News18 India launches Aaj ka No. 1 campaign to claim leadership

Network18 has launched a new campaign titled ‘Aaj ka No. 1’ for its general Hindi news channel News18 India to claim its leadership position in the prime time band (7-11pm) in urban India and inform media planners and the audience about it.

It is not new to see a news channel claiming its leadership. Asked what care should be taken while announcing the leading numbers, Rahul Kansal, Group Brand Advisor, Network18, said, “We are clearly saying that ‘We are urban India’s leading prime time channel’. We are specifying the markets where we are claiming leadership. There’s no point mentioning the market and the TG in fine print.”

The channel waited for 26 weeks to announce the leadership since it wanted to make sure it was not a flash in the pan. Kansal explained, “Someone else can say that ‘We are rural No. 1’ or ‘We are leading megacities channels’ but whatever it is, one has to announce it upfront. I feel the channels that claim leadership at a highly sliced TG and market or for a particular time of the day, end up irritating more than building the image. I don’t think we will ever do that. Yes, we will say that this is our journey towards becoming leaders.”

News18 India has a steady line-up of programming in the prime time. Starting with ‘Aar Paar’ at 7pm, a debate anchored by Amish Devgan, the next show is ‘Hum Toh Poochenge’, a substantive discussion on the day’s top story at 8pm anchored by Sumit Awasthi. Following this is a fast-paced and sharp news bulletin with Kishore Ajwani at 9 pm ‘Sau Baat ki Ek Baat’.

The Aaj ka No.1 campaign intends to celebrate the channel’s success in a highly cluttered category with over a dozen channels vying for eyeballs. It directly takes on the competition and asserts that News18 India has altered the pecking order in the category. The 360-degree campaign that will run across various media, including TV, print, social and trade media, will clearly seek to project that the momentum in the genre is now with News18 India – the Aaj ka No. 1. The campaign will use a visual device and treatment that is meant to ensure high recall and share of buzz for the same.

Explaining the motto of the campaign, Kansal said, “This can be considered as the second leg of the network’s campaign ‘18=1’. The campaign for the Hindi news channels might be followed by different campaigns for the various regional and other channels in the news network. In order to reach the audience, this campaign will be spread out on print too through leading Hindi newspapers such as Dainik Jagran, Hindustan, Dainik Bhaskar, among others.”

The source of the data used to claim leadership is BARC India Market: India Urban TG: 22+ Time Period: Week 01, 2018 – 26, 2018 Monday-Friday 1900-2300.

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