News Broadcasting
ET Now edges past UTVi in launch week
MUMBAI: ET Now has overtaken UTVi to land in the third spot among the English business news channels, posing a potential threat to its competitors right from the launch week.
The channel, with The Economic Times advantage on television, has edged out UTVi both in the All-India market as well as the metros.
While UTVi’s channel share has dipped from 6 per cent to 4 per cent (All-India) for the week ended 27 June, ET Now has actually doubled its market share to attain the third rank.
ET Now opened with a three per cent market share pan India and doubled this to six per cent for the week ended 27 May.
In the metros too, the channel doubled its slice from 4 per cent in the previous week to 8 per cent. UTVi’s channel share, in comparison, fell from 9 per cent to six per cent during the same period.
So does UTVi foresee a severe damage to its ratings?
Says UTVi COO Sumit Gupta, “Ratings are a function of both reach and time spent and the only gains that ET has witnessed have come from a reach upside. Time spent per viewer on the other hand is a far more dependable measure for smaller segments.”
Meanwhile, it seems that the new entrant has also eaten into some share of NDTV Profit which has fallen to 20 per cent across India as against the 25 per cent that it held in the previous week. In the metros too, the channel has seen a dip from 26 per cent to 20 per cent.
So how does ET Now predict this upward movement?
Avers Times Global Broadcasting CEO Chintamani Rao, “These are early days for the channel as it is just one week old. I expect to get ourselves in place right now.”
Interestingly, the period has seen CNBC TV18, the incumbent market leader in the space, take a jump from 66 to 70 per cent in the All-India market. The channel also climbed the ladder to capture 67 per cent of the market (61 per cent last week) in the metros.
What may be encouraging is that the entry of ET Now is showing signs of expanding the English business news genre market pie.
According to the latest Tam data (C&S 25+), the genre has seen an upward move in its All-India viewership with a 0.23 per cent market share for the week ended 27 June. The genre had commanded a 0.22 per cent share the previous week.
In the metros too, the genre share has grown to 0.28 per cent, from 0.27 in the prior week. It is impertinent to note here that the genre had marked a 0.26 per cent share in week 24.
So what kind of impact does the genre expect with the entry of a new player?
Says Gupta, “The impact will largely be in terms of a wider choice for the viewer and the advertiser and also an additional buzz that will be created for the segment. All these factors bring in a renewed interest in the older players too. On the ratings side, for a genre that contributes to less than 1 per cent share of viewership, the shift is not expected to be tangible.”
“The real impact of a new player will be gauged in terms of the differentiated programming that the entrant puts together. Path breaking ideas and new formats will be monitored closely by the industry than anything else,” Gupta adds.
News Broadcasting
UDF poised to return to power in Kerala, says Manorama-CVoter survey
Massive opinion poll projects shift in Kerala politics ahead of 2026 Assembly elections.
MUMBAI: The winds of change appear to be blowing through Kerala’s political landscape and this time, they seem to favour the United Democratic Front. A comprehensive mega opinion survey conducted by Manorama News in partnership with CVoter projects a potential comeback for the UDF in the upcoming Kerala Legislative Assembly Elections 2026. The survey, covering all 140 constituencies with a massive sample size of nearly 90,000 respondents, predicts the UDF could win between 69 and 81 seats.
The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) is expected to secure 57 to 69 seats, a significant drop from the 99 seats it won in the 2021 elections. This would mean the LDF losing 30 to 42 of its sitting seats. Meanwhile, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which drew a blank in 2021, is projected to open its account with 1 to 5 seats.
Region-wise, the UDF is expected to make strong gains in Malabar, winning 25 to 34 out of 48 seats, and in Central Kerala, where it could bag 29 to 33 out of 53 seats. In South Kerala, the LDF is likely to retain an edge with 21 to 25 seats, while the UDF may improve to 12 to 16 seats. The NDA could pick up 1 to 3 seats in the southern region.
The survey was conducted between 14 and 26 March 2026, with additional tracker and snap polls carried out from December 2025 to March 2026. A total of 89,693 respondents participated, ensuring representation across all demographics and social segments.
Manorama News has a strong track record of accuracy, with its previous projections closely matching the actual results of the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well as the 2021 Kerala Assembly polls.
In Kerala’s famously fierce political battles, this survey suggests the pendulum may be swinging back. Whether the final verdict matches these numbers or throws up another surprise, one thing is clear, the 2026 Assembly elections are shaping up to be one of the most keenly watched contests in the state’s history.
