Tag: Times now

BARC week 33: DD India returns to second rank in English news

BENGALURU: Pubcaster Doordarshan’s English news channel DD India has been ranked second or better for 10 weeks across 21 weeks starting week 13 to week 33 of 2019 (Saturday, 10 August 2019 to Friday, 16 August 2019, week or period under review). According to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly data for top 5 English news channels in terms of viewership ratings, initially DD India was in a dingdong struggle for top slot with the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV, a slot that the latter managed to wrest. During and post the weeks in which the National Election results were announced, DD India acceded second rank to Times Now and maintained third rank for seven weeks in a row after week 25 of 2019.DD India has returned to rank 2 after a hiatus of seven weeks in week 33 of 2019.

To allow for viewership to stabilise after the implementation of TRAI’s new tariff order, BARC India had stopped publishing ratings data in the public domain from week 6 of 2019. On the urging from TRAI, the ratings agency recommenced putting up data starting week 13 of 2019, hence that week has been used as a starting point in this report. Subsequently, BARC changed the manner in which it viewed landing pages and outliers – these actions in concert with other factors have been pulling down viewership numbers of the English news genre.

Please refer to the figure below:

The combined weekly impressions of the top 5 English news channels declined by 11.7 percent in week 33 of 2019 to 2.547 million weekly impressions as compared to 2.885 weekly impressions of the previous week as the interest about the events around the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) started to peter out. The average combined weekly impressions of the top 5 English news channels on analysing BARC data between week 13 and 33 are 2.466 million. The present week (week 44) has seen some more events around J&K as well as the taking into custody of former finance and home minister P Chidambaram. Whether these events will be enough to grow or at least sustain English news viewership has to be seen. Please refer to the figure below for combined viewership of top 5 English news channels in thousands (000s).

Let us see how the top 5 English news channels performed in week 33 of 2019

Except for DD India which saw a surge in viewership, the other channels in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 English news for week 33 of 2019 saw weekly impressions drop. The channels in the list in week 33 of 2019 were the same as in week 32 with a shuffling of ranks. DD India moved up to second rank, as did CNN News18 which moved up to fourth place.

Republic TV retained its first rank with 0.714 million weekly impressions in week 33 of 2019 as compared to 0.871 million weekly impressions in week 32. DD India moved to second rank during the week under review with 0.572 million weekly impressions as compared to third rank and 0.528 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Times Now slid a place to third rank with 0.550 million weekly impressions in week 33 of 2019 as compared to second rank and 0.630 million weekly impressions in week 32. CNN News18 moved up to fourth rank with 0.395 million weekly impressions as compared to fifth rank and 0.417 million weekly impressions in week 32. India Today Television slipped to fifth rank in week 33 of 2019 with 0.316 million weekly impressions as compared to fourth rank and 0.439 million weekly impressions in week 32. Please refer to the figure below:

August 23, 2019
BARC week 31: English news weekly ratings fall again

BENGALURU: The combined weekly ratings of the top 5 English news channels declined 4.45 per cent according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data for week 31 of 2019 (Saturday, 27 July 2019 to Friday, 2 August 2019, week or period under review) as compared to the previous week. The combined viewership of the top 5 English news channels in week 31 of 2019 was 1.811 million weekly impressions as compared to 1.896 million weekly impressions in week 30. This was the second lowest total since BARC recommenced publication of weekly data in the public domain in week 13 of 2019.
As mentioned by us earlier, ratings of English news ratings seem to be on a decline Earlier, in week 29 of 2019, the combined viewership of the top 5 English news channels had achieved a new nadir.Please refer to the figure below:

The channels in BARC’s weekly lists of top 5 English news channels have been the same since week 13 of 2019. However, there has been some shuffling in ranks during the period. Over the past few week, ranks 1, 2 and 3 have stabilised with the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV at rank 1, Times Now at rank 2 and pubcaster Doordarshan India’s English news channel DD India at rank 3. During the past three weeks, rank four has been held by Network18’s CNN News18 and rank 5 by the India Today Group’s India Today Television. Please refer to the two charts below

As mentioned above, ranks one to five seem to have stabilised since the past three weeks, with Republic TV, Times Now, DD India, CNN News18 and India Today Television at ranks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively.

Let us see the ratings of the top 5 channels in week 31 of 2019.

At rank 1, Republic TV saw a small decline in viewership at 0.569 million weekly impressions in week 31 as compared to 0.574 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Times Now saw its ratings bump up to 0.425 million weekly impressions during the week under review as compared to 0.411 million weekly impressions in week 23. Ranked third, DD India saw a big drop in ratings to 0.337 million weekly impressions in week 31 of 2019 as compared to 0.400 million weekly impressions in week 30. CNN News18 also saw a substantial drop in viewership to 0.246 million weekly impressions in week 31 of 2019 as compared to 0.283 million weekly impressions in week 30. Completing the quintet at rank five, India Today Television saw its ratings increase slightly to 0.234 million weekly impressions during the period under review as compared to 0.228 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

August 10, 2019
Times Network expands its presence in Canada

MUMBAI: Times Network, India’s premium broadcast network channels TIMES NOW, MIRROR NOW, ET NOW and ZOOM will now be available for South Asian viewers in Canada on TabletStream, leading LIVE streaming service for International (South Asian) programming in the region. With presence in over 100 countries, Times Network, an expert curator of segmented and differentiated content across genres, strengthens its foothold in Canada focussing on the new age tech savvy viewers with its platform agnostic approach.

Jagdish Mulchandani, COO & Executive President, Times Network said, “With an evolving consumer preference for watching content across platforms, we are very excited to partner TabletStream that allows viewers in Canada to access our best in class news and entertainment channels across devices. I am confident that our robust offering will cater to the viewers discerned preferences on their desired platform, providing a comprehensive content viewing experience.”

"TabletStream is thrilled to welcome Times Network’s top-rated news and entertainment channels to its streaming platform. Addition of Times Now, Zoom, ET Now, and Mirror Now will significantly enhance our offering for Canadian viewers as we strive to provide the best entertainment for the South Asian diaspora," said Charles Miller, President and CEO of TabletStream.

Making its digital foray into the market, Times Network brings to its viewers a strong bouquet of influential brands in its portfolio across news and entertainment providing viewers access to global, national, local and business news, original series and Bollywood content from back home with India’s leading channels. Available on TabletStream are TIMES NOW, India’s leading English news channel that represents the global voice of the progressive India with its extensive and unparalleled news reportage ; ET NOW, India’s leading English Business news channel, committed to the nation’s development with a dedicated purpose of helping Indians Rise with India ; Mirror NOW, a channel that focuses on putting citizens first and redefined the norms and re-written the rules for new-age and viewer-centric journalism and ZOOM, India's No. 1 Bollywood channel, and a trendsetter in its genre that brings viewers closer to the biggest stars through the hottest entertainment news, original series, features, countdowns, music, trends, celebrity interviews and reviews.

August 7, 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: English news ratings plunge further

BENGALURU: The combined ratings of the top 5 English news ratings as per Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) plunged to their lowest in week 23 of 2019 (Saturday, 13 July 2019 to Friday, 19 July 2019, week or period under review) since week 13. The combined weekly ratings of the top 5 English news channels at 1.809 million weekly impressions was far lower than the earlier lowest of 1.848 million weekly impressions in week 24 of 2019. BARC had recommenced publishing limited data in the public data in week 13 of 2019 after stopping in week 6, ostentatiously to allow ratings to stabilise after implementation of the new tariff order, hence week 13 of 2019 has been used as a reference point.

The list of channels in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 English news channels for week 29 of 2019 were the same as in week 28, except for a small shuffling in ranks. Four of the channels had a drop in viewership, while ratings of one went up.

As has become a norm, the Arnab Goswami led Republic TV headed BARC’s weekly list of top 5 English news channels in week 29 of 2019 with 0.564 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.593 million weekly impressions in week 28. At second rank in week 29 of 2019 was Times Now with 0.404 million weekly impressions as compared to second rank and 0.424 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

Also continuing on at its previous week’s third rank was pubcaster Doordarshan’s English news channel DD India in week 29 of 2019 with 0.367 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.345 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Climbing up a place to fourth rank in week 29 of 2019 was CNN News18 with 0.264 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.279 million weekly impressions in week 28. India Today Television dropped a place to fifth rank with 0.210 million weekly impressions as compared to fourth rank and 0.288 million weekly impressions in week 28.

July 28, 2019
BARC wk 28: English news ratings decline

BENGALURU: The combined weekly ratings of the top 5 English news channels declined to the third lowest total in week 28 of 2019 (Saturday, 6 July 2019 to Friday, 12 July 2019, week or period under review) since week 13 of 2019. Calendar year 2019 has been an eventual year as far as publication in the public domain of Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly viewership data is concerned. First, the ratings agency stopped publishing ratings in the public domain from week 6 of 2019 after the implementation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) New Tariff Order (NTO), ostentatiously to give time for viewership to stabilise and hence prevent ‘misuse’ of data. On coercion from TRAI, BARC started putting up data in the public domain from week 13 of 2019 onward, only to revert to an older version of treating data on the landing and outliers from week 23 of 2019.

During the six weeks since BARC’s adoption of the older method of treatment, ratings of a number of genres have been impacted. The three lowest combined ratings of the top 5 English news channels have happened post week 23 of 2019 – 1.948 million weekly impressions in week 24; 1.918 million weekly impressions in week 26 of 2019 and 1.929 million weekly impressions in week 28 of 2019. However BARC’s reloaded method of treatment alone cannot be said to be the only reason for lowering of ratings – the last few weeks have seen the ICC’s World Cup 2019 being played in England and Wales, and the timings of cricket matches being played in the tourney often overlapped primetime of a number of genres. The week under consideration saw the last match being played by India – the rain affected match that India lost against New Zealand and was ousted from the tourney at the semi-final stage. The period over the past few weeks has also seen heavy rains and flooding in a number of places across the country. These factors and maybe some others could have had an adverse effect on television viewership.

Let us see how the English news genre performed in week 28 of 2019

As mentioned above the combined viewership of the top 5 English news channels was 1.929 million weekly impressions in week 28 of 2019, a decline of 1.8 percent from the 1.964 million weekly impressions in the previous week (week 27). Four channels saw their ratings decline, while one – India Today Television saw a 25.8 percent increase in viewership in week 28 of 2019.

At its normal first place was the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV which saw ratings decline of 5.7 percent in week 28 of 2019 to 0.593 million weekly impressions from 0.629 million weekly impressions in week 27. Also continuing on at its previous week’s second rank was Times Now with a 7.8 percent decline in ratings in week 29 of 2019 to 0.424 million weekly impressions from 0.460 million weekly impressions in week 27.

Retaining its previous week’s third rank was pubcaster Doordarshan’s DD India with a 3.1 percent decline in ratings in week 28 of 2019 to 0.345 million weekly impressions from 0.356 million weekly impressions in week 27. Climbing up a place to fourth rank was India Today Television with a 25.8 percent increase in ratings to 0.288 million weekly impressions in week 28 of 2019 from fifth rank and 0.229 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Dropping a place to fifth rank with a 3.8 percent decline in viewership to 0.279 million weekly impressions in week 28 of 2019 from fourth rank and 0.290 million weekly impressions in week 28 was CNN News18.

July 19, 2019
BARC week 27: Not too much impact on English news genre ratings in budget week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Viewership dips again

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

Please refer to chart below.

Top 5 English news channels

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

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

July 4, 2019
BARC week 25: DD India back in second spot

BENGALURU: Pubcaster Doordarshan’s English news channel DD India was ranked second in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India’s (BARC) weekly list of top five English news channels in week 25 of 2019 (Saturday, 15 June 2019 to Friday, 21 June 2019, week or period under review). DD India made it to second spot after a hiatus of four weeks. Earlier the Doordarshan Network’s English news channel was involved in a dingdong battle for the pole position with the Arnab Goswami-headed Republic TV between weeks 13 and 19 of 2019 until Republic TV overtook it.

There was a slight improvement in the combined total of the impressions garnered by the top 5 English news channels in week 25 as compared week 24. Many genres/channels ratings had plunged in week 23 when BARC reverted to a previous method of treating landed changes and outliers. Ratings of some channels/genres had plunged even further in week 24. It must be pointed out that around the same time (week 23 of 2019), ICC’s cricket World Cup 2019 being played at England and Wales commenced. Because of the difference in time zones, the second part of the matches overlapped and over shot primetime slots of most channels including news channels in India, hence probably impacting ratings.

Earlier, BARC had stopped publishing ratings in the public domain for seven weeks starting week 6 of 2019 until week 12 to enable viewership stabilise after the implementation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) new tariff order.

In week 25 of 2019, three channels from BARC’s weekly list of top 5 English news channels saw gains in ratings, while ratings of two fell. Republic TV continued to head BARC’s weekly list of English news channels with 0.572 million weekly impressions in week 25 of 2019 as compared to 0.556 million weekly impressions in the previous week. As mentioned above, DD India was ranked second with much improved ratings of 0.441 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.334 million weekly impressions and third rank in week 24.

At third rank was Times Now with 0.402 million weekly impressions in week 25 of 2019 as compared to 0.418 million weekly impressions and second rank in week 24. Moving up a place to fourth rank in the period under review was the India Today group’s English news channel India Today Television with 0.264 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.251 million weekly impressions in week 24 of 2019. Completing the quintet at rank 5 was CNN News18 with 0.261 million weekly impressions in week 25 of 2019 as compared to rank four and 0.289 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

June 29, 2019
No change in ranks as Republic TV continues to dominate English news

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

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

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

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

June 21, 2019