News Broadcasting
Times Now eyes ‘super’ viewership this budget
MUMBAI: Times Now, it seems, has made ‘super’ its trademark for shows. After a successful ‘Super Primetime’ that was created during the elections and is on-air even now, the English news channel is creating a special band of shows targeting the budget.
‘Super Budget 2014’ will be a congregation of debate shows, interviews, analysis and discussions with Times Now editor in chief Arnab Goswami and economists like Omkar Goswami, Lord Meghnad Desai, Dr Rajeev Kumar and Sunil Alagh who will discuss issues regarding the common man’s expectations from the budget 2014.
Some of the ‘Super Budget 2014’ shows include Budget Roundtable that is a series of two shows of one hour each with Goswami, Times Now political and economy editor Navika Kumar and will air on 28 June and 5 July. Budget Expectation: World’s Eye on India will show the world’s expectation from the budget with international panelists such as Jagdish Bhagwati and Andrew Ferris. The show will go on air on the same two days for half an hour each. My Budget Wish-list is a series of vignettes that give the common man a chance to voice his opinion of what he wants from this year’s budget.
Speaking on the new programming lineup Times Now, ET Now and zoom chief marketing officer Jatin Bhatt said, “After the highly successful general elections campaign where we garnered the highest numbers by far, we are looking at strengthening our lead by the line up towards the budget. Times Now will have a 360 degree consumer centric marketing program with innovations will help us get more viewers, achieve higher growth and viewership numbers.”
Digital medium is being used to find out audiences’ wish-list for the same. Both the union budget and the railway budget will be covered live on the channel.
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.
