BENGALURU: The most watched Hindi news channel in the Hindi speaking market (HSM)–be it urban (U), rural (R) or combined (U+R) is India Today TV Network’s Aaj Tak during the first 37 weeks of 2018. The channel was present during all the first 37 weeks of 2018 according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data for weeks 1 to 37 of 2018 (Saturday, 30 December 2017 to Friday, 14 September 2018) in all the three weekly lists for HSM (U+R), HSM (U) and HSM (R).
Overall, Aaj Tak topped BARC’s weekly lists for HSM (U+R) during the first 37 weeks of 2018 in terms of overall viewership. In HSM (U+R), Zee News was the second most watched Hindi news channel during the first 37 weeks of 2018, followed by India TV. Only three channels appeared in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R) during all the first 36 weeks of 2018. Aaj Tak was ranked first for 35 of the first 37 weeks of 2018, followed by Zee News and India TV which were ranked first for one week each in BARC’s weekly lists of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R).

In HSM (R), Aaj Tak was the only channel that was present in BARC’s weekly lists during all the first 37 weeks of 2018. The next closest channel in terms of presence in BARC’s HSM (R) lists was News Nation, which was present for 34 of the first 37 weeks of 2018. Zee News was next – it was present for 30 of the first 37 weeks of 2018 in BARC’s top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (R).
In terms of average viewership during the first 37 weeks of 2018, after Aaj Tak, ABP News was second – the channel was present in BARC’s HSM (R) lists for 27 of the first 36 weeks of 2018. Zee News was third in HSM (R) in terms of average viewership during the 29 of the first 36 weeks it was present in BARC’s HSM (R) lists.
Four channels were present in BARC’s weekly lists of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U) during all the first 37 weeks of 2018. Aaj Tak also topped the BARC weekly lists in HSM (U) followed by Zee News, India TV and ABP News in terms of overall viewership during the first 37 weeks of 2018. Aaj Tak was ranked first for 29 of the first 37 weeks of 2018, followed by Zee News which was ranked first for 6 of the first 36 weeks of 2018 and India TV which was ranked first for two of the first 37 weeks of 2018.
News 18 India just missed the bus by just 1 week. It was present for 36 of the first 37 weeks of 2018 in BARC’s weekly lists of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U). In terms of average weekly viewership, News 18 India would be ahead of ABP News. News 18 India had higher average weekly viewership during the 36 weeks that it was present in BARC’s weekly lists as compared to the average weekly viewership of ABP News during the 37 weeks that it was present in BARC’s weekly lists.
News Nation was present for 6 of the first 36 weeks of 2018 in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R). Besides Aaj Tak,HSM rural audience’s showed a preference for News Nation in terms of its presence in the respective BARC weekly lists. However, the channel would be ranked sixth based on its average weekly impressions during the 34 of the first 37 weeks of 2018 that it was present in BARC’s lists in HSM (R), behind Aaj Tak, ABP News, Zee News, News 18 India and India TV respectively. In the case of urban HSM audiences, News Nation was present for only one week in the respective BARC’s lists during the first 37 weeks of 2018.