News Broadcasting
Rat-ings race on News TV
In a world of 56 news channels, the only objective currency of success is high placing in the rating meters. The battle to beat the ratings means that news channels are constantly ‘experimenting’ and ‘looking for the magic formula’. As one editor points out, “The approach is to hit entertainment TV… to enter the market of Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi… News is trying to enter into the area consciously… deliberately.” Three genres of news television started specifically as tactics to capture high ratings: reality television, lifestyle shows and crime news.
Reality television is not an Indian innovation but it has taken an interesting form on news channels here. A case in point is Zee News’ two-hour special on the Gudiya case in late 2004, a programme that the Zee News director proudly refers to as his achievement…
The week Zee ran the show was the only week it became number one in the ratings that year. The Zee News editor explains the rationale behind the show, “…As far as news is concerned, earlier it was only about politicians. We are changing that. Various kinds of things are now news because the canvas has increased.”
The rush for ratings was the backdrop to this coverage. Gossip that once might have ended at the village well was now prime-time national viewing. The battle for ratings turned the private tragedy of Gudiya into a public spectacle. Zee wasn’t the only channel to pursue the Gudiya case in this manner. While Zee had her entire family into the studio, other TV channels too rushed reporters who woke up her remaining relatives in her villages at midnight on live television to get sound bytes.
The Gudiya example spurred similar experiments with reality television in a bid to increase ratings. In January 2006, Channel 7 telecast a live six-hour argument between a divorced mother and her estranged husband in the Middle East over custody rights for their child. The anchor introduced the show as one that took a deep look at social issues and the mother appeaed live with her seven-year-old daughter in tow. The channel then called her estranged husband on telephone and the two argued bitterly over the next six hours, fighting over domestic matters while her underage daughter looked on. She was even asked to comment on who she would like to live with, all in the cold glare in the camera. It was the kind of battle that should have taken place in a divorce court. Here it unfolded on national television, and it wasn’t a one-off. For channel 7, such programming, along with cricket and crime, was the key component of its strategy to register on the ratings.
It was the quest for ratings that spurred Star News in 2004 to start a new afternoon show called Saas, Bahu aur Saazish. It is a show that seeks to build on the popularity of popular soap opera on Star’s sister channel Star Plus – Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki. The storylines of these soaps are based on intrigues within the huge extended families and they have been among the most popular television shows in India since the early 2005…
The third new genre that Indian television has experimented with is lifestyle programming. In 2003, NDTV started prime time shows called Night Out on NDTV 24X7 and Raat Baaki on NDTV India. These were the daily shows which were anchored live out of a different night club in a different city each day and the idea was to take viewers on a party trip with the hip and the happening. The producers took care to choose a nightclub where famous models or film starts were partying that night, and that was the selling point: party with the stars. The shows proved so popular that all other news channels started similar shows in the time and 2003 became the ‘Year of Night Outs’ in news parlance. Advertisers liked these shows because they brought in new non-news viewers and, more importantly, young viewers.
After the experiment with party programmes in 2003, news channels turned to crime programming in 2004. Aaj Tak experimented first with a programme called Jurm. Uday Shankar, who was then news director of Aaj Tak, says he got the idea from American television where crime is hugely popular. NDTV followed suit with FIR, Crime and the City, and Dial 100. Zee News started Crime Reporter and Crime File, Sahara aired Hello Control Room and Crime and Punishment. Aaj Tak responded with a second crime show Vardaat and Star News launched Sansani. CNBC India also started a programme on economic crimes.
The move towards crime shows can be explained by one factor: they fared well on the yardstick of TRPs (television rating points). Zee News’ Crime File in the 10:30- 11 pm slot on Saturday nights registered a 100 per cent jump in ratings over the show in the previous block. Similarly, Red Alert (Star News) showed a 63 per cent jump and Jurm (Aaj Tak) an 18 per cent jump from the previous show. The ratings were much higher than any other genre in Hindi news. And advertisers came in thick and fast. The most remarkable aspect of these shows remains the presentation. There is an overt, overdone bid to create tension with the visuals as well as soundtrack, as though the crime is happening next door. Even the anchors seem to have a certain edge: they speak loudly, menacing voices taut with tension. According to one observer, it is as if “KN Singh, Pran, Ajit, Gulshan Grover, Amrish Puri and other such screen villains have all been rolled into one composite face.” According to one editor, the anchors are deliberately styled in this theatrical manner because their ‘personality helps stylise and package the show.’
…But television is a complex business and ratings do not always translate into revenues. They do most of the time, but not always.
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.
