News Broadcasting
TV9 Network retains position as India’s biggest news network
MUMBAI: TV9 Bharatvarsh has become the country’s most-watched national Hindi news channel disrupting the old order dominated by legacy channels.
The BARC data for television news channels released today — after a long, inexplicable shutdown — put TV9 Bharatvarsh on top of the pile of national Hindi news channels with a jaw-dropping 16.8 % market share.
TV9 Network which runs five other language channels — Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali – retained its rank as the country’s biggest television news network. With three of its channels being #1 and all others in leadership positions, the Network notched up a massive 292 million AMA (average minute audience). That is a clear 25 per cent lead over the nearest competitor, Zee Network with 13 channels.
However, history has been created in the Hindi news genre. TV9 Bharatvarsh displaced Aaj Tak which came in second with a 14.8% market share for Week 10 (March 5 to 11, 2022 / four-week rolling average, NCCS, 15+, 0600-2400 hours). The scale of this unprecedented disruption in the Hindi television news genre is best appreciated by juxtaposing two undeniable facts: One, Aaj Tak has been the leader of the genre from its inception more than 20 years ago. Two, TV9 Bharatvarsh is three weeks short of what will be just its third birthday (March 31).
TV9 Bharatvarsh’s coverage of landmark news events — such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the Covid pandemic and the Uttar Pradesh election to name just three — marked by its editorial prowess, newsroom innovation, impeccable packaging and unrivalled ground reportage, saw the channel rise sharply up the rating ladder. This rise has been consistent over the last two years.
Celebrating this unprecedented success of TV9 Bharatvarsh and TV9 News Network, CEO Barun Das said the BARC ratings only revealed what some people wanted to hide. “We always knew that we were destined to be the leader. I am happy that the ratings released today have offered empirical evidence of our leadership. I am amused that the only business strategy the legacy channels had to stop the rise of TV9 Bharatvarsh was to stop the ratings itself. And glad that the interest and the verdict of the viewers have finally prevailed.”
Echoing Barun’s sentiment, Groups’ Editor, BV Rao said: “It is clear today that you cannot stop a leader by stopping BARC ratings.”
Expressing deep satisfaction over the leadership status, TV9 Bharatvrash Hemant Sharma, News Director said, “This is the victory of solid credible journalism. This is the victory of conviction in the newsroom capability.”
Sant Prasad Rai, Managing Editor and the architect of the content innovations at TV9 Bharatvarsh, said, “We owe a sense of gratitude to our viewers. We believe the viewer deserves the best. We don’t want to ever compromise on our commitment and responsibility to the viewer. We have established our editorial leadership in each and every genre in the news space.”
Talking about the network leadership status, Barun said, “It gives us immense pleasure to consistently remain the largest news network of the largest democracy of the world. When success is attained by design, it can be replicated. Our all-round supremacy at the Network level proves that.”
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.
