Aaj Tak and Republic TV were the most viewed news brands during the high-pitched Delhi assembly elections, in the Hindi and English news genres, respectively.
Viewership data released by industry body BARC India shows that the two channels topped their categories among the core TG on the day of voting on February 8, counting day on February 11, and during the whole week — which is Week 6 of BARC.
The core TG is the target audience widely used and accepted by the industry. BARC India makes viewership data public on their website largely on the basis of this core TG. For the Hindi news genre, the TG is HSM (U+R): NCCS All: 15+ Individuals and for the English news genre, the TG is All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals. For English, they have also considered data for mega cities as the market.
Aaj Tak retained the top position not only during Week 6 but also on voting and counting days. The channel maintained the lead by a significant margin. Weekly viewership of the channel was 35% more than the No. 2 channel. On voting day, this gap was as big as 60%. On counting day, Aaj Tak’s viewership was 30% more than No. 2 news channel ABP News.
Except for the number one position, the rest of the pecking order of the top five channels was different on voting and counting days and during the week.
Voting day:
Channels |
15+ |
HSM |
|
08-02-2020 |
|
Imp'000 |
|
Hindi News |
1,37,820 |
Aaj Tak |
25,190 |
India TV |
15,694 |
Zee News |
14,974 |
ABP News |
14,569 |
News18 India |
14,835 |
Republic Bharat |
14,758 |
News 24 |
5,546 |
News Nation |
7,660 |
TV9 Bharatvarsh |
4,823 |
Tez |
4,201 |
Vote counting day:
Channels |
15+ |
HSM |
|
11-02-2020 |
|
Imp'000 |
|
Hindi News |
2,06,633 |
Aaj Tak |
39,407 |
ABP News |
30,805 |
India TV |
22,437 |
News18 India |
21,424 |
Zee News |
21,111 |
Republic Bharat |
17,829 |
News Nation |
10,258 |
NDTV India |
7,768 |
News 24 |
7,041 |
Tez |
6,804 |
Week 6, 2020:
Channels |
15+ |
HSM |
|
2020W 6 |
|
Imp'000 |
|
Hindi News |
8,90,403 |
Aaj Tak |
1,46,179 |
ABP News |
1,08,032 |
News18 India |
1,01,566 |
India TV |
99,364 |
Zee News |
98,654 |
Republic Bharat |
85,769 |
News Nation |
47,501 |
News 24 |
35,813 |
TV9 Bharatvarsh |
33,491 |
Tez |
31,298 |
Republic TV topped the English news genre in both all-India market and mega cities during Week 6, on voting day and counting day. The channel was leading the all-India market with a huge margin. The viewership of Republic TV was three times more than the No. 2 channel on counting day.
However, in mega cities, Republic TV got a tough competition from Times Now and India Today TV.
Voting day:
AB Male 22+, India |
08-02-2020 |
Channels |
Imp'000 |
English News |
528 |
Republic TV |
146 |
Times Now |
91 |
India Today Television |
76 |
NDTV 24x7 |
60 |
CNN News18 |
44 |
DD India |
29 |
Mirror Now |
25 |
BBC World News |
16 |
WION |
14 |
Times Now World |
13 |
AB Male 22+, Mega Cities |
08-02-2020 |
Channels |
Imp'000 |
English News |
199 |
Republic TV |
54 |
Times Now |
49 |
India Today Television |
33 |
NDTV 24x7 |
21 |
Mirror Now |
8 |
WION |
7 |
CNN News18 |
6 |
News X |
6 |
Times Now World |
6 |
Counting day:
AB Male 22+, India |
11-02-2020 |
Channels |
Imp'000 |
English News |
1,189 |
Republic TV |
597 |
Times Now |
193 |
India Today Television |
96 |
NDTV 24x7 |
77 |
CNN News18 |
77 |
Times Now World |
39 |
Mirror Now |
29 |
BBC World News |
26 |
DD India |
22 |
WION |
14 |
AB Male 22+, Mega Cities |
11-02-2020 |
Channels |
Imp'000 |
English News |
326 |
Republic TV |
110 |
Times Now |
77 |
India Today Television |
40 |
NDTV 24x7 |
29 |
CNN News18 |
19 |
Mirror Now |
16 |
DD India |
11 |
India Ahead |
8 |
Times Now World |
7 |
Week 6, 2020:
AB Male 22+, India |
2020W 6 |
Channels |
Imp'000 |
English News |
3,373 |
Republic TV |
1,141 |
Times Now |
664 |
India Today Television |
415 |
CNN News18 |
263 |
NDTV 24x7 |
258 |
DD India |
146 |
WION |
111 |
Mirror Now |
106 |
Times Now World |
103 |
BBC World News |
102 |
AB Male 22+, Mega Cities |
2020W 6 |
Channels |
Imp'000 |
English News |
1,111 |
Republic TV |
280 |
Times Now |
275 |
India Today Television |
197 |
NDTV 24x7 |
83 |
WION |
64 |
CNN News18 |
53 |
Times Now World |
43 |
Mirror Now |
42 |