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.