MUMBAI: The viewership of news channels have risen exponentially in week 8 (22-28 February) of Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC) as compared to week 7 (15-21 February).
In the current week, English news channels' combined viewership has grown substantially by over 82 per cent, whereas the Hindi news channels' weekly impressions rose by over 42 per cent.
Week eight saw two national important events in the country: United States’ president Donald Trump’s official two-day state visit to India and the riots in north-eastern part of the national capital on the back of the Citizenship Amendment Act protest.
In week seven, news channels had failed to maintain the shine and tumbled largely with respect to impressions as the viewership of the news broadcasters is very much dependent on the events that usually happen in the country and across the globe.
TV Today Network’s Hindi news channel Aaj Tak, dominated the chart for the eighth week straight and has reported growth by over 60 per cent to 163089 weekly impressions as compared to 101399 weekly impressions in week seven. The channel, so far, has shown the biggest viewership gain this year alone.
Climbing two positions up, Zee News has gained the second-highest viewership in the current week. The channel advanced by 53 per cent to 122585 weekly impressions as against 80122 impressions in week seven. Zee News has gradually paved its way to the second position this week from the fifth position in week six of BARC.
Retaining its place at the third spot, India TV gained its viewership by around 35 per cent to 119531 weekly impressions in week eight as compared to 88603 impressions in week seven.
Failing to make in the list of top five channels for the previous two weeks, Republic Media Network’s Hindi news channel Republic Bharat has grabbed the fourth spot. The channel has maintained its stance all these weeks this year in the urban category of top five news channels list.
Despite being a rise in the viewership pattern, the Network18’s Hindi news channel News18 India has fallen to fifth position this week from the second spot in the previous week. The channel grew by around 19 per cent to 106683 weekly impressions in week eight as compared to 90255 impressions in week seven of BARC.
In the English category, Republic Media Network’s English news channel Republic TV has grown substantially by over 85 per cent to 1083 impressions this week as compared to 585 in the previous week. Republic TV has been ranked number one, so far, this year in the top five English news channels.
Gaining most viewership in percent-wise, Times News Network’s English news channel Times Now has gained over by 90 per cent to 785 weekly impressions in week eight as against 413 in week seven. Like Republic, the channel has been maintaining the second spot in the list of top five channels so far.
Both India Today of TV Today Network and CNN News18 of Network18 have been ranked on the same position as that of last week – third and fourth. Both channels have grown exponentially in terms of weekly impressions; India Today grew by around 59 per cent to 457 impressions, whereas CNN News18 advanced by over 87 per cent to 379 impressions this week.
Dethroning NDTV 24x7, DD India has been featured in the top five English news channels list almost after two weeks. The government-owned English news channel has gained 347 weekly impressions in week eight of BARC.
