|
Data released by TAM Media that surveyed males 15 years and above
across north and west India (including Hyderabad) for a six-week
period between 23 February and 5 April threw up some interesting
findings. Time (in minutes) spent in a week watching TV news went
up from 51 minutes in week one of the survey, shot up to 105 in
week four (when the US-led invasion of Iraq commenced) and stabilised
at 91 minutes by week six.
Lead news channel Aaj Tak's total viewership share went up from
2.71 to 5.09, Zee News from 1.21 to 2.13 and Star News from 0.45
to 1.4.
CNN SHOWS LARGEST GAIN, GOES PAST BBC
In terms of sheer jump though it was CNN that had the biggest reason
to celebrate. In what is a first for the American channel, it has
gone ahead of the Beebs in India. CNN leapt from 0.04 to 0.51 while
the BBC increased its viewership from 0.12 to 0.45.
STAR NEWS, SAHARA SAMAY MAKE AN IMPACT
As regards TV news audience share, the data thrown up in week 6
(30 march to 5 April) which is when the new Star News became functional,
as also the addition of Sahara Samay to the equation, has had its
impact. Aaj Tak's TV news audience share has dipped from 59 to 51
per cent and Zee News from 26 to 21 per cent. The gainers have been
Star News (10 to 14 per cent) and Sahara Samay - 0 to 4 per cent.
CNN has gone up from 1 to 5 per cent, ahead of BBC which rose only
a single percentage point from 3 to 4 per cent.
All things considered though Sahara Samay's has been the most incredible
story thus far. It doesn't have the high-profile presenters that
Prannoy Roy's NDTV boasts, nor the backing of a News Corp and the
experience of Fox News that Star News enjoys. But it is certainly
making its mark. And if it continues the way it has started, Sahara
Samay could well turn out to be the real success story in this round
of news channel sparring.
Click to check out time
spent on news channels
To view data on channel
shares click here
|
