ABP News polls media agencies on 2014 General Election outcome

Day 1 activity in Mumbai sees BJP and Narendra Modi emerging winners in polls taken in ZenithOptimedia and Starcom

Sohini Sen | Mumbai | November 8, 2013

The upcoming 2014 General Election is the talk of the nation. Making the most of the election fervour, ABP News has launched a related activation in media agencies across the metros. ABP's show 'Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri' has been a popular election based property from the channel.

Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri or KBM was launched in 2005 when every channel stayed with reporting election news. The channel's foresight and innovativeness reached out to million voices across constituencies and thus created history. Since then, KBM has been the No.1 programme among the entire election related programmes on TV channels.

According to TAM, during an opinion poll in the recent 2013 Gujarat elections, ABP News led in market share with 24 per cent. Exit poll and results day were no different, with ABP News leading the market share with 23 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively. The recall value of the show far exceeds other election based properties such as 'Aap Ki Sarkar', 'Mera Voter, Meri Sarkar' and 'Chunavi Matlab, Chunavi Gustakhi, Vote Ki Jung'.

ABP News has decided to tap 28 different media agencies in the four cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata - for an outlook of how the 2014 General Election may pan out according to media agency professionals. Starting with Zenith Optimedia and Starcom in Mumbai yesterday, they will be going to all the big media agencies for the next two weeks. The results of the polls in each of the media agencies would be announced the very same day, followed by a zonal result and finally a national result after November 20, 2013.

The format being the same for all agencies, the ABP News team went to the Zenith Optimedia and Starcom offices yesterday and distributed questionnaires to the employees. The questionnaires had five set questions – their choice of the future prime minister, their choice of the ruling party, their choice of the popular leader, their choice of government in Delhi and their choice of the main agenda for the 2014 polls. After a secret voting, much like the actual election process, the results were declared to the cheerful and anxious crowd in the agency.

"This activation is different from the things we have taken part in in the past. It is important because this will show us what we are actually thinking. The reality with most of the urban crowd is that many of them are outside their home towns. They don't vote. So this gives an idea of what the youth actually thinks and feels is needed," pointed out Namit Dahal, Senior SEO Specialist, Zenith Optimedia.

The two agencies which took part on Thursday were united in most of the choices. Among those who voted from Zenith Optimedia, 59% said they would want to vote for BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. For the same question, Starcom voters gave a huge vote of 69% for BJP.

Zenith Optimedia

Starcom, Mumbai

With the total voter number from each of the agencies remaining the same for the rest of the questions, 79% from ZO wants to see Modi as the next Prime Minister while 88% from Starcom wants the same.

Zenith Optimedia

Starcom, Mumbai

BJP is the preferred party for Delhi assembly elections – 54% in ZO and 67% in Starcom.

Zenith Optimedia

Starcom, Mumbai

Arvind Kejriwal emerged as the most popular leader unanimously with 52% of ZO voters rooting for him and 45% from Starcom.

Zenith Optimedia, Mumbai

Starcom, Mumbai

The only question which the two agencies were divided on was the main agenda for the 2014 elections. While Starcom voted (46%) for corruption as the key issue which must be handled in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Zenith's 43% felt that rising prices would be a more important poll issue.

Zenith Optimedia, Mumbai

Starcom, Mumbai

Shilpa Salia, Associate Business Director, Starcom, said, "Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri is fair and analytical which is why I have followed it for seven years. The questions today were youth oriented questions and relatable and justified."

Ashokan P, Media Director from Starcom, shared Salia's sentiments. He commented, "The event is not just a commendable exercise but also shows what to expect from the upcoming polls. At the same time, since they are the opinion leaders we will get to see how and what all the media agencies are thinking."

Sohini.Sen@BestMediaInfo.com

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