News Broadcasting
NDTV India grounds itself as clear number two among Hindi news channels
MUMBAI: NDTV India is holding on firmly to the number two position among Hindi news channels and has even managed to wittle down the lead “Sab se Tez” Aaj Tak has over it, ratings statistics covering the last eight months indicates.
Culling from some very comprehensive data, which Tam has verified, NDTV says that it has been the clear number two Hindi news channel for 36 weeks in a row (from 3 January 2004 to 11 September 2004), in the CS 4+ Hindi speaking market, in terms of the channel share.
NDTV India is currently 4.1 per cent behind market leader Aaj Tak in terms of channel share for the period 5 to 11 September, 2004 in the CS 4+ Hindi speaking market. While Aaj Tak tops with 25.4 per cent, NDTV India has a channel share of 21.3 per cent. Zee News is third at 17.3 per for the given period. The other news channels command the following channel shares – Star News (14.4 per cent), DD News (11 per cent), Sahara Samay (8.5 per cent) and India TV (2.2 per cent).
In January, Aaj Tak’s channel share was 33.7 per cent as compared to NDTV India’s 16.9 per cent.
For the week ending 11 September, NDTV India claims that it was ahead or equal to Aaj Tak three days out of seven. However as per Tam data, this holds true after excluding the state of Rajasthan. According to Tam data, NDTV India was ahead of Aaj Tak only on one day (Friday, 10 September) in the all India CS4+ Hindi speaking market.
Now coming to the different socio economic groups. NDTV India is the clear number two in the Sec A, B and C from week 1 to 37 of 2004 in the Hindi speaking markets. With the line – ‘Upscale or Mass, NDTV India is everybody’s choice,’ the channel establishes the fact that it has universal appeal. In the SEC A segment, NDTV India had a channel share of 19.6 per cent as opposed to Aaj Tak’s 33.9 per cent. Star News was with 15.3 per cent, whereas Zee News had a share of 14.3 per cent in the above mentioned time period. In the SEC B segment, Aaj Tak had the lion’s share of 30.9 per cent, while NDTV India claimed a share of 17.3 per cent. However, interesting is the fact that it is in the SEC C segment that the divide between the two (Aaj Tak and NDTV India) is the least. Aaj Tak had a share of 29.3 per cent, whereas NDTV India stood at 22.1 per cent.
Moving on to the choice among the different age groups, NDTV India also has widespread appeal across all age groups and is again number two here. In the CS 15-34 age group, the channel has a share of 19.3 per cent, whereas Aaj Tak has a share of 29.6 per cent in the Hindi speaking market from week 1 to week 37 of 2004. Star News was a close third with a share of 15.5 per cent and Zee News followed with 13.9 per cent. In the CS 35+ age group, Aaj Tak was far ahead with a channel share of 31.8 per cent, whereas NDTV India commanded a share of 19.9 per cent. Star News and Zee News were 15.8 per cent and 13.8 per cent respectively.
The verdict: NDTV India is the clear Number Two to Aaj Tak across segments, age groups and time period. Getting to the numero uno position is going to take some doing though.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
