Tag: news channels

Regional & national news broadcasters form News Broadcasters Federation

MUMBAI: News Broadcasters Federation (NBF), a new association of more than 50 news channels representing broadcasters from all languages and parts of the country will form the largest-ever federation of news channels.

Both national and regional news broadcasters have come together with an aim to contribute their combined interests and perspectives on matters related to the news broadcasting industry.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, said, “I am very happy today that more than 50 news channels have come together to form the News Broadcasters Federation. These members of the NBF are from various regions and broadcasting in various states of India. India has more than 700 channels and if more associations are formed in genres like news, then it is a very positive development. We don’t believe in censorship but believe in self-regulation. I am very sure and confident that the News Broadcasters Federation will be a platform to discuss matters relevant to the TV News Industry. I also hope NBF gives its recommendations and ensures discipline in broadcasting where truth does not become a casualty. I wish the NBF all the very best.”

Among the founder members of the NBF are: Republic Media Network (Republic TV and Republic Bharat), Puthiyathalaimurai and V6 News (Tamil Nadu), Orissa TV (Orissa), IBC24 (MP and Chattisgarh), Asianet News Network (Asianet News and Suvarna News, Kerala and Karnataka), TV9 Bharatvarsh, Newslive and Northeast Live (Assam and Northeast), First India News (Rajasthan), Kolkata TV (West Bengal), CVR News (AP & Telangana), Polimer News (Tamil Nadu), Khabar Fast (Haryana), Living India News (Punjab), Prag News (Assam), NTV (AP & Telangana), Maha News (AP & Telangana), TV5 News (AP & Telangana), MKTV (Tamil Nadu), Vanitha TV (AP & Telangana), DNN and IND24 (MP), Shri Sankara TV & Ayush TV (Karnataka), A1 TV (Jaipur), Power TV (Karnataka),Raj News (Tamil Nadu), Flowers TV (Kerala), CVR News Network (AP&Telangana), National Voice (Uttar Pradesh), Nirman News (Gujarat), Anaadi TV (MP&Chattisgarh), VRL Media (Karnataka), Calcutta News (West Bengal),News 7 (Tamil Nadu), DNN & News World ( MP & Chattisgarh), M H One ( Haryana), Mantavya News (Gujarat), Gujarat Television ( Gujarat), S News ( West Bengal) Bansal TV ( MP) and Onkat TV (West Bengal).

“This is the first time in the history of Indian broadcasting that a group of regional and national broadcasters have come together to form a body that represents their combined interests and perspective on matters related to the news broadcasting industry. The NBF is welcoming new members and looks forward to interacting with relevant industry and regulatory bodies. The NBF secretariat has informed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting about the formation of the body. Further announcements on the governing board and membership will be made soon,” said the NBF statement.

July 26, 2019
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:

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:

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.

July 11, 2018
Guest column: Perception sales key to news channels’ revenue

A question often crosses most aware minds……where exactly do the viewer’s consume news? A large part of news viewership comes from out-of-home venues-offices, stock broking firms, airports, railway stations, retail shops-which are not measured by audience-measurement BARC that we refer to for viewership.

Therefore, if you ask me, it is perception all the way.

Having said that, India is a news-hungry nation, which is why it is also the most cluttered in terms of number of active players but the beauty is that there is place for everyone and even more. News is a continuously evolving and growing sector that strives for innovation all the time.

The impact caused by news channels is immense as news amplifies the happenings and events. While all other genres may be facing a threat or slightly negative implications with digital gaining strength, news channels have benefitted from it. I believe all media websites clubbed with all social media apps/sites, etc. help to lead traffic to News channels. While all news breaks on digital platforms, immediately, to get more information, one turns to news channels and the channels that provide more credible and correct information win in the pecking order.

Demand and supply is the simplest, age-old model that holds true even today and will remain. This is the fundamental law on which the industry works and news channels, too, are not an exception to this.

Last but not the least, for a news channel, it’s the brand ambassadors that are the face of channels/networks and they are the ones who help sustain their perception. It is this sales force from the head to the executive that makes numbers happen.

The author is the CEO of Forbes India and president – revenue, Network18. The views expressed here are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.

March 1, 2018
Assembly elections catapult English news genre viewership

BENGALURU: The recent elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have given a fillip to the sagging viewership of the Indian English news genre.It clocked the third-highest combined viewership for the top-five channels (All India (U+R): NCCS AB: Males 22+ Individuals) in 2017 during the week election results were declared. According to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data, the combined ratings of the top-five English news channels were 3.808 million weekly impressions in the penultimateweek of 2017 (Saturday,17 December 2016 to Friday, 23 December 2016).

The top-five channels of the genre had earlier recorded higher combined ratings of 4.897 million weekly impressions and 4.282 million weekly impressions in weeks 11 and 19 of 2017,respectively.During week 11, assembly election results of five Indian states were announced and week 19 was the week in which the current genre leader–the ArnabGoswami-led Republic TV was launched. The fourth highest combined ratings of the top-five channels of the genre (3.781 million weekly impressions) in the year was in week 29 of 2017 when the Supreme Court gave its verdict for Indian godman Ram Rahim case.

It may be noted that the ratings of week 21 of 2017 have not been considered in this report because in that week all the major English news channels, excluding Republic TV and a few others, had withdrawn from the BARC ratings system. Hence,BARC viewership data for week 21 of 2017 has not been considered in this paper.

Please refer to the figure below:

Another yardstick that many in the industry consider more reliable are the four-week average ratings. Since data for week 52 of 2017 has still to be released, a three-week average has been calculated for weeks 49 to 51 in the figure below. Also, since data for week 21 of 2017 has not been considered in this paper, data for weeks 22 to 24 is also a three-week average.

In case the viewership ratings of the genre fall in the last week of 2017, the four-week average ratings for the last four weeks will be lower than the three-week average viewership figure of 3.0220 million weekly impressions (the likelihood of which is quite high). The highest four-week average recorded by the genre in 2017 was in weeks 29 to 32 at 3.2695 million weekly impressions. As is obvious, the genre’s ratings were in freefall after that until the weeks leading up to and after the assembly elections in the two states.

The number in maroon text in the figure above for weeks 49-51 is the average of 3 weeks.

Top-fiveEnglish news genre channels ratings in week 51 of 2017

The combined ratings of the top-five channels of the English news genre grew by 31.81 percent in week 51 as compared with week 50. The same channels that featured in the list of week 50 remained in week 51 with a slight shuffle in the ranks.

Republic TV has been leading the genre in terms of viewership right from the week it was launched. As the leader for week 51,it garnered 1.480 million weekly impressions, followed by Times Now with 1.203 million weekly impressions. The former’s viewership expanded by 50.71 percent in week 51 as against week 50, while Times Now’s ratings grew by 39.24 percent during the week under review. Both channels retained their previous week’s first and second ranks respectively.

Climbing up a place to third rank in week 51 was CNN News 18–the channel had viewership of 0.443 million weekly impressions in week 51 compared with 0.329 million weekly impressions of week 50, indicating growth of 34.65 percent. At fourth place in week 51 and down a rank from week 50 was India Today Television (ITTV). ITTV recorded 0.424 million weekly impressions for week 51 of 2017, which was 8.23 percent lower than the 0.462 million weekly impressions in week 50. At fifth place was NDTV 24×7 with 0.258 million weekly impressions in week 51 of 2017 which was 2.38 percent more than the 0.252 million weekly impressions in week 50.

Republic TV bandied some numbers on its screen just after BARC data was released claiming to have had 50 percent of the viewership of the English news channels on the day the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly election results were announced.

Also read:

Four Star India channels among top 10 channels across genres

Hindi News genre versus Indian English News during festival week

Indian English News genre facing festival blues?

December 30, 2017
Sheena Bora murder case hogs headlines on news channels

NEW DELHI: Even as the Sheena Bora murder case dominated prime time coverage on all television news channels consuming one third of the 8 to 10 pm slot, an interesting message was doing the rounds on WhatsApp.

Addressing some prominent anchors and heads of news channels, the message agreed that no one should die the way Bora did, but stressed that such news did not add value to the nation. After highlighting other issues that faced the nation like price rise, corruption, floods or One Rank One Pension (OROP), it ended with the line, “Government is happy that the nation’s attention is diverted as the media is not talking about the real issues.”

That said and done, the fact remains that our sensation-hungry news media, which dishes out more entertainment than some general entertainment channels (GECs) were totally taken over by this one case for over two weeks.

According to a study by CMS Media Lab, English News channels gave more coverage to the murder case compared to Hindi News channels. Sheena Murder Case coverage dispelled the myth that Hindi News channels are more sensational compared to English News channels.

CMS Media Lab analysed 15 days of coverage of six national TV news channels from 25 August to 8 September, 2015. The channels included in the study were Aaj Tak, ABP News, Zee News, DD News, CNN IBN and Times Now.

The channels carried 113 stories and 61 special programs on the Sheena Bora murder case. These six TV channels broadcast 2282 minutes (38 hours) of special programs and stories during this period. Among the monitored news channels, two English News channels – Times Now and CNN IBN – between them contributed 60 per cent of the total coverage minutes.

Times Now, which generally dwells more on political or terrorism-related stories, alone devoted 40 per cent of the total coverage time. The channel topped in the coverage by devoting 948 minutes to the case followed by CNN IBN, which allotted 424 minutes.

Among Hindi News Channels, Aaj Tak led in the coverage by giving 341 minutes, closely followed by ABP News and Zee News. Both Zee and ABP News gave equal importance by showing 268 minutes and 263 minutes of coverage respectively.

Expectedly, DD News gave the least time to the case by allotting only 36 minutes during the entire study period.

The study shows the following:

Prime Time (8-10 PM) Coverage of Sheena Bora Murder Case

(25 August – 8 September 2015)

One wonders if private news channels, which dwell hours on each story with endless repetitions, and create debates on stories that do not need any discussion, will learn anything the lessons of the past when channels had to admit they had made mistakes in coverage.

Perhaps the note doing the rounds on social media summed up the general message to the channels very aptly – “Focus on issues that concern us. Do not take us for a ride.”

September 16, 2015
Ad cap violation by 141 TV channels even as case to come up in September

NEW DELHI: Even as the advertising cap case is to come up for further hearing before the Delhi High Court on 8 September, a study shows that a total of 141 television channels comprising 36 news and current affairs channels and 105 non-news channels, continue to telecast more than 12 minutes of advertising and commercials per hour in violation of the set rules.

The study shows that while the highest of these is 22.66 minutes by India TV and the lowest is 12.04 minutes, there are at least 17 news and 19 non-news channels clocking more than 15 minutes per hour.

While asking the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) not to take any coercive action against any channel pending hearing of the case, the Court had asked all channels and TRAI to keep a record of the advertising time consumed including commercials.

The petition had been filed by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and some channels challenging the TRAI decision to implement the directive of 12 minutes contained in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry and TRAI are the respondents in the petition.

Interestingly, I&B Minister Arun Jaitley had in January this year said that he was not in favour of any ad cap in the print or electronic media.

In the petition, the news channels have taken the plea that they are free to air and therefore do not get any subscription fee from the viewers as the GEC channels do.

TRAI says that the information is based on the data submitted by the broadcasters and TRAI bears no responsibility for the figures given.

According to information available to TRAI, the rest of the news channels are carrying less than 12 minutes of average duration per hour of advertisements (Commercial & Self promotional) during peak hours (7 – 10 PM) from 30 March to 29 June.

Among the news channels, the lowest is Mathrubhumi News with 12.42 minutes and among the GEC channels, the highest is 18.69 by B4U Movies and the lowest is 12.04 by Jaya Max.

August 31, 2015
“Govt. should come up with clear, transparent security clearance guidelines:” Dr Subhash Chandra

MUMBAI: The growing number of television channels and the recent debate over the security clearance of Kalanithi Maran owned Sun TV Network has led the ‘Big Daddy’ of Indian television to come out and speak about ownership and security guidelines of the mushrooming channels.

Essel Group chairman Dr Subhash Chandra said, “From the beginning, I have been of the view, which I mentioned during the UPA 1 regime to Priyaranjan Das Munshi and Dr. Manmohan Singh that licences should not be issued without proper checks.”

According to Chandra, news channel licences should be scrutinized in the manner that the Reserve Bank of India scrutinizes applications before issuing any licence in financial service. “They go to the extent of finding out the ultimate source of funding as well as cleanliness of people involved and check them out before issuing licence,” he informed.

Chandra has been actively speaking about having a strict and clear guideline before issuing licences from 2001-2006. “But because no one was listening to my point of view, I decided to then remain dormant and listen to the government’s point of view,” he laughed off.

Ten days ago, Chandra had tweeted rather sensationally saying, “I will not be surprised if for some TV stations, the final money is coming from Dawood Ibrahim.” He feels that the system prevalent currently doesn’t go even one layer beyond what the person has submitted.

The minimum amount required for starting a news channel today is Rs 5 crore. “As per the guidelines today, the check is done on the person submitting the money. No one tries finding out where the money is coming from. This is eroding our credibility as media,” he said.

Chandra is of the opinion that the time has come to have strict, clear and transparent guidelines, which will expose the corporate veil and go to the real source of funding. “The government is not doing anything on the issue of media ownership and then says that all media is wrong,” he added.

Pointing out that no one so far has debated on the issue, he said, “I want the debate to be triggered and then the decision can be taken collectively.”

Calling out to the government to check entities through clear guidelines, he said, “Those who are clean will come out clean, but the government hasn’t checked anyone. We are open to such scrutiny ourselves.”

Stressing on the fact that not having clear security guidelines compromises with the national and economic security, Chandra said, “I want to see clean money coming into the sector.”

August 7, 2015
Govt. warns news channels against live coverage even as Gurdaspur anti-terrorist operations on

NEW DELHI: The Government today barred the media from covering the ongoing anti-terrorist operations in Gurdaspur in Punjab and said coverage will be restricted to periodic briefing by an officer designated by the appropriate government till such operation concludes.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry made it clear that ‘no programme shall be carried in the cable service, which contains live coverage of any anti-terrorist operation by security forces.’

Coming shortly on the heels of the Home Ministry directive about media covering only official briefings, the I&B Ministry said it had notified the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules 2015 in this regard.

The Ministry asked news and current affairs TV channels to stop carrying telecast of these operations without restricting themselves to periodic briefing by an officer designated by the appropriate Government, though the operations had not been concluded.

Such telecast is in clear violation of the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules 201 5, and is therefore liable for action thereunder and so these channels have been advised to desist from further violation of the rules with immediate effect.

July 27, 2015
TV channels urged not to air live coverage of anti-terror ops

NEW DELHI: The Government has advised all television channels in public interest to safeguard innocent lives, to ensure that no operations-linked information reaches the terrorists and their handlers, and in the interest of national security, live coverage of counter-terrorism operation by the security forces should not be telecast.

The advisory was placed on the site of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Earlier this month, Minister of State for I&B Rajyavardhan Rathore had told Parliament that the government was considering a proposal to prohibit live media coverage of counter terrorism operations by security forces and the Home Ministry wanted amendments in the extant laws in this regard.

After the carnage in November 2008, the Ministry on 27 November, 2008, 3 December, 2008 and 20 November, 2009 had issued such advisories in public interest and in the interest of national security not to focus on or report the location, strength, movement, strategy and other related operations being followed by the Security forces engaging with the terrorists so as to avoid any adverse impact on rescue operations.

The advisory was issued as the Ministry said it had come to its notice that some TV channels have covered live the ongoing anti-terrorist operations on 20 March, 2015.

The advisory says that the media coverage may be restricted to periodic briefing by an earmarked official till the operation is concluded.

Attention was drawn to clauses 5.9 and 8.1 of the Uplinking guidelines and Clauses 5.8 and 6.1 of the downlinking Guidelines as well as applicable provisions of the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and Rules thereunder in this regard.

The issue of coverage by television channels is presently part of the self-regulation guidelines drawn up by the News Broadcasting Standards Authority of the News Broadcasters Association. The Press Council of India had issued similar guidelines with regard to print media.

These guidelines were drawn up after the 26 November, 2008 attacks in Mumbai. Following a controversy that live telecasts of the counter-terrorism operations were in all likelihood been seen by the masterminds in Pakistan who had planned the attacks.

As far as Prasar Bharati is concerned, it is governed by the Programme and Advertising Code, which is also part of the 1995 Act and therefore equally applicable to private television channels. The Inter-Ministerial Committee examines complaints under the Act of 1995 and the Rules drawn up a year earlier in 1994.

March 21, 2015
News channels gear for Delhi election judgment day

MUMBAI: Over 67 per cent of Delhi’s voting population reached polling booths to register their opinion and celebrate the festival of democracy. Many exit polls unanimously predicted Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) victory over Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress. But all speculations and predictions will be over on 10 February, 2015 when the results are declared.

Will it be ‘Abki baar Bedi sarkar’ or ‘Paach saal Kejriwal’ or will Ajay Makan surprise everyone? Will it be a hung assembly or has Delhi voted for a stable government? The entire country will find answers to all the questions via the Indian media and its exclusive coverage.

Commenting on the judgment day offerings, NDTV 24×7 managing editor Manika Raikwar Ahirwal said, “Prannoy Roy, Dorab Sopariwala and Shekhar Gupta will bring the Delhi Assembly election results to viewers, with live coverage from 7:30 am onwards on NDTV 24×7’s And The Winner Is. Minute by minute updates, easy to read graphics and experts will be on air till the final results are known. Senior anchors Barkha Dutt, Vikram Chandra, Sreenivasan Jain, Nidhi Razdan and Vishnu Som along with NDTV’s wide range of experienced reporters will bring every aspect of this election to the audience. We will also have a special show from 8 – 10 pm discussing the impact and fallout of the results.”

As for Times Now, the channel has named its special coverage Result Day live. A total of 50 reporters will be deployed on the field to cover judgment day developments. The panel will have Arati Radhika Jerath, Ajoy Kumar Ghosh, Sankarshan Thakur, Siddharth Varadarajan, Neerja Chowdhury, Sunil Alagh, Hartosh Singh Bal, Saba Naqvi and R Rajagopalan. Times Now editor in chief Arnab Goswami told indiantelevision.com, “Every election the viewership soars for Times Now. We are the number one choice. All year. And of course on Election Day.”

IBN18 Network CEO Avinash Kaul said, “It is a huge event and we will have exclusive non-stop coverage. We will have a panel of dignitaries and we will discuss every development.”

Network18’s coverage will commence at 6 am on 10 February. CNN-IBN’s special programme is called Mission Delhi: Counting Day Coverage, whereas the IBN7 show is called Dilli Mein Iss Baar Bedi Sarkar?

An ABP spokesperson asserted, “Sophisticated graphics will be created to analyse the trends and results. We have deployed a reporter in each constituency; reporters will also be there in various party offices to track developments.”

BAG Network chairperson and MD Anuradha Prasad said, “The telecast will start at 7 am and we will have panel discussions throughout the day. We will have 26 reporters scattered in various parts of Delhi, who will update us with all the on-field developments.”

Besides the technocracy, elections play a vital role in generating revenue. News channels bring in the best of graphic designers and animators to make their show look as exquisite as possible.

When enquired about the commercial interest, Madison COO Kartik Lakshminarayan said, “Election in India is a huge event and news channels cover it with esteemed sophistication. Better presentation attracts bigger brands.”

Helios Media managing director Divya Radhakrishnan opined, “Election is the biggest marketed event of news channels. Delhi assembly election is always rated over other assembly elections and the highly poised contest between AAP and BJP has made it more interesting.”

Platinum Media CEO Basabdutta Chowdhury added, “The ad rates in news channel sees maximum hike on counting day. The build up to the election consists of numerous pre-polls and opinion polls and many brands ties up for that.”

Sources in media buying fraternity revealed that the news channels could see a 200 to 300 per cent hike in ad rates during election coverage depending on their creative offerings. “The hike is maximum on counting day as the entire country tunes in to news channels to get updated,” concluded media experts.

February 9, 2015