The relationship was great while it lasted, but the breakup has not gone well so far. Times Now and Arnab Goswami are bitter exes. And here’s more proof.
In a statement to The Quint last week, Goswami had claimed that Times Now is chasing down Republic’s lead in viewership by using its financial muscle to manipulate the ratings system. Times Now’s growth in viewership is “forced” and “not organic”, Goswami alleged.
And now, Times Now has responded to the charges levelled against the channel, scoffing at the allegations made by its former star anchor and editor-in-chief.
It’s amusing to see Arnab come up with technical points in defence of losing his propped up position. Complaining against superior and costlier distribution surely is not the best way to compete.Times Now, in a statement to The Quint
But Wait, What's All the Fuss About?
As per the latest BARC viewership data, Times Now has finally caught up with Republic TV, for the first time since the launch of Arnab’s new channel. What’s more, the channel has taken a significant lead over Republic in the urban market and is currently in the top spot.
In urban India, Times Now’s market share is a little over 3 percentage points than Republic’s.
According to Goswami, Times Now’s increased viewership is due to the “forced reach” method employed by the channel. He claims Times Now is tying up with cable networks to be the “landing page” on the network.
The “landing page” refers to the channel that appears the moment you switch on the television.
In a statement to The Quint, Goswami elaborated,
Times Now’s landing across networks in megacities and the impact thereof is forced reach as the BARC meters at 7 seconds of view and this is resulting in the reach. This reach is not organic.
Given that “landing page” slots on cable networks don’t come cheap, Goswami is essentially accusing his former workplace Times Now of flexing its financial muscle to tweak the market and beat Republic TV.
Times Now's Response to Arnab
In an statement to The Quint, Times Now addressed Arnab’s allegations head on.
The so called “forced reach” that Goswami is accusing Times Now of enjoying, is simply a better frequency on the electronic programme guide that money can buy. If Republic TV is incapable of spending that or wants to save that money, that’s really a profit and loss call.Times Now, in a statement to The Quint
Goswami had argued that Republic remains more popular than Times Now, claiming that the average time spent by viewers on his channel is far higher than that on Times Now.
He had also claimed that the “landing page” phenomenon may be behind Times Now’s average time consistently decreasing over the last couple of months to come to under 4 minutes as per the latest ratings.
Here’s how Times Now responded to Goswami on that point:
“Times Now's ratings have been consistent and stable as its reach and average time spent by viewers are not propped up artificially by illegal/fraudulent means. We do not resort to multiple LCNs to inflate our reach, nor do we indulge in tampering BARC panel meter households to fraudulently increase our timespent. So with us what you see is what you get.”
The Times Now statement further added, “Republic TV had propped up its reach with illegal multiple logical channel numbers (LCNs) that they were forced to remove by TRAI due to News Broadcasters Association and TV Today Group challenging this practise with BARC and in the Delhi High Court. Consequently, Republic TV’s reach has fallen by more than half.”
Trading Allegations - and the Chennai Connection
Goswami had claimed that around two-third of Times Now’s ratings are coming from Chennai and Kolkata, markets in which Times Now has allegedly tied up with local cable networks so as to be made the “landing page”. Consequently, he believes that the data from these markets is inflating Times Now’s viewership numbers and getting them ever closer to the top spot.
Times Now has admitted to using its financial resources to get a “better frequency on the electronic programme guide”. Additionally, it has levelled a counter-allegation at Goswami and Republic TV.
“The statistics of the average time spent by viewers on Republic has been suspiciously high since the channel’s launch, ranging between 10 to 12 minutes. In comparison, other English news channels remain in the 3 to 5 minutes range. This includes Times Now's performance now and during the tenure of our star anchor Arnab.”
The new channel’s abnormally high timespent has come from a few specific markets, the most prominent being Chennai. As you are aware, BARC in its Week 23 update has stated that it is aware of ratings fraud attempts in Chennai/TN and Karnataka.Times Now, in a statement to The Quint
The statement continues, “So BARC has now started its correction procedures. Prior to this, from week 19-22, Republic TV was getting more than half their numbers from Chennai. The daily timespent for Republic TV from Chennai has come down from an abnormal 17 mins (week 19-22) to 7 mins in week 24. Chennai contributed a more realistic 26% for Republic TV's all India 1 Million+ numbers (down from 51%) in the last week.”
So both Times Now and Republic are alleging that each other’s success is due to unfair results from Chennai?
Yup, that’s right.
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The race to be the number one English news channel in India is not going to end anytime soon. And going by the looks of it, neither will the bitterness in the once-happy relationship of Arnab Goswami and Times Now.
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