BENGALURU: Pakistan Premier Imran Khan’s shenanigan’s at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) did not seem to have much effect on the viewership of Hindi news channels in week 39 of 2019 as combined weekly impressions of the BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi news channels grew by just 7 percent as compared to the previous week. Hindi news viewership in Hindi speaking markets – both urban -HSM (U) and rural (HSM (R), as well as the combined markets -HSM (U+R) seemed immune to Islamophobia and Islamic Terror that many global leaders spouted during their respective UNGA speeches as BARC data for the top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R) increased to 545.803 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 from 511.897 million weekly impressions in week 38. Viewership growth in week 39 of 2019 was driven by HSM (U), while Aaj Tak and Zee News were the biggest gainers in both HSM (U) and HSM (R), as well as HSM (U+R)
Comparatively, viewership of the top 5 English News channels increased by as much as 41 percent during the week under review as compared to the previous week.
Hindi news viewership in HSM (U+R)
While the channels listed among the top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R) were the same, there was a small shufflingof ranks in week 39 of 2019 (Saturday, 21 September 2019 to Friday, 27 September 2019, week or period under consideration). Aaj Tak retained its numero uno rank that it has held on to almost forever with 17 percent increase in viewership in week 39 of 2019 at 127.463 million weekly impressions as compared to 114.016 million weekly impressions in week 38.
Zee News climbed up a place to second rank with an increase of 11 percent in week 39 of 2019 to 112.261 million weekly impressions as compared to third rank and 100.993 million weekly impressions in the previous week. India TV dropped a place to third rank despite an increase of 3 percent viewership to 104.248 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 as compared to second rank and 101.656 million weekly impressions in week 38. News18 India retained fourth rank in the week under review with an increase of 3 percent in ratings to 103.011 million weekly impressions as compared to 99.971 million weekly impressions in week 38. ABP News also retained fifth rank in week 39 of 2019 with an increase of 4 percent in viewership to 98.820 million weekly impressions as compared to 95.261 million weekly impressions in week 38.
Please refer to the figure below:
Hindi news Viewership in HSM (U)
Viewership of the top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (U) increased 8 percent to 319.149 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 from 294.229 million weekly impressions in week 38. Please refer to the figure below.
Aaj Tak saw its ratings increase by 13 percent in week 39 to 74.127 million weekly impressions in HSM (U) from 65.773 million weekly impressions in week 38. Zee News climbed up a rank to second place in week 39 of 2019 with an increase of 13 percent in viewership to 66.739 million weekly impressions from third place and 58.824 million weekly impressions in week 38. News18 India dropped a place to third rank – its ratings increased 3 percent in week 39 of 2019 to 63.055 million weekly impressions from second rank and 61.067 million weekly impressions in week 38. India TV retained rank four in week 39 of 2019 with an increase of 5 percent in viewership to 61.169 million weekly impressions from 58.101 million weekly impressions in the previous week. ABP News also retained fifth rank with a 7 percent increase in viewership in week 39 of 2019 to 54.059 million weekly impressions from 50.464 million weekly impressions in the previous week.
Hindi news viewership in HSM (R)
While the channels in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (R) were same in week 39 of 2019 and week 38, there was a small tweaking in ranks. Further, two of the five channels saw viewership decline, while three saw viewership growth. Combined ratings of top 5 Hindi news channels in HSM (R) in week 39 of 2019 increased just 4 percent to 229.035 million weekly impressions from 219.734 million weekly impressions in week 38.
In the case of HSM (R) also, Aaj Tak retained rank one with 11 percent increase in ratings to 53.336 million weekly impressions from 48.244 million weekly impressions in week 38. Zee News climbed two places to second rank with 8 percent increase in viewership to 45.522 million weekly impressions from fourth rank and 42.169 million weekly impressions in week 38. ABP News dropped a place to third rank with almost flat ratings (decline of 0.1 percent in viewership) to 44.761 million weekly impressions in week 38 of 2019 from second rank and 44.797 million weekly impressions in week 38. India TV also dropped a rank to fourth place with a decline of 1 percent in viewership to 43.078 million weekly impressions in week 39 of 2019 from third rank and 43.554 million weekly impressions in week 38. Republic Bharat retained fifth rank with an increase of 3 percent in viewership to 42.338 million weekly impressions from 40.970 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Please refer to the figure below:
