BARC ratings: Aaj Tak leads Hindi news; Times Now rules English news genre

NewsX, India News and News24 are not watermarked. India TV's data were recorded only 3.5 days of the week due to missing watermarks

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | April 30, 2015

The new Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) ratings regime is a fresh beginning for the news channels as well and with the release of the first set of viewership data on April 29, 2015, Aaj Tak and Times Now emerged as No. 1 Hindi and English news channels, respectively. It is pertinent to note that NewsX, India News and News24 are not watermarked. At the same time, India TV's data were recorded only 3.5 days of the week due to missing watermarks.

According to the data shared by BARC India for Week 16 (April 18-April 24) for HSM, 1L+ HHs, Aaj Tak emerged as No. 1 Hindi news channel with a gross rating of 14 million. ABP News stood second with a gross rating of 9 million, while Zee News recorded 8 million gross rating.

In terms of relative share, Aaj Tak led the genre with 23.5 per cent relative share, followed by ABP News with 15.8 per cent, Zee News with 13.3 per cent and News Nation with 11.9 per cent. With half week's data, India TV had a relative share of 10.2 per cent. IBN7 recorded 8.1 per cent relative share, followed by NDTV and Tez with 7.7 per cent each. DD News had 1.8 per cent relative share.

Considering the data recorded for less than half of a week for India TV, its ratings couldn't be compared with other channels with full week's ratings. However, the channel, in an advertisement has claimed that it was strong No. 2 and pretty close to No. 1 position on three days of full recorded data.

It's also important to note that a few key players like India News and News24 were not measured due to absence of watermark.

Also read: BARC clarification on Hindi news ratings puts India TV at No. 2

English news channels

According to the data shared by BARC India for English news genre for all India 1L+ households, Times Now led the pack with a gross rating of 355,000. CNN-IBN was the second most watched English news channel with 263,000 gross rating. NDTV 24x7 stood third with a gross rating of 196,000.

Considering 1 mn+ markets, as per the data shared by BARC subscribers, Times Now led the pack with 49 per cent relative share, followed by Headlines Today with 23 per cent and NDTV with 19 per cent relative share. In six metros, Times Now had a relative share of 51 per cent, followed by Headlines Today with 27 per cent and NDTV with 14 per cent relative share. Further slicing of the data gives the upper hand to Headlines Today as the channel was No. 1 in Mumbai + Delhi markets.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com