News Broadcasting
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).
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.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
