News18 Network ad says its reach on counting day surpassed IPL finale

New Delhi: News18 network on Friday released a front-page ad in all editions of The Economic Times saying its reach of 16.20 crore on Counting Day surpassed the television reach of 10.90 crore recorded during the 2024 IPL finale.

The news network calculated the total reach of Counting Day by aggregating the reach of Network18's 20 channels across various languages, while IPL Finale's total reach was derived from 13 Star Sports channels.

(Counting Day Unrolled Data | Source: BARC | Channel: Network18 (20 channels) | Metric: Reach TG: 2+|Period: 04th June 24, 24 Hrs I Market: All India) (IPL Finale | Source: BARC | Channel: Star Sports (13 channels) Metric: Reach TG: 2+| Period: 26th May'24, 24 Hrs | Market: All India)

The ad also highlighted CNN-News18 as the leader in the English news genre on the counting day of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The channel amassed a 41.1% market share on the crucial Counting Day, whereas Republic TV stayed behind with a 24% market share. In comparison, Times Now was at a distant 21.2% market share, followed by India Today TV at 9%. (Source: BARC | Metric: Market Share% | TG: 15+ AB | Period: 04th June'24, 24 Hrs | Market: India |7 Channels considered) (Source: BARC | Metric: Market Share% | TG: 15+ AB | Period: Wk 23'24, 24 Hrs | Market: India |7 Channels considered)

The third data set in the ad was related to the Hindi news genre which showed News18 India recording a reach of 7.69 crore (unrolled)* on the Counting Day. 

The rolled reach of News18 India was at 3.74 crore, followed by Aaj Tak on the second spot with a reach of 3.40 crore. 

According to another data in the ad, News18 India’s cumulative reach for the Counting Week was 11.15 crore (rolled), followed by Aaj Tak with a reach of 9.13 crore. (Source: BARC | Metric: Reach TG: 2+ | Period: 04th June'24,24 Hrs | Market: HSM | *As per BARC CER) (Source: BARC | Metric: Cume Reach| TG: 2+ | Period: Wk 23'24, 24 Hrs | Market: HSM)

The front-page ad: