News Broadcasting
WWE, news bulletins, Gamer TV ratings champs for Ten Sports
MUMBAI: While there may be a debate over whether a strong sports brand can be built without India cricket, one thing is clear. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) draws viewers even when India plays in a cricket tournament..
A case in point is last month’s cricket “mini-World Cup”, the Champions Trophy, held in the second half of September. TAM data provided for the period 18-25 September indicates that the edition of World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) Raw, which aired on 20 September on Ten Sports, got a rating of 0.95 c&s 4+.
Among the metros, Mumbaiikars are the most hooked on to the “choreographed” wrestling that WWE represents. The Raw episode got a rating of 1.35 in Mumbai. The highest rated WWE show in Mumbai, however, was Smackdown (21 September) which managed a rating of 2.54.
Interestingly, even if wrestling is taken out of the equation, Ten Sports’ news bulletins still managed far higher ratings than what ESPN and Star Sports got combined. .
Sports Update on Ten Sports, which had an all-India rating of 0.63, outscored the combined rating of ESPN Star Sports’ top programmes, Football Focus and Sportsline, at 0.23.
As many as 37 shows on Ten Sports managed a rating of over 0.23 which was the maximum that ESS got. Cricket is said to be opium of the Indian masses. Yet the special Samsung Super Skills on Star Sports on 24 September was left gasping with a rating of 0.10.
Another startling finding is that on Ten Sports, after the wrestling programmes and news shows, the next highest rated programme was Gamer TV, which managed a decent rating of 0.22. Taking WWE and Gamer TV together, what this appears to indicate is that Ten Sports has caught on well with the younger audiences (teens and pre-teens).
Speaking of younger audiences, one wonders whether Ten Sports will in due course do an interactive initiative for the WWE similar to that which has been introduced recently in the US and Europe. Taboo Tuesday allows American and European WWE fans to vote online on what match ups they want to see at this special event. For instance, fans had to choose whether they wanted Triple H to defend his title against Edge, Shawn Michaels or Chris Benoit. Normally these kind of decisions are left to the discretion of the programming manager Eric Bischoff.
On the hockey front, meanwhile, Ten’s telecast of the match between India and Pakistan on 24 September got a rating of 0.18.
News Broadcasting
Times Network to air JVC Exit Poll across 5 regions on April 29
Four-hour broadcast spans states and Puducherry with data-led analysis
MUMBAI: Times Network is set to roll out what it calls one of its most expansive election programming efforts yet, culminating in the JVC Exit Poll on 29 April, with a multi-hour broadcast spanning key poll-bound regions.
The exit poll will air across Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, beginning at 5pm and 4pm respectively. Co-powered by Vedanta and Jindal Stainless, the programming aims to combine on-ground reportage with data-driven projections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
The network has deployed over 50 journalists across these regions, gathering voter sentiment and local insights in the run-up to polling. The effort builds on its ongoing election formats such as Election Yatra and Election Premier League, which have tracked campaign narratives and community-level issues.
In parallel, Times Now Navbharat has focused on constituency-level reporting in West Bengal through its Jan Gan ka Mann series, capturing voter opinions across diverse segments.
The coverage has also featured interviews with prominent political leaders. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan have appeared on the network’s election specials. From Tamil Nadu, voices including deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, BJP leader K Annamalai and NTK’s Seeman have also featured in discussions.
On the day of the exit poll, the network’s primetime anchors, including Navika Kumar, Zakka Jacob and Sumit Awasthi, will lead the coverage. They will be joined by a panel of political analysts, psephologists and senior journalists offering real-time insights and interpretation of trends.
The programming will integrate grassroots reportage with analytics from the JVC Exit Poll, aiming to give viewers an early sense of electoral outcomes ahead of the official results on 4 May.
With its combined English and Hindi broadcast reach, Times Network is positioning this effort as a comprehensive look at voter sentiment, blending field reporting, data and debate to decode what could lie ahead when the final mandate is revealed.
