CNBC India continues to be the leader among news channels, a company release states, quoting weekly AC Nielsen TAM Viewership ratings for four weeks ending March 10.

CNBC India has surpassed other news channels like Star News, Aaj Tak, Zee News and BBC, as the one to watch for urban viewers in the Socio-Economic Category A households, which constitutes the bulk of the news watching audience, according to the release.

This leadership in the home segment, which is measured by TAM people meters, is quite remarkable for a channel that is known for its domination of viewership at the workplace. CNBC executives voiced confidence that if this upsurge continued, it would become part of what is a worldwide phenomenon - the burgeoning interest in business related news and information.

"The TAM ratings vindicate our belief that the Indian viewer is more savvy today and desires information that affects her or him more directly. Gone are the days when news was just about political drama," CEO Haresh Chawla says.

Chawla adds: "Ever since late 1999, when CNBC India was born, we have had to contend with the fact that there was no conventional mechanism to identify a major part of our audience, the out-of-home (OOH) viewers. It was as though the channel was trying to compete with one arm tied behind its back. The latest TAM ratings merely show that home viewing is beginning to reflect the true popularity of the channel."

The CNBC India team says they welcome more sophisticated research on audience share because it is only then that their spread in the market can really be appreciated.