MUMBAI: NDTV 24x7 is now going the business way! The channel had launched a new programming initiative called 9-4 Business & News recently, wherein mostly business related news and talk shows were introduced. With the rave response that this slot got, NDTV 24x7 asserts it is now neck and neck with market leader CNBC -TV18 in competition.

The network promoted this slot via ads on their channels - NDTV 24x7 and NDTV India. Apart from this, an announcement ad in the print media was also released. While the target group is mostly the business class - the channel sent out direct mailers to corporate offices announcing the same.

At 9:55 am, a show called Opening Moves gives the viewers a commentary of the opening market session and updated the viewers with the latest corporate event, which could impact a stock. Another show called Buy or Sell aired at 11 am is targeted at middle-class investors, who call from different places across India to get updates and views from guests and analysts. At 12 pm, the channel airs a bulletin - Trends @ 12, which is a mix of both political and business capsule, which is an area of interest for a general investor in a normal household. Moneywise, at 12.30 pm it provides solutions to those looking for advice on their investment decisions ranging from stocks to mutual funds to buying insurance, houses, car loans, and also on which cars to buy.

At 1 pm, the channel airs Power Lunch, wherein political or corporate bigwigs share their views. This show is interspersed seamlessly with regular news updates. Next in line is The Factor at 2.30 pm, which gives an update on how the day's top political news may have impacted the financial market.

With this new programming initiative, NDTV 24x7 has beaten the market leader CNBC and is running neck and neck with the same in the day part segment for the last four weeks.

According to Tam data for the last four weeks (1 August - 28 August), in the CS4+ segment for the time period 9 am to 4 pm on weekdays, while in the beginning of August, CNBC was ahead with a channel share of 40.4 per cent, towards the end of the month, NDTV 24x7 managed to break the ice and commanded the same channel share as CNBC - that of 33.3 per cent.

Also, a whole lot of new advertisers have come on board on NDTV 24x7 during the 9 - 4 slot, apart from some old ones. Some of the brands that advertise in the business and news slot are - Tata Motors, Ford, Samsung, LG, Nokia, IndiaBulls, Tata AIG, Samsung, Shoppers Stop, Hutch, Titan, Standard Chartered Bank, Ford and many more.