Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC) India resumes news channel ratings after a 15-month break with Week 10 data for 2022.
In October 2020, BARC India temporarily stopped the audience ratings of news channels due to claims of a television rating point (TRP) fraud. According to BARC India, the BARC team and BARC TechComm came up with the Augmented Data Reporting Standards for news and unique interest genres after consulting with the entire industry.
The standards are associated with the needs of the industry, BARC India said. According to the new accepted guidelines, viewership figures for these genres will only be presented once a week based on a four-week rolling average. There is now a single YUMI account that can access all of the audience estimates for all of the channels in the BARC ecosystem.
BARC India will also release data for the last 13 weeks, from Week 49, 2021, to Week 9, 2022, for the channels that have not chosen to opt-out of this data. This data will likewise be based on a four-week rolling average, which is what the industry needs to make insightful, fair, and equal decisions. In the following three working days, this data will get published.
On January 12, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting directed that BARC restore viewing statistics for news channels after a 15-month break. BARC has stopped the release of TV ratings for news channels since October 15. It is related to a dispute over accusations that ratings for three networks, Republic TV, Fakt Marathi, and Box Cinema, were manipulated.
Positions of the news channel
Relative share statistics for Wk. 10’22 (5th -11th March’22), (NCCS: All, 15+ yrs., Rolling average, HSM, 13 Hindi National News Channel):
TV9 Bharat Varsh has benefited from its war coverage and is now leading. It should be noted that the channel produced comparable results during China’s attack in June 2020.
English news channels (Wk. 10’22, All India, 22+ M AB):
Republic TV, which broadcasted a Hindi stream during election hours, is ranked first.
What Arnab has to say
In a video message, Arnab Goswami, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Republic Media Network, stated, “Remember… What happened to us? Remember what occurred in this newsroom? Something is never forgiving. And I’d want to remind the viewers of Aaj Tak and other news channels to remember this Times Now… remember this India Today… Arnab Goswami never forgets or forgives. The Republic Media Network will neither forgive nor forget.
“Times Now lost all of its viewers the day I left,” Arnab said. They attempted dirty tactics and lost again. People hate Times Now for falsifying about Republic. People will only forgive them if they apologize to Republic. “BARC viewership confirms that Republic is India’s unrivaled number one.”
In 2020, Arnab Goswami and others from Republic TV were wrongfully charged with TRP tampering by Mumbai cops. As the case unfolded, it became clear that the whole situation was a plot against Arnab Goswami and his crew.
Users trolling BARC India & news channels
Twitter users began trolling BARC for announcing all media channels to be number one. Some users started claiming that if all news channels deserved to be number one, who should be number two? They’ve all mastered the art of propaganda. Their faith in their leader is unshakable. The Indian press never disappoints in its manipulative games.
Other users also said that this is a TRP fraud since BARC used to provide statistics on their website earlier. They urged BARC to release TRP figures of news channels on its website like earlier so that people also know who is really number 1.
Users also praised Republic media channel at becoming number one and Arnab Goswami for his devotion.
TRP numbers have always raised uncertainty in the eyes of viewers when it comes to media channels due to bias presentation. However, in the end, public belief in the media influences the kind of news they want.
Published By: Apoorva Wakodikar
Edited By: Subbuthai Padma
