Tag: Republic Bharat

Republic Media Network emerges in pole position in BARC news ratings

Republic Media Network claims to establish complete and ultimate news dominance across the English, Hindi and Bangla news genres.

According to the latest BARC data provided by Republic Media Network, the channel claims to record a smashing performance across India, and across time bands.

Across Republic TV, Republic Bharat and Republic Bangla, Republic Media Network has witnessed increased viewership. Republic TV is 200 percent greater than the Number 2 channel TIMES NOW.

Republic TV’s continued dominance in super primetime was once again established by the whopping 44 per cent viewership share it recorded in the time band. Across India, Republic TV’s viewership was 270 per cent greater than India Today, and 330 per cent greater than CNN News18.

Source – BARC India | Target Group:-NCCS 15+ | Period:- WK.10’22 | Market:- India | Days:- All Days

Source – BARC India | Target Group:-NCCS M 22+ | Period:- WK.10’22 | Market:- West Bengal | Days:- Weekdays | Time:- 1700-2000

Source- BARC India | Target Group:-NCCS AB 22+ | Period:- WK.10’22 | Market:- HSM | Days:- Weekdays | Time:- 1900-2000

This all-round performance that has towered over the competition single-handedly shatters the entire conspiracy and propaganda campaigns against Republic TV.

Republic Bharat has continued to dominate the Hindi news genre with a splendid and record-breaking performance that has unseated AajTak in primetime. Republic Bharat’s primetime show Poochta Hai Bharat is in pole position as India’s most-watched news show in its slot. As India’s most loved Hindi news channel which has dominated on its coverage of the Ukraine-Russia War and the recently concluded elections, the record viewership ratings released today have once again toppled the legacy Hindi news player.

With the scorching and historic entry of Republic Bangla into the Bengal news genre, a new order in Bengali news has been undisputedly established.

Republic Media Network’s Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami, said, “The viewership across the Network is historical. These numbers are the ultimate answer to the conspirators who laboriously spent months hatching conspiracy after conspiracy against us. The truth and the viewership are both with the Republic because we have the faith of the people of India, and no one can change that.”

Specifically commenting on the wide gap between Republic and the competition, Goswami said, “We are 200 per cent bigger than any other channel in the English News Genre. That is unmatched dominance. In Hindi, with Republic Bharat we have become the leading channel much ahead of AajTak in the most critical slots. In Bangla, we have created history by a thundering entry. We have become Number 1, beating ABP Ananda in primetime which was the leading channel there. Today, with pride I can say that Republic is the largest News Network in India. These phenomenal results are a slap in the face of channels who conspired against us.”

On the overwhelming reaction from the people of India, Goswami said, “We are flooded with calls from Advertisers, Supporters and Viewers who are calling the channel to congratulate us. We are so grateful for their support.”

“There is a phenomenal spirit and energy in all our newsrooms—Mumbai, Noida and Kolkata. I am so proud of my team who has let their journalism do the talking. I will say though that even though this is a big vindication Brand Republic, the game has just begun,” he added.

March 17, 2022
Partho Dasgupta played ‘vital role’ in TRP scam, says Mumbai court

NEW DELHI: A Mumbai court has observed that former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta played a ‘vital role’ in the alleged Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation scam.

The observation was stated in a court order that was passed on 4 January while rejecting his bail plea. The copy of the order was made available today. Chief metropolitan magistrate Sudhir Bhajipale on Monday had rejected Dasgupta’s bail plea. He was arrested by the Mumbai police last month.

In his order, the magistrate said the material available on record shows involvement of the accused in the alleged crime. "The present applicant (Dasgupta) played the vital role in the commission of offence," he noted.

The material collected by the investigating officer shows that Dasgupta manipulated TRP for particular channels by using his office as the CEO of BARC, the court observed.

The order further said that the accused is the "most influential person who worked as CEO and the other persons or accused are yet to be interrogated.”

"In such circumstances, it is the requirement of further investigation (which is still underway) to keep the present accused away from the wanted accused and other material witnesses," it added.

The court was of the view that Dasgupta's release will hamper further investigation, which is still in progress.

One of the grounds cited by Dasgupta for seeking release on bail was parity with the other accused, including BARC's former chief operating officer Romil Ramgarhia.

The court, however, noted that no doubt the other accused are released on bail, but they have played a different role than Dasgupta in commission of the offence.

"Considering the said fact, the principle of parity is not applicable in case of the present applicant," it said.

Dasgupta filed his bail plea on 30 December 2020, after the court remanded him in judicial custody.

In his application, Dasgupta claimed he was only an employee of BARC and not a "whole and sole (authority)", and that there exists a board of directors and a disciplinary committee above him in the council.

However, Mumbai police argued that Dasgupta, in connivance with another senior official from BARC and ARG Outlier Media owner Arnab Goswami, manipulated the TRPs of Republic TV and Republic Bharat (Hindi).

The police had claimed that Goswami paid in lakhs to Dasgupta in return for the manipulation.

January 6, 2021
Republic Bharat’s Shamsher Singh joins ZEE Hindustan as Managing Editor

New Delhi: Shamsher Singh has joined ZEE Media Corporation as the Managing Editor of ZEE Hindustan and its digital properties.

He was last serving as editor at Republic Bharat.

"ZEE Hindustan is a channel that brings light to the India of the 21st Century. A channel that does not just shows the land of mystics but also shows the land of Chandrayaan, the biggest IT sourcing hub worldwide, the biggest movies and entertainment industry in the world and the land of engineering marvels. Hence the tagline – 'Sare Jahan Se Acha' perfectly fits the channel. In these changing times, the vision of ZEE Hindustan becomes even more relevant and we believe that Mr. Shamsher Singh, a stalwart of this industry will bring his proven and prudent experience in the media industry to successfully take it beyond the vision and expectations of the channel” said ZEE Media CEO Purushottam Vaishnava.

ZEE Media executive cluster head of sales Manoj Jagyasi said, “ZEE Hindustan has a great potential as a national news channel which can be clearly seen in the past few months through the response to our content and through multiple splendid conclaves & discussions conducted through the channel which were on par and even better than some of the long-time leaders in the national news genre. We are glad to have Mr. Shamsher Singh amongst us and be a part of ZEE Hindustan family and we trust that he would take ZEE Hindustan and its digital properties to new heights with his hands-on knowledge in the field of journalism especially in these changing dynamics of the news industry."

Singh has a rich experience of 22 years in the media and broadcast industry and has worked with networks like TV Today, India TV & Republic Bharat in his past endeavors.

He has also been the winner of one of the nation’s most prestigious awards – the Ram Nath Goenka Awards 2008-09 for his exemplary work in journalism.

November 4, 2020
Republic to operate in six languages by March 2021

NEW DELHI: Republic Media Network will be operating in six languages, including its existing Hindi and English portfolio, by March 2021, Arnab Goswami told Indiantelevision.com in a fireside chat with its founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari.

“We are going to be operating in six languages on digital platforms by early next year and we are also looking at broadcast options and are open to doing partnerships, ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and controlling equity for that. Our business team is exploring all the options,” Goswami elaborated.

He shared that the plans have got a little delayed because of the Covid2019 pandemic but the team is actively working on expanding the Republic offerings across the country.

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However, right now, his priority is strengthening Republic Bharat’s digital presence. “I have invested in real estate and teams and am planning to launch Republic Bharat on a digital platform in a big way,” he said.

Goswami noted that the larger plan is to take Republic to each and every corner of the country and work in at least 10 Indian languages.

September 9, 2020
In week 35, Arnab Goswami rules the Indian news waves

BENGALORE: The Arnab Goswami led English News channel Republic TV and Hindi News channel Republic Bharat both topped the news genre in their respective languages in Week 35 (Saturday, 29 August 2020 to Friday, 4 September 2020, week or period under review) based on Broadcast Audience Research Council of India weekly data put up in the public domain. And based on the breakup of rural and urban markets, Republic Bharat was the most watched news channel in both markets.

The News genre has been losing viewership steam that it had gained during the COVID2019 weeks. It was the Republic Network that first questioned the conclusion of suicide arrived at by the Mumbai Police without any preliminary investigations or autopsy on Rajput. The coverage of the shenanigans of the Maharashtra chief minister Thakerey’s party members over the issue as well as utterances by the ruling Shiv Sena’s authorised spokesperson Sanjay Raut against Kangana Ranaut, a female Indian actor only helped boosting Republic TV and Republic Bharat viewership. Has Thakerey bitten off more than he can chew?

Read our coverage on Arnab Goswami

BARC data for top 5 English News channels for week 35 of 2020 shows that Republic TV led its genre by far with 6.563 million weekly impressions. Following far behind at rank 2 was Times Now with just about one third the ratings at 2.194 million weekly impressions. At rank 3 in Week 35 of 2020 was CNN News18 with 1.505 million weekly impressions. DD India at rank 4 garnered 1.405 million weekly impressions followed by India Today Television with 1.381 million weekly impressions at rank 5.

According to a Tweet, that has not been verified by www.indiantelevision.com , Republic TV had an all-time band market share of 51.40 percent in week 35 of 2020. In the case of week days in the time band of 2100 to 2300 hours Republic TV had a market share of 60.28 percent.

As mentioned above, Republic Bharat led the Hindi News genres in the combined as well as the individual urban and rural Hindi speaking markets – HSM (U+R), HSM (U), HSM (R).

Read our coverage on BARC

Republic Bharat scored 287.062 million weekly impressions in HSM (U+R) in Week 35 of 2020, about 45 percent more than the India Today group’s flagship Hindi News channel Aaj Tak which was ranked 2 with 198.245 million weekly impressions. At rank 3, was TV9 Bharatvarsh with 168.764 million closely followed by India TV at fourth rank with 165.444 million weekly impressions. At fifth rank in HSM (U+R) was News18 India with 134.583 million weekly impressions.

In HSM (U), Republic Bharat led with 168.824 million weekly impressions followed by Aaj Tak with 110.739 million weekly impressions at second place in Week 35 of 2020. At rank 3 was India TV with 99.544 million weekly impressions while at the fourth place was TV9 Bharatvarsh with 90.901 million weekly impressions. At fifth rank was News18 India with 82.699 million weekly impressions in week 35 of 2020 in HSM (U).

In HSM (R), Republic was ranked first with 118.328 million weekly impressions in Week 35 of 2020. Aaj Tak was ranked second with 87.507 million weekly impressions followed by TV9 Bharatvarsh with 77.863 million weekly impressions. India TV was ranked fourth with 65.900 million weekly impressions. At rank 5 was News18 India with 51.884 million weekly impressions in the HSM (R) in Week 35 of 2020.

July 10, 2020
Republic TV clarifies Arnab Goswami holds over 80% of equity

MUMBAI: The Republic Media Network said the editor-in-chief of the network, Arnab Goswami, controls over 80 per cent shareholder equity through his promoter entity in ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd, said a company press release.

The network’s statement said: “Arnab Goswami though his personal investment and family structures entirely controlled by him, had around 84 % of shareholder equity through his promoter entity in ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd at the time of the launch of the English Channel Republic TV.”

The aim is to make the shareholder pattern public in the backdrop of a series of misleading reports in Indian and international media, making false and malafide claims about the ownership of the consolidated network, the statement said.

Along with the general English news channel the network has two other entities: Republic Bharat, a general Hindi news channel, and a news website www.republicworld.com. In this regard, the statement says, “Goswami being a sole promoter of the company owns 99 percent equity in the downstream digital entity that controls the digital assets of the network under the URL www.republicworld.com.”

Post raising initial capital to fund the launch of English news channel in February 2017, Goswami further raised capital for expansion through small equity raise two years later in February 2019. And, since then he continues to hold over 82 % of ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd.

Goswami’s present controlling equity of 82 per cent makes him one of the largest individual shareholders in the Indian news media landscape and the first journalist to achieve this feat.

February 19, 2020
BARC week 39: Not much impact of UNGA on Hindi news viewership

BENGALURU: Pakistan Premier Imran Khan’s shenanigan’s at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) did not seem to have much effect on the viewership of Hindi news channels in week 39 of 2019 as combined weekly impressions of the BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi news channels grew by just 7 percent as compared to the previous week. Hindi news viewership in Hindi speaking markets – both urban -HSM (U) and rural (HSM (R), as well as the combined markets -HSM (U+R) seemed immune to Islamophobia and Islamic Terror that many global leaders spouted during their respective UNGA speeches as BARC data for the top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R) increased to 545.803 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 from 511.897 million weekly impressions in week 38. Viewership growth in week 39 of 2019 was driven by HSM (U), while Aaj Tak and Zee News were the biggest gainers in both HSM (U) and HSM (R), as well as HSM (U+R)

Comparatively, viewership of the top 5 English News channels increased by as much as 41 percent during the week under review as compared to the previous week.

Hindi news viewership in HSM (U+R)

While the channels listed among the top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R) were the same, there was a small shufflingof ranks in week 39 of 2019 (Saturday, 21 September 2019 to Friday, 27 September 2019, week or period under consideration). Aaj Tak retained its numero uno rank that it has held on to almost forever with 17 percent increase in viewership in week 39 of 2019 at 127.463 million weekly impressions as compared to 114.016 million weekly impressions in week 38.

Zee News climbed up a place to second rank with an increase of 11 percent in week 39 of 2019 to 112.261 million weekly impressions as compared to third rank and 100.993 million weekly impressions in the previous week. India TV dropped a place to third rank despite an increase of 3 percent viewership to 104.248 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 as compared to second rank and 101.656 million weekly impressions in week 38. News18 India retained fourth rank in the week under review with an increase of 3 percent in ratings to 103.011 million weekly impressions as compared to 99.971 million weekly impressions in week 38. ABP News also retained fifth rank in week 39 of 2019 with an increase of 4 percent in viewership to 98.820 million weekly impressions as compared to 95.261 million weekly impressions in week 38.

Please refer to the figure below:

Hindi news Viewership in HSM (U)

Viewership of the top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U) increased 8 percent to 319.149 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 from 294.229 million weekly impressions in week 38. Please refer to the figure below.

Aaj Tak saw its ratings increase by 13 percent in week 39 to 74.127 million weekly impressions in HSM (U) from 65.773 million weekly impressions in week 38. Zee News climbed up a rank to second place in week 39 of 2019 with an increase of 13 percent in viewership to 66.739 million weekly impressions from third place and 58.824 million weekly impressions in week 38. News18 India dropped a place to third rank – its ratings increased 3 percent in week 39 of 2019 to 63.055 million weekly impressions from second rank and 61.067 million weekly impressions in week 38. India TV retained rank four in week 39 of 2019 with an increase of 5 percent in viewership to 61.169 million weekly impressions from 58.101 million weekly impressions in the previous week. ABP News also retained fifth rank with a 7 percent increase in viewership in week 39 of 2019 to 54.059 million weekly impressions from 50.464 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

Hindi news viewership in HSM (R)

While the channels in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (R) were same in week 39 of 2019 and week 38, there was a small tweaking in ranks. Further, two of the five channels saw viewership decline, while three saw viewership growth. Combined ratings of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (R) in week 39 of 2019 increased just 4 percent to 229.035 million weekly impressions from 219.734 million weekly impressions in week 38.

In the case of HSM (R) also, Aaj Tak retained rank one with 11 percent increase in ratings to 53.336 million weekly impressions from 48.244 million weekly impressions in week 38. Zee News climbed two places to second rank with 8 percent increase in viewership to 45.522 million weekly impressions from fourth rank and 42.169 million weekly impressions in week 38. ABP News dropped a place to third rank with almost flat ratings (decline of 0.1 percent in viewership) to 44.761 million weekly impressions in week 38 of 2019 from second rank and 44.797 million weekly impressions in week 38. India TV also dropped a rank to fourth place with a decline of 1 percent in viewership to 43.078 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 from third rank and 43.554 million weekly impressions in week 38. Republic Bharat retained fifth rank with an increase of 3 percent in viewership to 42.338 million weekly impressions from 40.970 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Please refer to the figure below:

October 9, 2019
BARC week 38: Hindi News ratings fall as AajTak continues dominance

BENGALURU: Hindi News ratings continued their decline in week 38 of 2019 (Week 38: Saturday, 14 September 2019 to Friday, 20 September 2019, period or week under review). After the big jump in ratings in week 21 0f 2019 when the opinion polls followed by results of the national elections, Hindi News ratings had witnessed a steep decline. The abrogation of Article 370 and the formation of the new union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on 5 August 2019 during week 32 of 2019 saw ratings peak a bit once again, only to gradually climb down. Weekly data of Top 5 Hindi News channels sourced from Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) reveals that the combined total of ratings of the top 5 Hindi News channels in the combined urban (U) and rural (R) Hindi speaking market (HSM) dipped 13 percent in week 38 of 2019 as compared to the previous week. Ratings of the Top 5 Hindi News channels in the urban market – HSM (U) declined 14 percent as compared to a 11 percent fall in the case of HSM (R) during the period under review. BARC data has more weightage for the urban markets as compared to the rural markets.

AajTak from the India Today Group continued its unimpeded and uninterrupted dominance of the Hindi News genre in HSM (U+R), HSM (U) and HSM (R). Please refer to the figures below for the combined ratings of the top 5 Hindi News channels in HSM (U+R), HSM (U) and HSM (R) respectively.

Top 5 channels of the Hindi News genre in week 38 of 2019 in HSM (U+R)

The combined weekly ratings of the Top 5 Hindi News channels in HSM (U+R) declined 13 percent to 511.897 million impressions in week 38 of 2019 as compared to 587.374 million weekly impressions in week 37. While the same channels were present in BARC’s weekly list in HSM (U+R), there was some shuffling in ranks between the two weeks. All the channels witnessed decline in ratings in week 38 of 2019 as compared to week 38.

AajTak at rank one, witnessed a 16 percent decline in ratings during the period under review in HSM (U+R) to 114.016 million weekly impressions from 134.965 million weekly impressions in week 37. India TV jumped up two places to second rank in week 38 of 2019 with 101.656 million weekly impressions despite a 7 percent decline in viewership from 109.803 million weekly impressions and fourth rank in week 37.

Zee News slipped a place to third rank in week 38 of 2019 with 100.993 million weekly impressions, a drop of 17 percent as compared to 121.535 million weekly impressions and second rank in the previous week. News18 India also dropped a place to fourth rank in week 38 of 2019 with 99.771 million weekly impressions, a 10 percent decline from the 111.695 million weekly impressions and third rank in week 37. ABP News retained its rank 5 in the list in week 38 of 2019 with 95.261 million weekly impressions which was 13 percent lower than the 109.376 million weekly impressions in week 38.

Top 5 channels of the Hindi News genre in week 38 of 2019 in HSM (U)

The combined weekly impressions of the top 5 Hindi News channels in HSM (U) declined 14 percent to 294.229 million weekly impressions in week 38 of 2019 from 340.308 million weekly impressions in the previous week. The five channels in the list for both the weeks – weeks 38 and 37 of 2019 were the same, however, with a shuffling in ranks.

Continuing on at rank 1 in week 38 of 2019, AajTak witnessed a 15 percent drop in ratings in HSM (U) to 65.773 million weekly impressions as compared to 77.704 million weekly impressions in week 37. Climbing up a place to second rank, News18 India saw its ratings decline 11 percent to 61.067 million weekly impressions in week 38 of 2019 from 68.636 million weekly impressions and third rank in the previous week. Zee News dropped a place to third rank and saw its ratings decline 19 percent in week 38 of 2019 to 58.824 million weekly impressions from second rank and 72.467 million weekly impressions in week 37. India TV retained rank 4 in week 38 of 2019 with a decline of 9 percent in viewership to 58.101 million weekly impressions from 64.100 million weekly impressions in week 37. ABP News retained fifth place in week 38 of 2019 with a 12 percent decline in ratings to 50.464 million weekly impressions from 57.401 million weekly impressions in week 37.

Top 5 channels of the Hindi News genre in week 38 of 2019 in HSM (R)

The combined weekly impressions of the Top 5 Hindi News channels in HSM (R) declined 11 percent to 219.734 million weekly impressions in week 38 of 2019 from 247.066 million weekly impressions in week 37. The first four channels in the week under review were the same as in the previous week, while the ArnabGoswami-associated Republic Bharat re-entered BARC’s weekly list of Top 5 Hindi News channels in HSM (R) as News18 India exited it. There was a shuffling of places between ranks three and four in week 38 of 2019.

AajTak, at rank one, saw its viewership decline by 16 percent to 48.244 million weekly impressions in week 38 of 2019 from 57.261 million weekly impressions in week 37. ABP News at second rank saw its ratings drop 15 percent to 44.797 million weekly impressions from 51.975 million weekly impressions and second rank in week 37. India TV climbed a place to third rank in week 38 of 2019 despite a decline of 5 percent to 43.554 million weekly impressions as compared to fourth rank and 45.703 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Zee News dropped a place to fourth rank in week 38 of 2019 with a 14 percent reduction in viewership to 42.169 million weekly impressions from third rank and 49.068 million weekly impressions in week 37. Republic Bharat re-entered BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi News channels in HSM (R) with 40.970 million weekly impressions.

September 27, 2019
Is there a slow but steady decline in English news ratings?

BENGALURU: Is viewership of the English news genre dipping? Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India recommenced publishing limited viewership data in the public domain on TRAI’s coercion in week 13 of 2019 after it had ostentatiously stopped doing so to allow ratings to stabilise after implementation of TRAI’s new tariff order from week 6 of 2019. Then in week 23 of 2019, BARC announced that it was reverting to an older method of treatment of the landing pages and outliers. The weeks following week 13 of 2019 have seen two major cricket tourneys being played – the twelfth season of the Indian Premier League in India and the ICC World Cup in England and Wales. Both the tourneys involved matches that overlapped primetime in India. Many parts of the country have been hit by bad weather over the past few weeks. Or is it just that there were a number of weeks that were just too hot before the torrential rains that inundated many parts of India? A BARC paper in the past suggested that weather affects television viewership. The implementation of the new regulatory framework and BARC’s treatment of outlier data are two other factors that also need to be kept in mind when analysing the scenario. One can also make a case for greater viewership interest in the run up to the elections, which now seems to be on the decline. It would be interesting to study if other genres have also been adversely affected.

Please refer to the figure below for the combined weekly impressions of the top five English news channels between weeks 13 and the week under review – week 30 (Saturday, 20 July 2019 to Friday, 26 July 2019). The dotted yellow trendline indicates a slow but steady decline in viewership of the top 5 English news channels between weeks 13 and 30 of 2019. As is obvious, weeks 21 and 22 are the anomalies in the decline – news viewership peaked because of the announcement of the results of the national elections.

It is interesting to note that since the entry of pubcaster Doordarshan’s English news channel DD India into BARC’s weekly list of top 5 English news channels, the channels appearing in the list have been the same, with a slight tweaking in the ranks sometimes. Over the past few weeks, there seems to have been some stabilisation in ranks one, two and three with the Arnab Goswami-led Republic at first place, Times Now at second place and DD India at third place. The jostle for ranks four and five is still on between CNN News India and India Today Television. Please refer to the figure below:

Please refer to the figure below for ratings of the top 5 English news channels.

Ratings of English news channels for week 30 of 2019

The combined ratings of the top five English news channels increased 4.8 percent in week 30 of 2019 to 1.896 million weekly impressions from a low of 1.809 million weekly impressions in week 29. The list of channels and their ranks were the same in week 30 as week 29 of 2019.

Republic TV led the English news genre with ratings of 0.574 million weekly impressions in week 30 of 2019 as compared to 0.564 million weekly impressions in the previous week. At second rank, Times Now scored 0.411 million weekly impressions during the week under review as compared to 0.404 million weekly impressions in week 29 of 2019. At third rank was DD India with 0.400 million weekly impressions in week 30 of 2019 as compared to 0.367 million weekly impressions in week 29. At fourth rank was CNN News18 with 0.283 million weekly impressions in week 30 of 2019 as compared to 0.264 million weekly impressions in week 29. Completing the quintet at fifth rank was India Today Television with 0.228 million weekly impressions in week 30 of 2019 as compared to 0.210 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

August 3, 2019
BARC week 29: Rural drives Hindi news viewership up

BENGALURU: The combined viewership of the top 5 Hindi news channels across the urban and rural Hindi speaking markets or HSM (U+R) grew 4.7 per cent in week 29 of 2019 (Saturday, 13 July 2019 to Friday, 19 July 2019, week or period under review) as compared to the previous week according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data. Combined weekly viewership of the top 5 Hindi news channels for week 29 of 2019 was 476.727 million weekly impressions as compared to 455.410 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Viewership growth in week 29 of 2019 was led by the rural Hindi speaking market or HSM (R), which grew by 8.9 per cent from week 28. Urban viewership in the Hindi speaking markets grew by 1.5 per cent during the week under review as compared to the previous week. The combined weekly impressions of the top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (R) was 200.340 million weekly impressions as compared to 183.955 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Combined viewership of top 5 channels in HSM (U) was 277.783 million weekly impressions in week 29 of 2019 was compared to 273.724 million weekly impressions in week 28.

Viewership growth could be attributed to the fact that only the final match of the ICC World Cup was played during the week under review. Since India was not involved in the final of the premier global cricket tourney, interest and hence viewership must have petered out. Earlier, cricket did eat into the viewership of many genres because of overlap of timings with primetime in India. Viewership could climb further with improved weather across the country. All the Hindi news channels in the three BARC weekly lists – HSM (U+R), HSM (R) and HSM (U) in week 29 of 2019 were the same as in week 28 with a slight shuffle in ranks in HSM (R). All three lists were led by Aaj Tak.

Hindi news viewership in HSM (U+R)

All the five channels in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R) witnessed growth in viewership. The list and ranks of channels in week 29 of 2019 were the same as in week 28.

Aaj Tak at rank 1 in week 29 of 2019 witnessed a growth of 3.5 per cent at 123.173 million weekly impressions as compared to 118.957 million weekly impressions in week 28. At second rank, News18 India saw viewership grow by 8.3 per cent to 96.403 million weekly impressions in week 29 of 2019 as compared to 88.974 million weekly impressions in week 28.

India TV, ranked three, saw a growth of 2.6 per cent in viewership in week 29 of 2019 at 90.012 million weekly impressions as compared to 87.736 million weekly impressions in week 28. At fourth rank, ABP News witnessed a growth of 6.1 per cent in viewership in week 29 of 2019 at 89.531 million weekly impressions as compared to 84.397 million weekly impressions in the previous week. At fifth rank, Zee News saw viewership grow by 3 per cent in week 29 of 2019 at 77.608 million weekly impressions as compared to 75.346 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

Hindi news viewership in HSM (R)

All the five channels in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (R) witnessed growth in viewership. The list and ranks of channels in week 29 of 2019 saw a slight shuffling of rank as compared to week 28.

At rank 1, Aaj Tak witnessed a growth of 7.6 per cent in viewership at 53.977 million weekly impressions in week 29 of 2019 as compared to first rank and 50.149 million weekly impressions in week 28. Continuing on at second rank, ABP News saw a growth of 12.9 per cent in week 29 of 2019 to 41.047 million weekly impressions in HSM (R) as compared to 36.355 million weekly impressions in week 28.

News18 India climbed a place to third rank in week 29 of 2019 with 20.1 per cent viewership growth to 38.136 million weekly impressions as compared to fourth rank and 31.751 million weekly impressions in week 28. India TV climbed down a place in week 29 of 2019 to fourth rank with a growth of 4.1 per cent at 36.078 million weekly impressions as compared to third rank and 34.671 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Retaining fifth rank in week 29 of 2019 was Republic Bharat with a growth of 0.2 per cent at 31.102 million weekly impressions as compared to 31.029 million weekly impressions in week 28.

Hindi news viewership in HSM (U)

All the five channels in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U) witnessed growth in viewership. The list and ranks of channels in week 29 of 2019 were the same as in week 28.

At rank 1 in HSM (U), Aaj Tak saw growth of 0.6 per cent in week 29 of 2019 to 69.196 million weekly impressions as compared to 68.808 million weekly impressions in the previous week. News18 India was ranked second in week 29 of 2019 with a 12.9 per cent growth in viewership to 58.266 million weekly impressions as compared to 57.223 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

At third rank, India TV witnessed a growth of 1.6 per cent to 53.934 million weekly impressions in week 29 of 2019 as compared to 53.065 million weekly impressions in week 28. Ranked four, ABP News saw growth of 0.9 per cent in viewership in week 29 of 2019 to 48.484 million weekly impressions as compared to 48.042 million weekly impressions in week 28. Completing the quintet at fifth rank was Zee News which saw growth of 2.8 per cent in week 29 of 2019 to 47.903 million weekly impressions as compared to 46.586 million weekly impressions in week 28.

July 30, 2019