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Tag: HSM

  • Barc 13-week historical data shows Aaj Tak in the lead

    Barc 13-week historical data shows Aaj Tak in the lead

    Mumbai: The past 13 weeks historic data by Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) India indicates that news channel Aaj Tak was leading the Hindi-speaking market (HSM) (U+R) from week 49’2021 till week 10’2022 in terms of market share. Aaj Tak garnered 25.5 per cent of the market share amongst eight opt-in news channels that include TV9 Bharatvarsh, Republic Bharat, Zee News, News Nation, Zee Hindustan, DD News and India News.

    In the HSM Urban market, Aaj Tak’s lead was stronger as it garnered a market share of 27 per cent versus its nearest competitor TV9 at 20.7 per cent. The competition for eyeballs in the HSM Rural market was more intense with Aaj Tak at top with 23.2 per cent but with TV9 Bharatvarsh following closely at 22 per cent.

    Republic Bharat (20.8 per cent) and Zee News (15.6 per cent) were the only other channels whose market share was in double digits. The top four channels had 82.3 per cent share in the HSM market. However, it should be noted that historical Barc data does not include prominent news channels including India TV, News18 India, ABP News, Good News Today, News 24 and NDTV India who have opted out of past ratings. NDTV India has pulled out of ratings completely.

    Barc India has released data for individual news channels after a 17-month hiatus. The TV audience measurement agency had also agreed to release past 13 weeks data after consultation with industry stakeholders. 

    (Source: Barc; TG: 15+ NCCS All; Market: HSM; Period: Wk 49’2021-10’2022; 8 Opt-in Hindi News Channels)

    Barc; TG: 15+ NCCS All; Market: HSM Urban; Period: Wk 49’2021-10’2022; 8 Opt-in Hindi News Channels

    Barc; TG: 15+ NCCS All; Market: HSM Rural; Period: Wk 49’2021-10’2022; 8 Opt-in Hindi News Channels)

  • Dollywood Play launches to provide Hindi dubbed movies

    Dollywood Play launches to provide Hindi dubbed movies

    MUMBAI: Hindi content consumption has grown a record 94 per cent year-on-year compared to just 19 per cent for English content. Not all Indian movies are masala, but most masala movies are uniquely Indian. Hindi dubbed masala films are now occupying prime time slots on TV. Dollywood Play celebrates these Hindi dubbed movie fans from across the country, and now has given them a platform in Dollywood Play to easily discover and watch their favorite movies on android, iOS and web. 

    With consumption of Hindi content skyrocketing on the web, there has never been a better time to launch a Hindi dubbed movie platform for the Hindi heartland of India. WAMINDIA (Wide Angle Media Pvt. Ltd.), one of the prominent content distribution companies in India and, Digital Convergence Technologies & dcafé India Pvt. a leading video streaming and OTT product company have joined hands to form ‘Dollywood Digitainment’ to launch their video streaming platform Dollywood Play – AB SAB DUB. 

    Touted as India’s only dedicated Hindi Dubbed platform, Dollywood Play will feature a wide range of Full Movies, Mini Movies (20 minutes’ version of full-length movies), Clips (Comedy, Action, Hot scenes) and Music videos. Users can now easily download the android/iOS app or visit www.dollywoodplay.com to start watching. 

    Dollywood Play spends a lot of time curating its content to best suit the viewer’s preferences and taste.  When a viewer logs in to Dollywood Play, content discovery is easy and with details including story synopsis, cast and crew, release date and more. With offline download available viewers can now watch their favorite movies in their preferred qualities and time. From genre selection, spot on recommendations, alerts and relevant notifications, Dollywood Play is stuffed with features aimed at movie lovers. Essentially, this platform is created to satisfy its subscribers as opposed to putting them off with features and functionalities which may not be relevant to them.

    WAMINDIA founder-director Aneesh Dev says “Dollywood Play aims to reach the user beyond the metros. It caters to Bharat and not India, the 75 per cent that does not live in urban areas. It is for viewers whose watching preferences are not limited to the niche English speaking audience. We have a vast library of entertaining action-packed movies and regularly acquire new movies to ensure there will be new content added every week including Exclusive Digital Premieres.” 

    Speaking about the partnership with dcafé he adds, “dcafe’s agility and speed of innovation is what attracted us to them. We have the content, audience and the scale, and they have the technology. It is a great fit. There were complex solutions we were trying to build for all specific areas of Dollywood Play – from sign-ins and subscriptions to video compression, search, and offline downloads. dcafé has been able to combine all the tech, which has led us to create a better end user experience.”

    One of the biggest challenges with digital entertainment is, “content delivery”. There are multiple issues from poor bandwidth to low-end devices. More so in India, the sheer size of the audience presents OTT operators with numerous obstacles to deal with. 

    dcafe LLP CEO Vineet Dhawan  shares, “Masala films are the cinematic equivalent of the melange of spices used in Indian cooking that provide the name. With multiple genres included simultaneously — let’s say, a romance subplot intermingled with a comedy piece, and added melodrama all alternating under the auspices of an action adventure main plot. Everything is heightened; the hero’s heroism, the heroine’s beauty, the villain’s evil. And this is exactly the type of entertainment a viewer can expect when he enters our platform.”

    Taking about the technology behind the platform, Dhawan adds, “With our innovative tech solutions, we will help Dollywood Play acquire new users faster, increase cross-screen engagement, improve personalized search, fine-tune outreach campaigns, capture the right time to engage with users and much more” 

  • ALTBalaji garners 60% rise in viewership and 21% growth in MAU

    ALTBalaji garners 60% rise in viewership and 21% growth in MAU

    MUMBAI: With the number of digitally connected audiences consuming content in Hindi rising, this emerging trend in the country sees ALTBalaji, one of the country’s leading homegrown OTT platforms, yet again scale new heights. Owing to the rapid internet proliferation and digitization in the hinterlands, this demand for Hindi originals has seen the platform’s viewership rise exponentially in May 2020 compared to the figures from May 2019. As per data collected from more than 1800 cities and towns, ALTBalaji garnered a 60 per cent rise in viewership and a 21 per cent growth in MAU (Monthly Active Users). With the Hindi market booming and content consumption headed for sharp growth, these numbers are a growing testament to ALTBalaji conquering the important HSM audience based in Bharat.

    The cities that raked in a two-fold growth in May compared to the same month last year include Patna, Ranchi, Shimla, Jodhpur, Gorakhpur, Imphal, Gaya, to name a few. These cities are yet another indicator of the Hindi language subset growing faster than any other spoken language in the country, which represents an increase in new users being added to the user base at a rapid pace. These numbers further attest to an industry report by KPMG titled – ‘Unravelling the digital video consumer’ whose findings reveal that 64% of India’s digital video consumers prefer consuming content in Hindi.

    On the growth, ALTBalaji CEO and Balaji Telefilms group COO  Nachiket Pantvaidya said, “This rise in viewership is a growing testament to the huge untapped Tier 2,3 & 4 markets for OTT players. At ALTBalaji, we are focusing on ensuring that we dominate the Hindi speaking markets and cement our position as a leader in this segment. By tapping into these hinterlands, we’ve realized the growing demand for Hindi originals that those audiences find immensely relatable. This has helped us understand our viewers better and led to us curating more engaging and entertaining offerings that resonate with them.”

    With a vast library of 60+ originals across genres that cater to all kinds of audiences, the shows at ALTBalaji are a mix of thriller, drama, romance, youth drama, horror, comedy amongst others. Each show present on the platform or in the pipeline has been created keeping in mind the audience’s interest across demographic and sociographic segments. Romantic dramas like Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain, Karrle Tu Bhi Mohabbat, It Happened in Calcutta, Baarish, Dil Hi To hai etc enjoy a growing fandom amongst women in the 25-45 years TG. While on the other hand, thrillers like Apharan, Ragini MMS, Code M are consumed by men in the 22- 45 age bracket. In addition to the above, shows such as Mentalhood, The Test Case, MOM: Mission Over Mars, Bose: Dead/ Alive, The Verdict – State vs Nanavati are being consumed extensively by urban Indians across all age groups.

  • Godrej and P&G new entrant among top 10 advertisers this week in HSM

    Godrej and P&G new entrant among top 10 advertisers this week in HSM

    MUMBAI: Godrej and P&G are the new entrants amongst the top 10 advertisers in the Hindi-speaking market this week as compared to week 16, the seventh edition of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India and Nielsen India joint report on crisis consumption mentions.

    Hindustan Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser and Government of India continue to remain at the top three positions during week 17. The other brands such as Amazon, Netflix, Colgate, GMMFC and Flipkart has seen a marginal drop in the FCT, the report states.

  • BARC week 26: Dangal TV retains leadership position in Hindi GEC

    BARC week 26: Dangal TV retains leadership position in Hindi GEC

    MUMBAI: There has been no major change in Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC) data for week 26 of 2019. While &TV emerged as the new player in the space of Hindi Urban GEC in week 25.

    Hindi GEC (U+R)

    Dangal TV retained its first position this week and Zee TV and Star Plus stood at second and third positions respectively. Sony Entertainment Television has moved up the ladder to fifth position replacing Sony Sab while Colors also came down to seventh position. Star Utsav has come back to the chart at 10th position replacing &TV.

    Hindi rural GEC

    In rural areas, Dangal TV, Big Magic, Zee TV and Star Plus continued to be in first, second, third and fourth positions respectively. Colors, Sony Sab, Sony Entertainment Television, Star Bharat, Sony Pal and Star Utsav also retained earlier positions.

    Hindi urban GEC

    In urban areas, Star Plus retained its leadership position and Zee TV its second position. Sony Entertainment Television emerged in the third position replacing SONY SAB. Colors, Star Bharat, Dangal, Big Magic, &TV and Sony Pal retained their fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth positions respectively as compared to the last week.

  • TV homes up by 7.5%, total TV viewership up by 12%

    MUMBAI: The Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) has released the findings of its Broadcast India (BI) 2018 Survey, based on a sample study of 3 lakh homes in the country. As per the latest findings, TV homes in the country has seen a 7.5 per cent jump, outpacing the growth of homes in India which grew at 4.5 per cent.

    India currently boasts of 298 million homes, of which 197 million have a TV set, having an opportunity of almost 100 million more TV homes in the country. 

    Two big takeaways from BI 2018 survey is the rise of the middle class and the increase in the number of flat TV screens. As per the survey, with 123 million TV homes belonging to the middle class, NCCS B & C accounts for 63 per cent of TV homes in India.

    Together NCCS ABC or the affluent TV owning homes form 84 per cent of TV homes in the country. The fact that homes falling under the low-socio economic class (NCCS D/E) have seen a 13 per cent drop, highlights the improving disposable income of an Indian home and is in line with the rising economic growth and prosperity.

    BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta said, “With BI 2018 we have been able to showcase the changing face of India. However, what hasn’t changed is the fact that TV remains the most effective platform for both content creators and advertisers to reach their audiences. This years’ survey is also special to us since we have been able to bring it in-house. We have been investing heavily on technology and talent and moving this almost entirely in-house is a proof of our capabilities.”

    Some interesting trends that have emerged with BI 2018 Survey are:

    ·   Number of TV viewing individuals grew by 7.2 per cent to 836 million from the previous 780 million. However, viewership increase in week 29 vs Previous 4 weeks is 12 per cent.

    ·   TV homes in urban and rural India grew by 4 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. Viewership uptake in urban India is 10 per cent, while that in rural India is 13 per cent. 

    ·   The average time spent (ATS) by TV viewing individuals too has seen a 3 per cent growth and currently stands at 3 hours 44 minutes. This is driven by urban which has seen an increase of 5 per cent in ATS (4 hours 06 min), ATS in rural India has grown by 2 per cent and stands at 3 hours 27 minutes.

    ·   Both HSM and South markets have seen a spike in viewership. HSM saw an increase of 12 per cent, while South grew by 10 per cent in week 29. 

    ·   The male-female split of TV owning individuals as per BI 2018 is: 429 million-407 million. Male viewers grew by 6.9 per cent, while female viewers saw a growth of 7.5 per cent over BI 2016. 

    ·   In terms of viewership, in week 29, male viewership has seen a 11 per cent growth, while female viewership has increased by 12 per cent.

    ·   Viewership contribution of the affluent class (NCCS AB) grew by 15 per cent.

    ·   The daily TV tune-ins in week 29 saw a healthy growth of 8 per cent and currently stands at 614 million viewers. The previous 4-week average was 569 million viewers. 

    “As for the trends, BARC India has maintained that India is a country which is driven by family viewing and this shows in the increase in the number of TV households. With a penetration of just 66 per cent, there is still a huge scope of growth in the space,” Dasgupta added. 

  • BARC India: TV homes up by 7.5%, total TV viewership up by 12%

    BARC India: TV homes up by 7.5%, total TV viewership up by 12%

    MUMBAI: The Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) has released the findings of its Broadcast India (BI) 2018 Survey, based on a sample study of 3 lakh homes in the country. As per the latest findings, TV homes in the country has seen a 7.5 per cent jump, outpacing the growth of homes in India which grew at 4.5 per cent.

    India currently boasts of 298 million homes, of which 197 million have a TV set, having an opportunity of almost 100 million more TV homes in the country. 

    Two big takeaways from BI 2018 survey is the rise of the middle class and the increase in the number of flat TV screens. As per the survey, with 123 million TV homes belonging to the middle class, NCCS B & C accounts for 63 per cent of TV homes in India.

    Together NCCS ABC or the affluent TV owning homes form 84 per cent of TV homes in the country. The fact that homes falling under the low-socio economic class (NCCS D/E) have seen a 13 per cent drop, highlights the improving disposable income of an Indian home and is in line with the rising economic growth and prosperity.

    BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta said, “With BI 2018 we have been able to showcase the changing face of India. However, what hasn’t changed is the fact that TV remains the most effective platform for both content creators and advertisers to reach their audiences. This years’ survey is also special to us since we have been able to bring it in-house. We have been investing heavily on technology and talent and moving this almost entirely in-house is a proof of our capabilities.”

    Some interesting trends that have emerged with BI 2018 Survey are:

    ·   Number of TV viewing individuals grew by 7.2 per cent to 836 million from the previous 780 million. However, viewership increase in week 29 vs Previous 4 weeks is 12 per cent.

    ·   TV homes in urban and rural India grew by 4 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. Viewership uptake in urban India is 10 per cent, while that in rural India is 13 per cent. 

    ·   The average time spent (ATS) by TV viewing individuals too has seen a 3 per cent growth and currently stands at 3 hours 44 minutes. This is driven by urban which has seen an increase of 5 per cent in ATS (4 hours 06 min), ATS in rural India has grown by 2 per cent and stands at 3 hours 27 minutes.

    ·   Both HSM and South markets have seen a spike in viewership. HSM saw an increase of 12 per cent, while South grew by 10 per cent in week 29. 

    ·   The male-female split of TV owning individuals as per BI 2018 is: 429 million-407 million. Male viewers grew by 6.9 per cent, while female viewers saw a growth of 7.5 per cent over BI 2016. 

    ·   In terms of viewership, in week 29, male viewership has seen a 11 per cent growth, while female viewership has increased by 12 per cent.

    ·   Viewership contribution of the affluent class (NCCS AB) grew by 15 per cent.

    ·   The daily TV tune-ins in week 29 saw a healthy growth of 8 per cent and currently stands at 614 million viewers. The previous 4-week average was 569 million viewers. 

    “As for the trends, BARC India has maintained that India is a country which is driven by family viewing and this shows in the increase in the number of TV households. With a penetration of just 66 per cent, there is still a huge scope of growth in the space,” Dasgupta added. 

  • Hindi TV news consumption higher in urban markets than in rural

    Hindi TV news consumption higher in urban markets than in rural

    BANGALURU: Television has become an integral part of Indian life, be it urban or rural India. Hindi news is one of the largest news genres in the country according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) weekly data. In the public domain, BARC provides data of the top five news channels – the combined urban and rural viewership (U+R), the urban viewership (U) and the rural viewership (R). The demographics used are NCCS: All 15+ individuals. According to BARC sources, the Hindi speaking market (HSM) comprises the All India market minus the markets of the four Southern languages – Telugu from the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana market; Tamil from the Tamil Nadu and the Pondicherry market, Kannada from the Karnataka market and Malayalam from the Kerala market.

    The latest BARC universe data- Households and Individuals Universe Estimate – 2017, was announced sometime after January 2017. Using this data to determine Hindi news consumption in (U+R), the author has determined a limited overview of the Hindi news consumption trends as below:

    public://555.jpg

    Note: The author has extrapolated the number of 15+ HSM households (HH) assuming that there is a direct proportion between the total number of households with the total 15+ HSM and total HSM populations. This may not be the actual status. Also the numbers mentioned are not accurate because there are more than five Hindi news channels and their numbers are not available with the author. Hence actual Hindi news consumption in all the three BARC classifications will actually be higher.

    As is obvious from the above figure, though the HSM (U) 15+ Individuals universe is smaller in terms of number of individuals as well as number of households, its Hindi news consumption based on the average weekly impressions and impressions per individual are higher than HSM (R).

    Which were the most watched Hindi news channels in 2018 until BARC week 26?

    One channel – Aaj Tak – led the Hindi news genre during the first 26 weeks of 2018 in HSM (U+R); HSM (U) and HSM (R) and was present in all the three top five Hindi news channels lists – HSM (R), HSM (U) and combined HSM (U+R). Besides Aaj Tak, rural HSM markets showed a partial preference for one channel – News Nation – the channel was present in BARC’s weekly HSM (R) lists for 25 of the first 26 weeks of 2018 as compared to its presence at rank five just once in HSM (U).

    HSM (R)

    Seven Hindi news channels were present in BARC’s lists of top five Hindi news channels in HSM (R), of which only one channel was present in all the first 26 weeks of – Aaj Tak. During 25 of the 26 weeks, Aaj Tak was ranked first as the most watched Hindi news channel in HSM (R). The only exception was week 18 of 2018 when India TV was ranked no 1 in HSM (R). Aaj Tak’s 26 weeks average ratings for HSM (R) was 46.959 million weekly impressions. 

    As mentioned above, News Nation was present for 25 weeks, while Zee News was present for 22 weeks in BARC’s weekly lists for the first 26 weeks. India TV was present in the HSM (R) list for 19 of the first 26 weeks of 2018. News Nations average viewership when it was present in the top five news channels list during the 25 of the 26 weeks of 2018 was 34 million, while Zee News had average weekly ratings of 36.662 million weekly impressions during the 22 of the 26 weeks of 2018 that it was present in the HSM (R) weekly lists. India TV had average weekly impressions of 33.889 million during the 19 of the 26 weeks of 2018 that it was present in BARC’s HSM (R) lists.

    The other channels that were present in BARC’s HSM (R) lists were ABP News (16 weeks), News 18 India (15 weeks) and India News (seven weeks).

    HSM (U)

    Six channels were present in BARC’s weekly lists of top five Hindi news channels in HSM (U) during the first 26 weeks of 2018. Four channels – Aaj Tak (26 week average ratings 62.703 million weekly impressions); Zee News (26 week average ratings 53.229 million weekly impressions); India TV (26 week average ratings 52.834 million weekly impressions) and ABP News (26 week average ratings 44.142 million weekly impressions) were present during all the first 26 weeks in BARC’s list of top five Hindi news channels HSM (U). One channel – News 18 India was present in the HSM (U) lists for 25 of the first 26 weeks of 2018 with an average rating of 45.408 million weekly impressions. 

    News Nation was present during one only week (week 9 of 2018) in BARC’s HSM (U) list with 61.979 million weekly impressions.

    HSM (U+R)

    Six channels were present in BARC’s weekly lists of top five Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R). Three channels were present in the HSM (U+R) lists during all the first 26 weeks of 2018. They were: Aaj Tak with a 26 week average of 109.663 million weekly impressions; Zee News with 88.904 million weekly impressions and India TV with 86.601 million weekly impressions. 

    Aaj Tak was ranked first in BARC’s HSM (U+R) lists for 24 of the first 26 weeks of 2018, while India TV was ranked first once (week 18 of 2018) and Zee News was ranked first once during the period in week 25 of 2018. Zee News was ranked second in the HSM (U+R) lists for 12 of the 26 weeks of 2018, India TV was ranked second for 11 of the 26 weeks and Aaj Tak for two of the 26 weeks of 2018 and ABP News was ranked second for one of the first 26 weeks of 2018. India TV was ranked third for 10 of the first 26 weeks, News18 India was ranked third for seven of the first 26 weeks, Zee News was ranked third for eight of the first 26 weeks of 2018 while ABP News was ranked third for one week during the same period.

    The other three channels that were present in BARC’s weekly list during the first 26 weeks of 2018 were News 18 India with an average of 77.724 million weekly impressions during the 25 of the 26 weeks that it was present in the lists followed by ABP News with an average of 82.491 million weekly impressions over 21 of the first 26 weeks of 2018 during which it was present in the HSM (U+R) lists. News Nation was present for six weeks during the first 26 weeks of 2018 with a six week average of 73.346 million weekly impressions.

    How do the Hindi news channels compare with the Southern language news channels?

    Here below is a table that shows viewership of the four markets:

    public://666.jpg

    It is quite obvious that south Indians consume more news in their respective local languages than the HSM does Hindi news. As in the case of Hindi news, the numbers mentioned for the four south Indian markets are limited. Data for the top five channels in each language has been used, when in actual fact, there are more than five news channels in each language.

    The author would like to point out that in a previous paper that was recently published, the census of India 2011 numbers for the populations of the four south Indian markets were used and hence the numbers in that report will differ from those mentioned above. However the limited conclusions drawn in the previous (report except for the numbers) remain the same.
     

  • WION focuses on HSM, starts Hindi audio feed

    WION focuses on HSM, starts Hindi audio feed

    MUMBAI: English news network World Is One News (WION), spearheaded by Sudhir Chaudhary, has started the Hindi audio option on viewers’ demand. The Zee-owned channel provides global stories with the Indian perspective. 

    This is the first time in India that a news channel is providing dual audio feed to its viewers, which may get substantial traction from the elite Hindi-speaking market (HSM).

    Speaking on the occasion, Sudhir Chaudhary, editor-in-chief of WION, said, “This move has been in the pipeline for quite some time now and we are extremely happy that finally we are able to give our viewers global stories in the language they love. The thought behind this was why Hindi-speaking audiences should be deprived of good international stories. This step will help us reach viewers who have been wanting to watch global news but, due to the language barrier, they were not able to. Though we have just started, we are confident that our viewers would take yet another innovation by WION in good stride and we shall be able to connect with people who until now were fence sitters.”

    Apart from India, the channel operates in countries such as Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Kenya.

    Looking at how viewers’ tastes and preferences have evolved over the years, this move has the potential to strengthen the channel’s credibility as the go-to source of global news in India. 

    Also Read :

    Making the news: A look at what news broadcasters did in 2017

    Hindi news channels continue strong run in 2018

  • News24 to hike ad rates by 40% post revamp

    News24 to hike ad rates by 40% post revamp

    MUMBAI: A decade after making a headway into India’s burgeoning news TV industry, Hindi news channel News24 has given itself a makeover to stay relevant in the current times. The channel, owned by BAG Network and Media, got a new logo design and tagline of ‘Think First’ earlier this month.

    Talking to Indiantelevision.com, BAG Network CMD and News24 editor-in-chief Anurradha Prasad said that the revamp was initiated since the channel had completed 10 years in the market and as she expected 2018 to be a major milestone for the industry.

    “After the revamp, which involves several operational changes, we plan to increase the ad rates by 30-40 per cent. We are gearing ourselves up for an action-packed 2018 since it will be a very big year for news thanks to the state and general elections,” Prasad pointed out. She pegged the Hindi news genre at Rs 5000 crore in terms of revenue, significantly larger than the English news genre.

    Distribution is the biggest challenge for the industry and the cost involved is high. “Since we are a free-to-air channel, our entire revenue is dependent on advertisers. If all the FTA channels spend 60 per cent of that for distribution, it is bound to impact the content. The way forward is through optimal use of technology and smartphones,” she said.

    Alongside the channel refresh, the channel’s shows have received a brand-new look as well. Sabse Bada Sawwal with Sandeep Chaudhary airs at 7 pm followed by Rashtra ki Baat with Manav Gupta. In the former, experts provide their views on the latest issues and question the authorities. In the other show, the anchor sheds light on the current affairs, news updates and social issues of the country.

    Prasad says that the channel is bringing out a new cybercrime show for the weekend that will be an eye-opener for the youth and parents. “People are unaware of the dark web and how it operates and the 13-episode show will aim to unravel that.”

    The channel aims to empower its viewers with news without any agenda. According to Prasad, News24 has a reach of 7.5 to 8 crore households a week with presence in 90 per cent of homes in the Hindi-speaking market.

    Also Read :

    Debates continue to reap rewards for Eng news channels on prime time

    Right time for India-centric global news channel: Smriti Irani