News channels strike highest ever viewership post surgical strike week

According to BARC data, Week 40 witnessed Hindi news channels gaining about twice the viewership of a regular week while the English news channels clocked thrice the viewership of a regular week

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | October 14, 2016

News channels gained viewership due to the telecast of programmes related to the Uri Attacks, shows Week 38 of BARC India data. The surgical strike carried out by the Indian Army across the Line of Control reflected in Week 39 of BARC data. But Week 40 saw the best performance by the news genre on peoplemeter to date.

In the week of the surgical strike, the increase in viewership registered by each of the Hindi news channels was approximately 23 per cent, while the English news channels each gained about 20 per cent except Times Now that grew about 30 per cent over the last week.

If one compares the viewership of Week 40 to any regular week of the year, the Hindi news channels have each gained about twice the viewership, while the English news channels have charted thrice the viewership of a regular week.

The political scenario also heated up over the week after the surgical strike, comments followed from various quarters and there were controversies too, which might have attracted viewers to watch the news channels. Be it Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's demand for proof of the strike, Indian politicians discussing whether or not the proof be made public and the endless discussions about the covert operation of the Indian Army must have called for viewership on the genre.

Among Hindi news channels, Aaj Tak garnered 164.583 million Impressions (84.549 mn Urban and 80.034 mn Rural). India TV stood at No. 2 with 138.723 million Impressions (76.194 mn Urban and 62.529 mn Rural). At No. 3 was India News in Week 40, which registered 132.445 million Impressions (61.175 mn Urban and 71.270 mn Rural), followed by Zee News with 118.301 million Impressions (73.907 mn Rural). At No. 5, ABP News gained 115.601 million Impressions (62.426 mn Urban and 53.175 mn Rural).

Among the English News Channels, Times Now garnered 1.340 million Impressions, while CNN-News18 stood at No. 2 with 0.505 million Impressions. At No. 3 was India Today Television in Week 40, which registered 0.349 million Impressions, followed by NDTV 24X7 and News X.

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