Hindi news channels made hay while Mumbai burned

The gun battle that raged in South Mumbai has helped Hindi news channels post a four-fold jump in ratings for November 27.

With the Hindi language channels raking in the ratings, the high profile English news channels saw themselves in the back-seat though the coverage of the terror attack was possibly better on the English channels than the Hindi channels.

An Indian financial newspaper has reported that Mumbai-based online ratings agency aMap, which did a study on November 26 and 27, found that Hindi news channels had recorded a viewership of 6-7 per cent of the total cable and TV homes, that is with people above 15 years of age, between 9 pm and 11pm.

Meanwhile, the English news channels saw viewership stay put at 0.8-1 per cent. A day before, the average viewership of the Hindi news channel was 1 to 2 per cent, it said. Viewers who are in the age group of 15 years and above across the country, except the data from Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa were compiled for the study. There are an estimated 80 million cable and satellite homes in the whole of India.

Going into the details, the agency has clarified that Aaj Tak stood on top by bagging a gross rating point (GRP) of 28.8 on November 27. This is 7.9 more than what was recorded a day before. Meanwhile, India TV grossed 21 GRP, Star News 20.6, IBN7 17.5 and NDTV India 10.2. GRP means the total television rating points generated in a day.

Besides these numbers, aMap reports have been quoted as saying that even on the parameters of market share in Hindi news, Aaj Tak recorded a high 5.2 per cent, up from 1.5 per cent the previous day. There was also a 3-4 fold increase in the market share of most leading Hindi news channels including India TV, which stood at 3.8 per cent, Star News (3.7 per cent) IBN7 (3.1 per cent), and NDTV India (1.8 per cent).