Aaj Tak and Republic lead on Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh vote counting day

Aaj Tak remained the most watched Hindi news channel, while Republic TV emerged as the top English news channel on December 18, the day counting for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections took place.

The viewership data for counting and voting days of the recently held Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections was released by BARC India.

As per the data shared by the TV viewership measurement agency, ABP was close No. 2 in Hindi news category, whereas Times Now claimed the second spot in English news channel segment on counting day.

In Hindi category, India TV and Zee news stood at number three and number four positions while News18 came fifth on the counting day.

India Today TV and CNN-News18 got the third and fourth position in English news TV category, while NDTV24x7 stood fifth.

BARC India has shared the viewership data for 24 hours for first and second days (phases) of voting in Gujarat on December 9 and 14, and vote counting day on December 18 for a specific TGs which are - market: HSM ; age: 15+ years; NCCS: All - for Hindi news channels, and - market: All India ; age: 22+ male ; NCCS: AB - for English news channels.

Hindi News Genre

On the counting day of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections, December 18, Hindi news genre garnered 2,45,051 Impressions (’000s) (HSM, 15+), while the genre grabbed 1,51,989 Impressions (’000s) on Saturday, December 9 which was voting day 1. On voting day 2, the Hindi news genre garnered 1,23,343 Impressions (’000s) on Thursday, December 14, 2017.

On Counting day, Aaj Tak topped the list with 45.146 million Impressions, followed by ABP News which was very close to the leader grabbing 44,308 Impressions (’000s). India TV and Zee News were also very close with a gap of mere few thousand Impressions standing at No. 3 and No.4 with 30,681 and 30,292 Impressions (’000s), respectively. News18 India gained 22,369 Impressions (’000s).

On voting day 1, Aaj Tak stood at the top with 17,918 Impressions (’000s), India TV stood second with 14,872 Impressions (’000s). ABP News stood close to the No. 2 with a short gap, gaining 14,496 Impressions (’000s). Zee News and News18 India stood at No. 4 and 5 with 13,756 Impressions (’000s) and 12,991 Impressions (’000s), respectively.

On voting day 2, Aaj Tak and ABP News stood at the number one and number two positions and maintained their lead on the counting day as well. Aaj Tak gained 19,318 Impressions (’000s), followed by ABP News that had about 15,772 Impressions (’000s). Third in the list was Zee News that was quite close to ABP News, garnering 15,138 Impressions (’000s). India TV and News18 India clocked 14,378 and 12,184 Impressions (’000s), respectively.

English News Genre

English News genre clocked 1,482 Impressions (’000s) on the counting day of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections, December 18, while on Saturday, December 9 which was voting day 1, the genre clocked 489 Impressions (’000s). The English news genre grabbed 634 Impressions (’000s) on Thursday, December 14, 2017.

English news genre didn’t witness a lot of changes in the rankings of the channels, compared to any regular week. Republic TV continued to lead the viewership with 595 Impressions (’000s), while Times Now too stayed at No. 2 with 328 Impressions (’000s). India Today TV and CNN-News18 stayed quite close to each other with a gap of mere 10 thousand Impressions, standing at No. 3 and No. 4 clocking 172 Impressions (’000s) and 162 Impressions (’000s), respectively. NDTV 24x7 clocked 86 Impressions (’000s) to stand at No. 5.

On voting day 1, Republic TV maintained its lead with 157 Impressions (’000s), followed by Times Now with 116 Impressions (’000s). India Today Television and CNN-News18 stood next with 80 Impressions (’000s) and 31 Impressions (’000s), respectively. NDTV 24x7 was at fifth spot with 29 Impressions (’000s).

On voting day 2, the genre had the same ranking as Republic TV stood on No. 1 with 195 Impressions (’000s), while Times Now was ranked second with 140 Impressions (’000s). India Today TV gathered 86 Impressions (’000s), while CNN-News18 had 67 Impressions (’000s) on that day. NDTV 24x7 was at No. 5 with 65 Impressions (’000s).

Arnab Goswami

Commenting on the TV viewership rankings, Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief, Republic TV, said, “Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections were important as they were the first elections reported by us. We enjoyed a massive time spent of 22 minutes per viewer in mega cities, which is three times more stickiness than our next competitor. We look forward to going from strength to strength as we gear up for Union Budget 2018.”

Vikas Khanchandani

Vikas Khanchandani, CEO, Republic TV, said, “With fantastic deliveries both on digital and TV platforms, Republic TV has created the largest news network, agnostic of screens.”

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