Tag: DD India

BARC week 27: Not too much impact on English news genre ratings in budget week

BENGALURU: The combined weekly impressions of the top 5 English news channels in week 27 of 2019 (Saturday, 29 June 2019 to Friday, 5 July 2019, week under review) or the week in which the first national budget of the re-elected Modi government was announced increased by just 46,000 or 2.4 percent as compared to the previous week. Data released by Broadcast Audience Research Council of India showed the combined ratings of the top 5 English news channels was 1.964 million weekly impressions in week 27 of 2019 as compared to 1.918 million weekly impressions in week 26.

Four of the five channels in BARC’s top 5 English news channels gained viewership with one losing eyeballs during week 27 of 2019 as compared to the previous week. Even if one were to neglect the channel that lost viewership, combined impressions of the other four channels in BARC’s top 5 English news channels increased by just 6.4 percent or 94,000 in week 27 of 2019 as compared to week 26. Please read on further.

The list and the ranking of the channels in BARC’s weekly list of top English news channels during the week under review was/were the same as in the previous week. No doubt that on budget day, 5 July 2019, a Friday, the ratings of individual channels must have peaked when compared to the previous Friday. Given the facts that the timings of the live telecast of the ICC World Cup 2019 being played at England and Wales overlapped with primetime of most genres in India, and the Indian cricket team was faring well, viewership of genres other than sports on the Star India Network must have fallen. Please refer to the figure below.

At rank 1 was the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV with 0.629 million weekly impressions in week 27 of 2019 or 8.6 percent more as compared to 0.579 million weekly impressions in week 26. At second rank was Times Now with 0.460 million weekly impressions during the week under review or about 7.5 percent more than 0.428 million weekly impressions as compared to the previous week.

At third rank was pubcaster Doordarshan’s DD India with 0.356 million weekly impressions in week 27 of 2019 or 12.5 percent lower than 0.407 million weekly impressions in week 26. At fourth rank was Network18’s CNN News18 with 0.290 million weekly impressions in week 27 of 2019 or 2.1 percent more than the 0.284 million weekly impressions in week 26. Completing the quintet was the India Today group’s India Today Television with 0.229 million weekly impressions in week 27 of 2019 or 4.1 percent more as compared to 0.220 million weekly impressions in week 26.

July 12, 2019
Times Now replaces DD India at second spot in English news genre

BENGALURU: After the dingdong struggle between the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV and pubcaster Doordarshan’s (DD) English news channel DD India for first rank, is there another skirmish in the offing in the English news genre for second place? Once supremo of the English news genre – Times Now and DD India are now vying for second rank or so it seems. Since week 13 of 2019 when Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) recommenced publishing viewership data in the public domain, Times Now was consistently ranked third until week 21 of 2019 when it climbed up to second rank, only to drop to third place a week later. Times Now once again climbed up a place to second rank in week 23, retain the same rank in week 24, dropped to third rank in week 25 and then clambered up again to second rank in week 26 of 2019 (Saturday, 22 June 2019 to Friday, 28 June 2019, week under review).

In the tussle between Republic TV and DD India, the latter lost the struggle post week 20 at rank 2, to plunge to rank 4 in week 22 and then gradually clambered up to rank 2(https://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/viewership/barc-week-25-dd-india-back-in-second-spot-190629)
in the previous week, only to come down to rank 3 during the week under review.

Viewership dips again

After a small increase in the previous week, the combined weekly impressions of BARC’s weekly list of top 5 English news channels fell slightly in week 26 of 2019. Ratings of a number of channels have been affected(https://indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/viewership/barc-week-23-english-news-ratings-plunge-190614)by BARC having reverted to an earlier method for treating landing pages since week 23 of 2019 and also because the timings of the ICC World Cup cricket tourney that is on currently in England and Wales overlap primetime of most genres. In a cricket crazy country like India, well, cricket viewership wins.

Please refer to chart below.

Top 5 English news channels

Republic TV retained its first rank in BARC’s weekly list for top 5 English news channels (All India (U+R): NCCS AB: Males 22+ Individuals) in week 26 of 2019 with 0.579 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.572 million weekly impressions in week 25. As mentioned above, Times Now climbed up to second place during the week under review with 0.428 million weekly impressions as compared to third rank and 0.402 million weekly impressions in week 24.

At third rank was DD India in week 26 of 2019 with 0.407 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.441 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Climbing up a place to fourth rank in week 26 of 2019 was CNN News18 with 0.284 million weekly impressions as compared to fifth rank and 0.261 million weekly impressions in week 25. Dropping a place to fifth rank was India Today Television with 0.220 million weekly impressions in week 26 0f 2019 as compared to fourth rank and 0.264 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

July 4, 2019
No change in ranks as Republic TV continues to dominate English news

BENGALURU: There was no change in the list or ranks of channels in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of top 5 English news channels in week 24 of 2019 (Saturday, 8 June 2019 to Friday, 14 June 2019, week under review or consideration) as compared to the previous week when English news ratings had plunged.

All the five channels recorded even lower ratings in week 24 of 2019 than in week 23. Combined ratings of the top English news channels plunged even further in week 24. This can probably be attributed to BARC having reverted to the earlier process of treatment of landing page beginning with week 23.Many in industry feel that BARC reverting to treatment of landing pages and filtering out data from outliers is better. Added to this is the fact that the timings of the ongoing cricket journey by the ICC World Cup 2019 in England and Wales overlap primetime of most channels, including English news, could have affected viewership ratings.

Like week 23, Republic TV continued to rule the English news genre in week 24 of 2019 with 0.566 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.582 million weekly impressions in week 23. Times Now followed at second place in week 24 of 2019 with 0.418 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.463 million weekly impressions in week 23.

At third rank was DD India with 0.334 million weekly impressions in week 24 of 2019 as compared to 0.408 million weekly impressions in week 23. CNN News18 was ranked fourth with 0.289 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.375 million weekly impressions in week 23. India Today Television completed the quintet with 0.251 million weekly impressions in week 24 of 2019 as compared to 0.259 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

June 21, 2019
Prasar Bharati’s Shashi Shekhar Vempati on DD India revamp, OTT plan, TRAI tariff regime

MUMBAI: Shashi Shekhar Vempati is the first private sector executive to have a place on the Prasar Bharati hot seat. He is also one of the youngest CEOs at the organisation and in 2017 propelled it towards becoming a corporate 21st century public broadcaster.

The pubcaster isn’t buckling under to the digital wave. The new Prasar Bharati under his vision is ready for the digital era. Recently, Doordarshan revamped DD India to an English news channel. In the latest week’s Broadcast Audience Research Council data, DD India is ahead of all private English news channels in the core target audience of NCCS AB: Males 22+ individuals.

Indiantelevision.com caught up with Vempati to talk about the success of DD India after the revamp, tariff order and Doordarshan’s OTT platform plans. Here are the excerpts:

How has DD India made it to top slot in English news list? Any change in programming line-up?

I think this needs a little bit of clarification. We have always known that the English viewership base of DD News was always quite high, but then DD news being a bi-lingual channel over the years, was being measured and reported in the Hindi genre. So, as a result, there was no reflection in BARC data of the size of the English viewership.

What has really changed is that last year the Prasar Bharati board took a decision that we will have an English news channel in addition to the Hindi news channel and we will eventually position it as our offering to the international space as well. The reason is India doesn’t have a strong global voice unlike BBC, Al Jazeera, Russia Today and CGTN. So, with that in mind, we re-positioned DD India as the English news channel, where the English content of the news generated by DD News will also go.

Over the last six months, BARC has started measuring it, but they have not reported it. They started reporting it from January in the English news genre. What was already a reality is now getting publicised.

How many hours of English content is there on the channel?

Close to 70 per cent of the Fixed Point Chart (FPC) is English news and the rest is English documentaries as of now. But the work is in progress and over the next few weeks we will increase that and it will become a full-fledged English news channel. The next big thing will be DD News and DD India becoming full-fledged Hindi and English news channels respectively.

What is your point of view on mandatory sharing of sports feed with the public broadcaster? Will we see IPL this time on DD?

See when ever such a consultation happens, MIB takes feedback of all the stake holders, so our role comes much later. At this time there is no such proposal to share IPL matches. If there is anything we will let you know.

CCEA recently approved the ‘Broadcasting Infrastructure and network development’ scheme of Prasar Bharati. How do you plan to use the budget allocated for it?

The scheme approved by CCEA will include some expansion, modernisation of studios and upgrading of satellite infrastructure. We have a long pending modernisation. (These are some long pending modernisation. Provisions have been kept for modernisation of existing equipment/facilities in studios which are essential to sustain the ongoing activities and also for High Definition Television (HDTV) transmitters at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.)

What is the status of the proposed Doordarshan OTT platform? What type of content will the platform have?

Sometime in 2019, we will get to it. Right now our priority is news. It is a little early to comment on that. Firstly, we have to get our basic digital assets in place, which is what we are doing right now with the rollout of our iOS and Android apps which happened on the budget day.

We have about 55 or more active YouTube channels. Digitisation of the archive is happening. At some point in 2019 we will put out the OTT platform for some of the premium content and rare archive and upgraded content.

What’s your take on the TRAI tariff order?

I think India, as a market, is clearly innovating on pricing and this tariff order reflects that. It shows the move towards greater subscription-based revenues for the media industry and I think it is a positive move in that direction. From both consumer and the broadcaster standpoint it is a positive move. It also gives flexibility to the consumer.

February 11, 2019
DD India topples Republic TV from pole spot in week 5 of BARC data

MUMBAI: DD India in its third week of being in top 5 list climbed up to the number one spot casting aside the likes of Republic TV in English news genre in BARC India week 5. This week all the genres saw a spike in impressions as the seven days consisted of Republic Day and Budget Day. Zee News witnessed some movement in terms of positioning in Hindi news genre rural and urban market.

English news

The genre saw a spike in viewership on the back of Republic day and Budget day. DD India’s viewership almost tripled from 596 impressions ‘000 to 1503 impressions ‘000 which assisted the channels to climb at number 1 spot, leaving behind Republic TV which was dominating the genre since its launch in 2017. India Today Television and CNN News18 are at fourth and fifth position after interchanging their positions.

Week 5: Saturday, 26th January 2019 to Friday, 1st February 2019

English business news

The English business news genre saw no changes in terms of position, but the top two players CNBC TV18 and ET Now saw good spike in the impressions.

Hindi news (U+R)

The Hindi news genre saw no changes in terms of position, but all the channels witnessed spike in the impressions.

Hindi news rural

Zee News and ABP News are at third and fourth positions after interchanging their position compared to last week.

Hindi news urban

Zee News and India TV climbed up a slot to second and third position. News18 India dropped two slots to the fourth position but witnessed a slight spike in impressions.

February 10, 2019
DD India in top 5 list of BARC ratings for 2nd week

MUMBAI: DD India held onto its second position in the English news genre in BARC India week 4 data. All the broadcasters in the genre witnessed a dip in viewership apart from DD India and CNN News18. English news, Hindi news (U+R) and Hindi news rural markets saw slight change in positions where as English Business news and Hindi news urban didn’t witness any change.

English news

All the channels in the genre witnessed a decline in their respective viewership apart from DD India and CNN News18. CNN News18 climbed up a slot to fourth position with a slight spike in viewership and India Today Television dropped a slot to fifth position.

Week 4: Saturday, 19 January 2019 to Friday, 25 January 2019

English business news

The English business news genre saw no changes in terms of position, but the genre leader saw a slight fall in the impressions.

Hindi news (U+R)

Zee News and India TV climbed a slot each to third and fourth position respectively, compared to last week. ABP News dropped two slots to fifth position in week 4.

Hindi news rural

News18 India and ABP News are at second and third positions after interchanging their position compared to last week.

Hindi news urban

The Hindi news (urban) genre saw no changes in terms of position.

January 31, 2019
DD India enters English news top five in BARC week 3

MUMBAI: When all the private news broadcasters are contesting for the pole position in English news genre, pubcaster DD India has made a surprise entry in the third week of BARC India rating at second position. Zee News and News18 India saw some movement in their position in both Hindi News (U+R) and urban market.

English news

With the entry of DD India, all players, except Republic TV that maintained its top spot, moved down a slot which resulted in NDTV 24×7's exit from the top 5 list.

Week 3: Saturday, 12th January 2019 to Friday, 18th January 2019

English business news

The English business news genre saw no changes as always.

Hindi news (U+R)

Zee News dropped two slots to the fourth position compared to last week. News18 India and ABP News climbed a slot to second and third positions respectively.

Hindi news rural

The Hindi news (rural) genre saw no changes compared to previous week.

Hindi news urban

News18 India climbed two slots to the second position, whereas Zee News and India TV dropped to third and fourth spot respectively.

January 24, 2019
Sahu to lead resources & distribution-hit Doordarshan news channels’ repositioning

MUMBAI: DD India, the Indian pubcaster Doordarshan’s international channel, is prepared to become an English news channel. The bilingual DD News could soon air only Hindi news, PTI reported. However, the Sanskrit programming on DD News would continue.

The idea and decision of repositioning DD’s key channels were made after Prasar Bharati board’s brainstorming meeting, sources told PTI. The discussion on the two channels was initiated by Prasar chairperson A Surya Prakash.

After the meeting, the board directed that the channels need to be repositioned soon, and asked Doordarshan director-general Supriya Sahu, and other top officials to work in this regard.

Owing to paucity of resources, while DD India has struggled to grow up to the level of a leading global channel, DD News has had its own issues. It is a type of hybrid channel, which delivered news in English as well Hindi.

While many earlier expected that DD India would be ranked with the best of channels, its impact was affected by a combination of factors, including poor distribution and a resource crunch. At the meeting, it was decided that DD India will now be seen in a new form — as an English news and current affairs channel catering to both, domestic and international audience.

The Prasar board members also came to the conclusion that DD News would be made a Hindi news channel. It was felt that viewership was affected since Hindi and English news bulletins alternate on the channel.

June 12, 2017
Int’l TV Fest: A-Pac Broadcasting Union’s two India teams to participate

NEW DELHI: The ‘Aamad’ group and ‘Sadhya’ group from India will compete in the grand finale of the first edition of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) International Television Dance Festival (AIDF) in the city of the ‘Char Minar’ Hyderabad on 15 January 2017.

Public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati is hosting the first edition of this mega event at Shilpakala Vedika in the hi-tech part of Hyderabad.

AIDF will showcase traditional and contemporary dance performances by artistes of more than ten counties across the Asia- pacific region. The Dance Festival is conceptualised to bring the cultural diversities from across the world into limelight, by breaking cultural barriers. It will unveil the sacred occasions when people dance, and the joys that varied communities across the Asia Pacific region feel as they dance.

Information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the AIDF festival. Telengana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao will be the Guest of Honour. Telengana Culture and Tourism Minister Azmeera Chandulal and Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash will also be present in the presence of other top officials of the I&B Ministry, Prasar Bharati and Telangana Government.

Countries that have so far confirmed participation are Maldives, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, The Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Fiji and Indonesia.

Two declared finalists from each country; one in ‘contemporary’ dance form and the other in ‘traditional’ dance form, will participate in the grand finale. All participating dance groups are between the age group of 18 to 25 years.

Prasar Bharati had started the selection process in June last year to select the teams that will represent India in the grand finale. In order to select the final entries, artistes were invited and they were asked to submit DVDs of their work in traditional or contemporary dance, for shortlisting purpose. These submissions were made online and offline as well.

A total of 453 entries were received, out of which 389 were made on-line and 64 were by post. Eventually, 210 videos were selected by the first Screening Committee.

After the final screening, 29 entries were chosen from the two categories.
The Festival is planned to be telecast live on DD India, DD Bharati, DD Urdu, DD Saptagiri and DD Yadagiri from 5:30 p:m onwards on 15 January 2017.

The pubcaster has created a dedicated website aidf.prasarbharati.org and is available on social media at facebook.com/DanceFestABU and twitter.com/DanceFestABU.

January 14, 2017
Int’l TV Fest: A-Pac Broadcasting Union’s two India teams to participate

NEW DELHI: The ‘Aamad’ group and ‘Sadhya’ group from India will compete in the grand finale of the first edition of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) International Television Dance Festival (AIDF) in the city of the ‘Char Minar’ Hyderabad on 15 January 2017.

Public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati is hosting the first edition of this mega event at Shilpakala Vedika in the hi-tech part of Hyderabad.

AIDF will showcase traditional and contemporary dance performances by artistes of more than ten counties across the Asia- pacific region. The Dance Festival is conceptualised to bring the cultural diversities from across the world into limelight, by breaking cultural barriers. It will unveil the sacred occasions when people dance, and the joys that varied communities across the Asia Pacific region feel as they dance.

Information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the AIDF festival. Telengana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao will be the Guest of Honour. Telengana Culture and Tourism Minister Azmeera Chandulal and Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash will also be present in the presence of other top officials of the I&B Ministry, Prasar Bharati and Telangana Government.

Countries that have so far confirmed participation are Maldives, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, The Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Fiji and Indonesia.

Two declared finalists from each country; one in ‘contemporary’ dance form and the other in ‘traditional’ dance form, will participate in the grand finale. All participating dance groups are between the age group of 18 to 25 years.

Prasar Bharati had started the selection process in June last year to select the teams that will represent India in the grand finale. In order to select the final entries, artistes were invited and they were asked to submit DVDs of their work in traditional or contemporary dance, for shortlisting purpose. These submissions were made online and offline as well.

A total of 453 entries were received, out of which 389 were made on-line and 64 were by post. Eventually, 210 videos were selected by the first Screening Committee.

After the final screening, 29 entries were chosen from the two categories.
The Festival is planned to be telecast live on DD India, DD Bharati, DD Urdu, DD Saptagiri and DD Yadagiri from 5:30 p:m onwards on 15 January 2017.

The pubcaster has created a dedicated website aidf.prasarbharati.org and is available on social media at facebook.com/DanceFestABU and twitter.com/DanceFestABU.

January 14, 2017