For the first time since Arnab Goswami launched his new channel, Times Now has finally caught up with Republic TV in the race for television ratings.
Rahul Shivshankar-led Times Now has managed to chase down Republic’s lead to a single percentage point across the country, as per the latest data from BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council India). Moreover, in three of the subcategories for which data is released by BARC, Times Now has gone past Republic TV.
In urban India, Times Now’s market share is more than Republic’s by a little over 3 percentage points. In megacities, Times Now’s lead extends to more than 12 percentage points.
Less than a week ago, BARC said it had detected “ratings fraud attempts” in the Tamil Nadu, Chennai and Karnataka markets.
In an email sent to subscribers, the agency had stated:
Any individual or group of households suspected of being compromised are immediately removed from reporting in the BARC weekly published ratings release.
In April, BARC had constituted a six-member committee headed by former judge Mukul Mudgal to investigate complaints regarding viewership malpractices and tampering of its measurement system.
The Numbers
Republic’s overall market share in the week from 10 June to 16 June stands at 34.8% with Times Now close on its heels at 33.8%.
Note that in the week from 20 May to 26 May 2017, all channels apart from Republic TV show a 0% on the graph. This is because they had pulled out of BARC during the same period in protest against alleged measurement malpractices.
In urban India, Times Now’s market share stands at 38.8%, with Goswami’s Republic trailing at 35.7%.
In the week from 3 to 9 June, Times Now and Republic had been neck-and-neck with as little a difference as 0.1% between them.
In the recent viewership data for the week from 10 June to 16 June, Times Now’s market share is 44.5%, with Republic TV more than twelve percentage points behind at 31.9%.
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