks. These will be in the 7pm, 8pm and 830pm time-slots.
The new shows are a part of the channel getting a complete refresh in terms of its content and the style and form of storytelling — the formal occasion being the completion of a year of its re-launch as CNN-News18. Audience engagement online and on social media is going to be a major part of its go-forward strategy rather than just toeing the official line given by governments or say the army or anyone “newsworthy.”
“Now, we believe, the news media is controlled by the views of the viewers posted on social media. We would prefer incorporating the viewers’ ideas and perspective into the debates — with the help of social media platforms such as Twitter,” Nair says. “We would like to give our viewers the best of both the worlds — audio-visual media and social media.”
Talking about debate shows, Nair says that they have taken a direction which does not make much sense: a majority of these are anchor-driven in which the panelists are unable to present their views independently.
“The anchor decides in which direction to take the debate,” Nair explains. But, debates on CNN-News18 would rather have a place for all diverse views. “We would only play a ‘sutradhar’ (the story-teller, or anchor, in the right sense) and not drive the debate in a chosen direction.”
The channel says its role would be to primarily contribute well researched pointers and content to each debate. “Jacob and Chaubey are senior, learned journalists who would study their topics well before anchoring debates,” says Nair. “For example, take the issue of Triple Talaq — there is nothing in the Holy Quran which preaches this. It is the practitioners who have brought this into the system,” Nair points out.
Nair is angling at bringing in other changes as well: in the area of panelists who go channel-hopping to present their views every night during debate shows. Says he: “It has been observed that 4-5 panelists on most debates come from a predictable select group of 15-20 people. We would prefer expanding this group. CNN News18 would like to have panelists from smaller towns and cities. India is an articulate country.
Nair agrees that the time spent on news channels is on the way south overall. It however spikes during election coverage, only to fall away quickly. But, he is hoping to expand on that by bringing in a wider viewer age-group. “We are aiming to attract the 25-45 years age-group,” he says – once again clarifying that the social media integration in its shows would probably work well with this community. And, that’s the very audience that the pacing-on-the-sidelines Vice and Republic will be hoping to snare. Nair agrees that their entry will lead to change in news presentation.
“But, CNN News18 will not simply make noise. It will concentrate on good reporting, fact-checking and research,” Nair says.
On distribution, Nair reveals that the channel is looking at going geographically wider and deeper, also targeting the English-speaking areas in the north-eastern states of India. “We will be investing in small towns and markets where people are still trying to understand and learning (the) English (alphabet). We are also looking at growth from smaller markets,” Nair expounds.
What has helped the TV news segment according to Nair is the uptake and push by the distribution industry to implement digital addressable systems. “Viewership of our watermarked channels is growing — be it on television, youtube or the social media. We plan to tap the three in tandem,” he concludes.
MUMBAI: Continuing with the legacy of setting new benchmarks in television news, CNN-News18 presents an all new prime time which promises to deliver insightful journalism and provide viewers with a platform to voice their concerns and viewpoints. The channel will go live with two shows tonight starting 9pm with Face-Off At 9 and Viewpoint at 10pm. Anchored by award-winning journalists — deputy executive editor Zakka Jacob and executive editor Bhupendra Chaubey, the shows will build further on the channel’s positioning of On Your Side.
Apart from these two shows, CNN-News18 has also lined up several shows that will be launched in a phased manner over the next couple of weeks.
Conceptualised to provide a fresh approach to news, the two shows with enhanced audience engagement, fresh packaging and even more incisive content aim to add multiple dimensions to the primetime news.
Face-Off At 9 will witness a face-off between the biggest newsmakers on the top story of the day to bring out key insights on the same without drowning the same out in unnecessary noise. The show will capture various facets of the story to help viewers to form their own informed opinions. Viewpoint – an interactive and participative show will explore various views on the day’s top news stories that will endeavour to disrupt the standard formats seen on news television.
The show will cover the top five stories of the day and feature discussions with guests on the same. The show will also connect with viewers through social media and on-ground different locations to bring the people’s viewpoint to the debate and will continue to map their sentiments till the end and will bring out the truth, driven by facts and not by any agenda.
CNN-News18 managing editor Radhakrishnan Nair said, “We have always pushed the envelope in bringing our viewers differentiated content and formats. The new shows that we are launching are a reflection of our viewers’ expectations from us to continue to raise the quality of the news content that we offer – especially in terms of the credibility and substance of the debates and in-studio discussions that form the mainstay of prime time news television today.”
MUMBAI: Channels in the Hindi News genre witnessed a decline in ratings this week. Led by Aaj Tak, players in the Hindi News Rural space observed mixed ratings with News24 dropping out from the Top 5 list making way for the entry of India News.
In the Hindi News Urban genre, the channels saw a decrease in the viewership. News Nation entered the Top 5 list leading to the exit of News18 India. The Hindi Business News space also noted decline in ratings this week.
According to week 12 of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), led by Times Now, players in the English News genre saw a steep decrease in their viewership. In the English Business News space, players observed mixed ratings. The genre was dominated by CNBC TV18.
English News
Times Now saw a major decline in from 2282 Impressions (000s) last week as to 944 Impressions (000s) this week. India Today Television climbed up the row taking the second place with 476 Impressions (000s). CNN News18 was at the third slot with 409 Impressions (000s). NDTV 24×7 with 335 Impressions (000s) and News X with 112 Impressions (000s) took the fourth and fifth position respectively.
English Business News
CNBC TV 18 emerged as the leader with 767 Impressions (000s) followed by ET Now with 423 Impressions (000s). NDTV Profit and NDTV Prime was at the third position with 92 Impressions (000s). BTVi was on the fourth spot with 32 Impressions (000s). CNBC TV 18 Prime HD took the fifth place with 29 Impressions (000s).
Hindi News
Aaj Tak with decreased ratings continued at its number one position with 152024 Impressions (000s) as compared to 178049 Impressions (000s) in week 11. ABP News was at the second position with 132363 Impressions (000s). Zee News sustained its third position with 114825 Impressions (000s) followed by India TV at the fourth position with 111598 Impressions (000s). India News sustained at the fifth position with 79492 Impressions (000s).
Hindi News Rural
Aaj Tak with a decrease in ratings was at the number one position in the rural market with 64889 Impressions (000s) as compared to 81498 Impressions (000s) last week. ABP News was at the second place with 58873 Impressions (000s). India TV grabbed the third position with 48538 Impressions (000s). Zee News took the fourth place with 43268 Impressions (000s) followed by India News with 42574 Impressions (000s) at the fifth position.
Hindi News Urban
Aaj Tak with decrease in ratings continued at the number one spot in the urban market with 87135 Impressions (000s) 96550 Impressions (000s). ABP News was at the second position with 73489 Impressions (000s). Zee News took the third position with 71556 Impressions (000s) followed by India TV at the fourth position with 63059 Impressions (000s). News Nation took the fifth position with 42906 Impressions (000s).
Hindi Business News
CNBC Awaaz continued to dominate the genre with decrease in ratings from 2348 Impressions (000s) last week to 2094 Impressions (000s) this week. The second spot was taken by Zee Business with 1216 Impressions (000s).