BBC World has the highest percentage of unduplicated viewers after Aaj Tak, concludes a NFL MBO study that surveyed India's leading consumers to observe their lifestyle, attitudes, product and brand consumption, travel habits and interaction with media.

The upmarket target audience studied by NFO across six metros exhibited diverse trends. 95 per cent of professionals observed by the Horizons 2003 are proud to be Indian though and 75 per cent believe risks are worth taking. A good 40 per cent support using underhand means to earn money and an even larger 56 per cent support paying of bribes. Not surprisingly, 47 per cent believe India is getting worse than better (35 per cent).

Media habits though differ across metros. Delhi scored the highest in watching the news on television with 29 per cent, while Bangalore ranked the lowest at 14 per cent. Bangalore on the other hand scored the highest in consumption of sports with 34 per cent, while Delhi ranked lowest with 16 per cent.

On the aspect of international leisure travel, those surveyed from Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad said they preferred travelling to the US, while people from Kolkata and Chennai prefer Singapore and Delhiites and Hyderabadis prefer Nepal. The TG is well travelled even within the country. 60 per cent said they travel on holiday in India at least once a year, while 13 per cent said they travel abroad either on business or holiday each year. The only difference is that businessmen and senior executives tend to travel oftener on business internationally and take holidays abroad, while the junior executives are the ones who are more likely to travel domestically.

Realtionship with spouses and decisions taken at home is more or less the same across metros, although aspects like 'respect for spouse' can get as different ratings as 191 in Mumbai and 30 in Bangalore. Levels of understanding are high across cities between spouses, but certain decisions are still left to the man of the house, it would seem.

Some decisions are joint, some are not...

Among the upper crust media consumption, English remains the dominant language with the regional lingua coming in second. When it comes to Hindi publications, magazines have a higher readership than newspapers, the study notes.

The urban yuppie is a TV freak too. According to the results, time spent on TV is an average 100 minutes per day, and the average number of channels watched is five. TV reaches a comprehensive 99 per cent of the group studied, with 31 minutes per day being devoted to news channel viewing.

BBC World claims the second highest percentage of unduplicated viewers, after Aaj Tak. The channel's profile, the study says, is similar to that of Star News and Zee News.

Three of five of the Horizon universe access the Internet, with Chennai scoring the highest - 80 per cent having accessed the Net in the last three months.

Washing machines, cars and desktop computers feature high on the wish list of durables of the urban rich, the study notes.

When it comes to financial investments, life insurance still commands the largest size - 38 per cent swore by it, only five per cent said they dabbled in stocks and 15 per cent said they relied on bank fixed deposits. Among those insured, 100 per cent of those polled said they were insured for life, other categories like medical, travel, house and property and retirement policy took a backseat with barely any takers.

Home and vehicle loans constitute the bulk of the market - 37 per cent have a vehicle loan and 41 per cent had a house loans against their names.

Among the stock investors, Mumbai showed a narrower gap between primary and secondary traders compared to other markets. Businessmen said they trade once a week, while executives are likely to trade only once a month.

The study also study alcohol consumption patterns among the TG. Beer is perceived as a young man's drink while whisky and Scotch are thought of as a more matured drink. Interestingly, it is the Scotch drinkers who are most likely to watch news channels with a passion, says the study. Probing deeper, the study says for daily drinkers, money is the most important.

Internet access ranks high on the list of the urban rich targeted by Horizon 2003