BENGALURU: Over the past few weeks on Thursdays’, just post 1100 am, both the top ranked Indian English News channels-Times Now and Republic TV started flashing BARC data, each claiming the number one spot based on ratings. The channels have continued this on-air spat once again. Republic TV says that it has topped ratings for an unprecedented sixth week in a row. The channel claims that Indian ratings monitor Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data for week 24 (Saturday, 11 June 2017 to Friday, 17 June 2017) has declared it number one across all segments at primetime and super primetime in week 24. It claims 36 per cent viewership.
BARC data flashed by Republic TV about viewership: Republic TV 48.42 per cent; Times Now 25.05 per cent; CNN News 18 - 9.38 per cent; Indian Tiday 9.68 percent; NDTV 6.3 percent; News X- 1.11 per cent.
‘Pecking Order Firmly Established’ ‘Slice & Dice Won’t Work’ ‘Self Styled Claims Don’t Matter’ announced some of the slides on Republic TV
In the meantime, Times Now has been flashing on its channel that it is the number one in the English News genre with a relative viewership of 42 per cent while putting Republic TV at second place with a relative viewership of 32 per cent. Times Now puts CNN News 18 7 percent India Today TV’s relative share at 12 per cent, and NDTV 24x7 at 5 per cent.
“The viewership debate is over, we are number 1. It is now one month since we have been in operation and we have now become undisputed leaders in this genre. The game has just begun and we are now absolutely unstoppable. We will take the game to the next level,” Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami had declared in week 22, during a live telecom with Republic TV anchor Hariharan aired on his channel, just after 11:15am on that day.
It may be recalled that in a coordinated move, English News channels had pulled out of BARC on 18 May, only to return to the BARC fold on from midnight of 26 May. English News channels backed by the News Broadcast Association had stripped their signals of BARC audio watermarks. The NBA had requested BARC not to publish Republic TV’s ratings, alleging that the channel has resorted to rampant multiple LCN placements on cable TV networks across the country.
