Arnab’s Republic TV Tops BARC Ratings With 50% of Audience Share

BARC’s latest weekly data puts Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV top in the English news channel category. (Photo: The Quint)

Less than two weeks after Arnab Goswami's Republic TV was launched with a "SUPER EXCLUSIVE" exposé on Lalu Prasad Yadav’s criminal links, the Broadcast Audience Research Council – or BARC – has released the viewership data for the week commencing 6 May till 12 May, which puts Republic at the top spot in the English news channel category.

In terms of impressions, BARC data shows that Republic got 2,117, ahead of Times Now at 1448, NDTV 24*7 at 352, India Today Television at 350 and CNN News-18 at 315. All these figures are in thousands, implying that the 2,117 corresponds to 21,17,000.

BARC data. (Photo Courtesy: BARC website screengrab)

The share of Republic among India’s top five English news channels is 49.4 percent, while Times Now is at 26.8 percent.

Also Read: A ‘Nervous’ Times Now ‘Has Lost the Battle’: Arnab Responds

BARC has calculated these numbers under the parameter: "All India (U+R) NCC (New Consumer Classification) AB: Males 22+ Individuals".

Republic promptly shared BARC's data on its Twitter and Facebook handles, calling itself the "number 1 news channel in India".

According to Republic TV, its share is 51.9 percent among the top six English news channels. The sixth channel here, which was not included in the top five rankings, is NewsX.

Before Republic TV went live, Times Now occupied the top position in the English news channel category. As per an Exchange4Media report, in the previous weekly data set released by BARC, Times Now got 645 (000s) impressions as compared to India Today’s 368 (000s) and NDTV’s 290 (000s).

Goswami was Times Now’s editor-in-chief till November, but resigned to form his new channel Republic TV.

Trouble With NBA

However, all is not well with Goswami’s channel as it has run into the bad books of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA). The latter, in a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has complained that the channel has flouted the body’s intercommunication regulations.

This violation, according to the NBA letter, stems from Republic TV being "registered by several multi-system operators/distribution platform operators/distributors multiple times under different genres in their EPG (electronic programme guide) by listing it on multiple logical channel numbers (LCN)".

The letter further states, "We have been informed of several infractions."

This practice, according to media experts and executives, can boost viewership ratings slightly, according to a Mint report. The report also cites an executive stating that many channels have adopted this tactic to enhance their visibility.

India Today’s Rahul Kanwal had on Twitter accused Republic TV of malpractice:

Since its launch on 6 May, Goswami’s channel has carried out a number of “exposés”, including on Shashi Tharoor and ISIS, among others.

Also Read: Brijesh Kalappa Reveals His Side of the 6-Min Call with Arnab