Tag: Times now

Gujarat elections boost news channel ratings as Republic continues to lead English News

BENGALURU: Rahul Gandhi’s shenanigans and Narendra Modi’s sudden and unexpected belligerence at rallies leading up to the Gujarat state assembly elections have resulted in bolstering sagging news viewership, especially for the English news genre. According to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data for week 49 of 2017 (Saturday, 2 December 2017 to Friday, 8 December 2017), combined ratings of the top-five English news channels (All India (U+R): NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) increased by 12 percent as compared with the previous week.

While the two politicians put on a spectacle for the viewers, it was the second-ranked Times Now that gained the most–both in terms of viewership as well as percentage of increase in viewership. The channel gained 0.138 million impressions and 22.2 percent increase in percentage of viewership growth during week 49 as compared to week 48 of 2019. However, this was not enough to beat its bête noire and displacer at the top spot–the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV. Times Now was ranked second during the week under review (week 49 of 2017) with 0.759 million weekly impressions as compared to the genre leader Republic TV’s 0.819 million weekly impressions. Republic TV gained 0.11 million weekly impressions in week 49 and grew by 15.5 percent as against the previous week.

At third was India Today Television in week 49 of 2017 with 0.339 million weekly impressions–the channel witnessed growth of 0.045 million weekly impressions, or 15.3 percent. Following India Today Television was CNN News 18 at fourth place with 0.233 million weekly impressions. CNN News 18 jumped a rank from the previous week’s fifth place with a gain of 4,000 impressions or 1.7 percent as compared to the previous week. Slipping a rank from the previous week’s fourth to fifth and losing 0.044 million impressions (losing 16.7 percent) was the Prannoy and Radhika Roy-led NDTV 24×7.

Hindi News

Hindi news channels also witnessed growth in ratings–the combined ratings of the top-five Hindi news channels-HSM (U+R): NCCS All : 15+ Individuals-grew by 6.6 percent in week 49 of 2017 as compared with week 48. All the channels in week 49 retained their week 48 rankings during the latest week. As expected, the biggest gainer during the week under review in terms of number of impressions as well as growth percentage was the genre leader Aaj Tak with a gain of 12.045 million impressions and growth of 11.1 percent. Aaj Tak recorded 120.442 million weekly impressions during week 49.

At second place in the Hindi News genre in week 49 of 2017 was Zee News with 95.018 million weekly impressions. The Essel group’s premier Hindi News channel gained 5.110 million weekly impressions and viewership growth of 5.7 percent in week 49 as compared to week 48. India TV with 94.135 million weekly impressions was ranked third – the channel had gained 4.568 million weekly impressions and grown by 5.1 percent in week 49 as compared to week 48.

At fourth rank in week 49 of 2017 was ABP News with 91.065 million weekly impressions. ABP News which recorded a gain of 2.6 percent and 2.288 million weekly impressions Completing the top five Hindi News channels quintet was News 18 India with 86.576 million impressions. News 18 India gained 6.269 million weekly impressions and its viewership grew by 7.8 percent in week 49 of 2017 as compared to week 48.

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December 16, 2017
Times Now appoints Sujeet Mishra as marketing head

MUMBAI: Times Network, part of India’s media conglomerate, The Times Group today announced the appointment of Sujeet Mishra as head of marketing, Times Now.

In his role, Sujeet will lead the brand’s strategic planning and communication including new brand initiatives, consumer research, market development across ATL (above-the-line), BTL (below-the-line) and digital platforms. Based in Mumbai, Sujeet will report to Times Network executive vice president Vivek Srivastava

Commenting on the appointment, Srivastava said, “I’m delighted to welcome Sujeet to the Times Now team. His vast knowledge and strong capabilities in brand building, marketing communication will add tremendous value to our ambitious growth strategy in the English news segment.”

Speaking on his new role, Mishra said, “I’m extremely excited to lead the marketing mandate for a brand that stands for credibility and accuracy in reportage, a reflection of true journalism. I look forward to channelising my best efforts and strengths into creating impactful marketing campaigns and sustaining the leadership position of Times Now.”

With over 13 years of experience in marketing and brand communications, Mishra joins Times Now after a successful stint at ABP News Network where he was overseeing four news brands, managed IP events and played a pivotal role in the brand transition of the channel from Star News to ABP News. He is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad’s marketing executive development program.

December 15, 2017
Republic TV continues lead as genre ratings rise

BENGALURU:Two of weeks earlier, we had mentioned that the English News genre’s four week average ratings and weekly ratings have been falling since weeks 29 to 32 of 2017. The fall continued until week 47 of 2017 when the combined Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly ratings of the top-five English News genre channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) fell to 1.877 million weekly impressions. The leader of the pack right from the week it launched–the Arnab Goswami-headed Republic TV–recorded the lowest ever ratings of 0.511 million weekly impressions in week 47 of 2017. The fortunes of the genre seem to have turned in week 48 of 2017 (Saturday, 25 November 2017 to Friday, 1 December 2017). The combined ratings of the top-five English News genre channels smartly increased to 2.116 million weekly impressions. However, this increase was not enough to avert the genre’s lowest four-week average ratings–1.893 million for weeks 45 to 48 of 2017 since the launch of Republic TV in week 19 of 2017.

Refer to the chart below showing the four-week average of the top-five English News channels between weeks 1 to 48 of 2017. It may be noted that that the data for week 21 has not been considered in this report and, hence, the four-week average weekly impressions of 2.6327 million for the W22-24 period is actually a three-week average.

Revisiting what we had said earlier—with addition of data for weeks 47 and 48 of 2017—the combined ratings of the top-five English News channels for weeks 1 to 48 of 2017 increased from the lowest viewership to date of 1.179 million weekly impressions in week 2 to the highest viewership in week 11 of 4.987 million weekly impressions. The ratings then started to decline until week 19 of 2017 which saw the launch of Republic TV.

In week 19 of 2017, the genre witnessed its second highest combined weekly ratings of the top-five channels to date of 4.282 million weekly impressions. Republic TV has topped the genre right from the first week of its launch to date in 2017. Goswami’s channel helped increase the genre’s overall ratings but its eyeballs pull could only retard the slow decline that the genre has seen since then as can be seen from the chart above.

Since news is event driven, the above statements also are evident if one were to go by the four-week average weekly impressions of the combined ratings of the top-five English News genre rather than weekly numbers. As mentioned above, the data for week 21 has not been considered in this report and, hence, the four-week average weekly impressions of 2.6327 million for the W22-24 period is actually a three-week average.

In week 11 of 2017 (Weeks 9 to 12), elections results in five states of the country were announced and hence the ratings of news channels peaked. Weeks 13 to 16 saw a decline in the genre’s ratings, because week 14 of 2017 saw the launch of the Indian Premier League, which adversely affected the News genre’s ratings. Weeks 17 to 20 were Republic TV’s launch period and everyone wanted to see how Goswami would perform on his new English News channel, the genre’s ratings climbed to a four week average of 2.972 million. The four weeks (or rather 3 weeks’ average in this specific case) of weeks 22-24 was a small blip, and since the other English News channels withdrew themselves from BARC ratings, the data will not be discussed any further here.

Weeks 25 to 28 numbers for the top-five channels saw the four-week average ratings climb to 2.9155 million weekly impressions, followed by the highest four-week average of the genre in 2017 until now of 3.2695 million weekly impressions in weeks 29 to 32. As is evident from the figure above, the genre’s four-week average ratings have only declined since then.

Will the genre be able to garner improved ratings for the rest of weeks of 2017? Or will they slide, or remain stagnant? This is something that time will tell.

Data for week 48 of 2017

The top-five channels for week 48 of 2017 were the same as week 47 of 2017. The channels retained the same ranks during the week under review as compared to the trailing week, but at the cost of lower viewership.

As mentioned above, Republic TV held the top rank in the genre during week 48 of2017 with 0.709 million weekly impressions, followed by Times Now with 0.621 million weekly impressions at second place. India Today Television came in at third place with 0.294 million weekly impressions, lower than the 0.340 million weekly impressions it had garnered for week 47 of 2017. NDTV 24×7 was ranked fourth with 0.263 million impressions in week 48, slightly lower than the 0.289 million weekly impressions in week 47. At fifth place was CNN News 18 with 0.229 million weekly impressions in week 48 of 2017 as compared to the 0.25 million weekly impressions in week 47 of 2017.

December 8, 2017
Republic TV, Times Now viewership moves up as genre ratings fall

BENGALURU: The two top-ranked channels of the Indian English news genre saw small increases in their weekly viewership in week 46 of 2017 (Saturday, 11 November 2017 to Friday, 17 November 2017, period, week under consideration) as compared to the nadir of the previous week. Data from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) show that the genre topper from the time of its launch 28 weeks ago Republic TV saw its ratings increase to 0.566 million weekly impressions in week 46 from 0.524 million weekly impressions in week 45. The second-ranked Times Now saw its ratings increase to 0.502 million weekly impressions during the week under consideration from 0.489 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

The other three channels from the top five English saw no change in ranks, but decline in viewership in the period as compared to week 45. They were: NDTV 24×7 at third place with 0.260 million weekly impressions (0.299 million weekly impressions in week 45); India Today Television with 0.250 million weekly impressions (0.295 million weekly impressions in week 45); and CNN News18 with 0.185 million weekly impressions (0.205 million weekly impressions in week 45).

Genre ratings continue declining

The English news genre has seen a decline in ratings over the past few weeks. Analysis of BARC data for the combined ratings of the top five English news channels for weeks 1 to 46 of 2017 increased from the lowest viewership to date of 1.179 million weekly impressions in week 2, to the highest viewership in week 11 to date of 4.987 million weekly impressions. The ratings then started to decline until week 19 of 2017 which saw the launch of the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV.

In week 19 of 2017, the genre witnessed its second-highest combined weekly ratings of top five channels to date of 4.282 million weekly impressions. Republic TV has topped the genre right from the first week of its launch to date in 2017. Goswami’s channel helped increase the genre’s overall ratings, but its eyeball pull could only retard the slow decline that the genre has seen since then as can be seen from the chart below.

Since news is event-driven, the above statements also are evident if one were to go by the four week average weekly impressions of the combined ratings of the top five English news genre, rather than weekly numbers. It may be noted that the data for week 21 has not been considered in this paper and hence the four week average weekly impressions of 2.6327 million for the W22-24 period is a three-week average. Further, the number for the last point on the graph (W45-46) of 1.7895 weekly impressions is a 2-week average.

In week 11 of 2017 (Weeks 9 to 12), elections results in five states of the country were announced and hence the ratings of news channels peaked. Weeks 13 to 16 saw a decline in the genre’s ratings because week 14 of 2017 saw the launch of the Indian Premier League. Weeks 17 to 20 were Republic TV’s launch period and as everyone wanted to see how Goswami would perform, the genre’s ratings climbed to a four week average of 2.972 million. The average of weeks 22-24 was a small blip, and since the other English News channels withdrew themselves from BARC ratings, the data will not be discussed any further here.

Weeks 25 to 28 numbers for the top five channels saw the 4-week average ratings climb smartly to 2.9155 million weekly impressions, followed by the highest four week average of the genre in 2017 until now of 3.2695 million weekly impressions in weeks 29 to 32. As is evident from the figure below, the genre’s 4-week average ratings have only declined since then.

Ratings for the same period of the previous year can’t truly be compared to see if decline is a periodic trend because news is generally event driven as mentioned above. For example, in 2016, demonetisation was announced on November 8; in week 28 of 2017, ratings of the Hindi news genre peaked because the Supreme Court’s Ram Rahim verdict was announced in that week.

November 24, 2017
The rise and fall of English news’ TV viewership

NEW DELHI: Tongues have been wagging in the industry that the English news genre viewership levels and ratings have not only been yo-yoing but also declining. From a high of an average weekly viewership of 3788 (‘000) impressions in the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data from week 27-30, the figure has come down dramatically to 2514 (‘000) impressions in weeks 43-45.

However, a quick analysis of viewership data reveals that there doesn’t seem to be any sinister reason or rocket science involved. Viewing, as experts say, is largely a seasonal affair for various genres. For example, during summer school holidays viewership of movie channels and general entertainment channels – and to some extent even factual entertainment or infotainment channels – see a spike in viewership only because kids and moms possibly get to do more TV watching.

As far as English news genre is concerned, which forms a miniscule of the total viewership pie, questioning the fan following is not correct. In fact, the English news genre has seen a gradual growth in the period between BARC weeks 8-45; especially since the time the ratings agency rolled out the new TV universe estimate.

The genre hit a high of 5.3 million impressions in week 11, but that was because of the crucial assembly poll results week. In a country where everyone has a political view, high viewership is understandable as most people would be searching for more political and election-related news and information, said an industry expert who has been tracking TV news channels in general.

BARC India data available with Indiantelevision.com highlights that after the launch of Republic TV and the emergence of Arnab Goswami in a new avatar, the English news genre had hit levels of 4.6 million impressions, but has now settled at an average 2.3 millions impressions – levels English news genre was perched at prior to launch of Republic TV.

Source: BARC India. NB: Republic TV launched in week 19. Data: All India, Male 22+ AB; Average Weekly Impressions (in ‘000); period of consideration: Week 8-45

Though competitors and critics of Arnab may not like to admit, data shows that after the launch of Republic TV the entire English news genre (including most existing players) saw a significant growth in viewership. As another industry observer pointed out, the reasons for this new-found love for English news could be for the following reasons:

-When a much anticipated and promoted event occurs (launch of Republic and return of Arnab notably) inevitably viewer interest spikes that gets funnelled into the genre.

– Also, the new channel launched with special content (stings, etc) led to the competition simultaneously airing special shows that were planned and canned earlier. All these again contributed to drive up viewership.

– Such viewership spikes (led by events like elections, results or cricket matches featuring India) are inevitable and settle down to organic levels over the long term; even Republic TV ratings have fallen from dizzying heights at the time of its debut.

That’s exactly what’s happening now with English news genre, the industry observer explained, driving home the point that TV channels should not jump to conclusions based on week-to-week swings. Earlier, there was one leader in the genre (notably Times Now), but now the category has two strong players. This too impacts viewership and rankings within the genre in the way as being witnessed now.

“English news as a genre has always been a story of new challengers introducing disruptions and dethroning the existing leader. From NDTV 24×7 to CNN New18 to Times Now to Republic TV, the story has repeated itself reflecting also the swing in viewer preference as newer products are introduced in the market,” a TV critic said, adding that for niche genres like English news it’s always advisable to look at long-term trends, larger period clusters, rather than week on week insights.

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November 21, 2017
Indian English News genre facing festival blues?

BENGALURU: Is the Indian English News genre facing pre and post festival blues? For that certainly seems to be case when one looks at Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly data for weeks 1 to 43 of 2017. Ratings of the genre dipped in the week leading to, during and the week after India’s biggest festival season – Diwali. The main Diwali days were in during week 42 of 2017. It may be noted that ratings for week 21 of 2017 have not been considered in this paper because in that week English News channels with the support of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) excluding Republic TV had withdrawn from BARC ratings measurement in protest against what they claimed were unfair practices by Republic TV.

BARC weekly data for the top 5 English News genre (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB: Males 22+ Individuals) shows that the lowest combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels in 2017 until week 43 was in week 2 of 2017 (Saturday, 7 January 2017 to Friday 13 January 2017) at 1.179 million weekly impressions. Week 1 of 2017, with 1.218 million weekly impressions, had the second lowest ratings in 2017 until week 43.

The highest combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels in 2017 until week 43 of 2017 were in week 11 (Saturday, 11 March 2017 to Friday 17 March 2017) at 4.897 million weekly impressions– this was the week during which the election results of five states in India were announced. The second highest combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels were in the week that Republic TV was launched – week 19 of 2017 (Saturday, 6 May 2017 to Friday 12 May 2017) and the combined weekly ratings of the top 5 English News channels were 4.282 million, with Republic TV garnering about half the ratings of the genre – 2.115 million weekly impressions.

After that second peak, the combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels have been on the decline, with a nadir of 1.986 million weekly impressions in the pre Diwali week 41 of 2017 (Saturday, 7 October 2017 to Friday, 13 October 2017). Ratings for week 41 of 2017 were the fifteenth lowest ratings of the genre during the first 43 weeks of 2017 and the lowest ratings after the launch of Republic TV. In week 42 or Diwali week, the genre experienced the seventeenth lowest ratings in 2017 to date, and the second lowest ratings after the launch of Republic TV – 2.050 million weekly impressions. In week 43 (Saturday, 21 October 2017 to Friday, 27 October 2017), the combined ratings of the top 5 channels experienced a slight dip again at 2.206 million weekly impressions.

Now, for slight digression. The Arnab Goswami led Republic TV is a major force to reckon with in the English News genre. Right from its launch, the channel has been garnering a huge chunk of the genres combined ratings. It has usurped the previous leader Times Now numero uno position in the English News genre from the very first week of its launch to date in 2017.

Republic TV’s average contribution to the combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels is about 36 percent – more than a third. In its launch week, the channel had contributed 49.44 percent to the combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels. Its lowest contribution to the genre’s ratings has been 30.56 percent in week 35 of 2017 (Saturday 26 August 2017 to Friday, 1 September 2017) – the channel had scored 0.899 million weekly impressions of the genre top 5 channels ratings combined total of 2.942 million weekly impressions. Hence the figure below shows two curved lines – one that includes the ratings of the top 5 English News channels including Republic TV and another that shows the combined ratings of the second, third, fourth and fifth ranked channels, or ratings without Republic TV ratings (w/o Republic TV).

November 6, 2017
Republic TV enters MENA via OSN Pehla

MUMBAI: English news channel Republic TV is riding to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with its first international launch. The newest kid on the block has tied up with local pay-TV provider to launch on OSN Pehla on 5 November.

Launched in May this year by stalwart journalist and former face of Times Now, Arnab Goswami, the channel surged up the records chart in its first week and has claimed a significant pie of the English news space.

Republic TV,president of distribution and international revenues Priya Mukherjee adds, “Since our inception earlier this year, Republic TV has strived towards widening the reach of our cutting-edge content. While we successfully executed the reach of Republic TV across all households in the fragmented Indian cable distribution ecosystem during the first six months of the channel, our next target would be to reach audiences across the world. Our launch in the MENA region is our first foray in international distribution and we hope to expand our reach further with audiences around the world soon.”

Indiantelevision.com had reported that the channel was to launch in the MENA market by June, followed by a launch in Singapore.

Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani says, “Demand from the market has been over whelming and we are extremely delighted to bring Republic TV to the audiences in MENA through OSN. We will also look to create original content specific to the MENA markets in due course and Priya and her team will be offering advertisers the most impactful news media platform reaching discerning audiences in the region.”

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November 3, 2017
Dominance of Republic TV continues as genre ratings plunge

BENGALURU: The Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV continued to lead the English News genre as the combined weekly ratings of the top 5 English News channels for week 41 (Saturday, 7th October 2017 to Friday, 13th October 2017) reached a new nadir – the lowest ratings in the second half year of 2017 to date.

The combined weekly ratings of the top 5 English News channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) in week 41 of 2017 according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) were a measly 1.986 million impressions, lower than the peak viewerships of the top two channels in some weeks of 2017. The combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels in week 41 were the fifteenth lowest in 2017 to date. It may be noted that ratings for week 21 have not been considered in this paper.

Despite topping the genre, Republic TV reported its lowest ratings since it launched on 6 May 2017 (Week 19 of 2017) – the channel scored just 0.685 million weekly impressions. Another regular in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 English News channels – CNN News 18, also garnered its lowest weekly ratings for the year to date in week 41 of 2017. The channel was ranked 5 in week 41 with 0.173 million weekly impressions.

Goswami’s previous employer – Times Now was ranked second in week 41 of 2017 – its usual rank after the launch of Republic TV, scoring its eighth lowest viewership in 2017 to date with 0.59 million weekly impressions. India Today Television scored its fourth lowest ratings in 2017 to date with 0.286 million weekly impressions in week 41 of 2017. India Today TV was ranked fourth in week 41 of 2017, after NDTV 24×7 that scored 0.252 million weekly impressions at third place. It may be noted that NDTV 24×7 has not found a place in the weekly top 5 English News channels during all the 41 weeks of 2017 till date, hence its ratings relative to other weeks in 2017 have not been mentioned in this paper.

In the meantime, just post 1100am when detailed BARC data is released to paid subscribers, both the leading English News genres channels – Republic TV and Times Now continued their online tirade, each claiming numero uno status in the genre after slicing and dicing BARC data in a manner than showed each in good light. It may be noted that BARC data is generally released on Thursday for the previous Saturday to Friday period at 1100 hours to paid subscribers. Data for top 5 or top 10 channels or programmes or advertisers is also released on Thursday to the public at 1300 hours on its website.

October 23, 2017
Republic TV tops once again as genre ratings fall

BENGALURU: Republic TV juggernaut continued its relentless dominance of the Indian English News genre according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly viewership for week 40 of 2017 (Saturday, 30 September 2017 to Friday, 6 October 2017). The Arnab Goswami led channel has been leading the genre right from its launch 22 weeks ago in week 19 of 2017.

However, BARC data for top 5 English News channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) reveals that the combined viewership of the top 5 channels of the genre plunged to lowest ever since week 22 of 2017. Also, Republic TV’s ratings in week 40 of 2017 were the lowest ever since its commencement. It may be noted that week 21 ratings have not been considered in this paper, because the other channels supported by the News Broadcasting Association had stripped their BARC audio watermarks to disallow viewership measurement in protest against what they termed as unfair practices by Republic TV. The errant channels returned to the BARC fold in week 22 of 2017.

Republic TV with 840,000 weekly impressions (Sums) for week 40 of 2017 led the genre, followed by the channel it had disposed from numero uno position when it was launched – The Times Group’s flagship English News channel Times Now that stood at second place with 717,000 weekly impressions (Sums). The previous lowest viewership ratings of Republic TV was in weeks 25 and 27 of 2017 – 868,000 weekly impressions (Sums).

The Prannoy and Radhika Roy led NDTV 24 x 7 climbed to third place in the genre with 347,000 weekly impressions (Sums) in week 40 from fifth rank in week 39 when it had garnered 328,000 weekly impressions (Sums).

NDTV 24×7 was followed by India Today Television at fourth place in week 40 of 2017 with 338,000 weekly impressions (Sums). In week 39 also the channel was ranked fourth with 353,000 weekly impressions (Sums). CNN News 18 dropped two ranks to fifth place in week 40 of 2017 with 244,000 weekly impressions (Sums). The channel had scored 368,000 weekly impressions (Sums) in week 39.

Overall, the Indian English News genre lost viewership in week 40 of 2017 – the combined ratings of the top 5 channels was 2,486,000 weekly impressions the lowest since week 22 of 2017 when the combined ratings of the top 5 channels was 2,463,000 weekly impressions. In week 39, the combined viewership of the top 5 English News channels was 2,888,000 weekly impressions. Please refer to the figure below for the combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels for weeks 1 to 40 of 2017.

October 12, 2017
Republic TV leads English News as genre ratings increase a bit

BENGALURU: The Arnab Goswami led Republic TV continued its supremacy over the English News genre in week 39 of 2017 (Saturday, 23 September 2017 to Friday, 29 September 2017). The channel has been topping Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly lists of top 10 English News channels All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals right from the very first week of its launch on 6 May 2017 (week 19 of 2017). The Times Group flagship English News channel Times Now, which had what seemed an unassailable first rank in the genre, was replaced by Republic TV. The combined ratings of the top 5 English News channels in week 39 of 2017 increased to 2.888 million weekly impressions as compared to the 2.716 million weekly ratings in week 38. All the top five channels in week 39 retained their week 38 ranks and places, with four of the five scoring higher ratings as compared to the previous week. Only NDTV 24 x 7 had slightly lower ratings in week 39 as compared to week 38.

In week 39 of 2017, Republic TV viewership increased to 0.982 million weekly impressions from 0.902 million weekly impressions in week 38. Times Now saw its weekly impressions in week 39 increase to 0.857 million as compared to 0.791 million in the previous week and was ranked second in the list. CNN News 18 was ranked third in week 39 with 0.368 million weekly impressions, higher as compared the 0.347 million weekly impressions in week 38.

India Today Television also retained rank four with 0.353 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2017 as compared to 0.343 million weekly impressions in week 38. NDTV 24 x 7 completed the quintet with 0.328 million weekly impressions in week 39 as compared to 0.331 million weekly impressions in week 38. In week 38, NDTV 24 x 7 had re-entered at fifth place in the top 5 English News genre list replacing BBC World News.

In the meantime, both the genre toppers – Republic TV and Times Now continued their on-air muscle flexing on their respective channels just after BARC ratings were released today after 1100 hours. Each once again showed different interpretations of BARC data to its genre leadership in terms of viewership, while accusing the other of mis-practice and unfairness. Detailed BARC data is generally released to paid subscribers at 1100 hours on Thursday and limited data that has been used to make this report to the public at 1300 hours. Since Thursday 5 October 2017 was a public holiday, the data was released one day later on 6 October 2017.

October 6, 2017