Cynics and critics of the media cannot stop bad-mouthing the English news channels and their shrieking, shouting, table-thumping, finger-wagging anchors. They lambast Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswami, accusing them of being everything from trivial to sensational to anti-national.
Opinion makers and talking heads from politicians to penpushers move heaven, earth and everything else in between to appear on the English news channels. Advertisers drop everything else to flock to them. Viewers cannot stop accusing them of everything that is wrong with the country short of the monsoon. Yet….
Yet, is this all futile?
Using data collated by the television audience measurement agency (TAM), Archna Shukla of the Indian Express reports that this could all be very misplaced. That, despite its growing social and rural acceptance, English news channels boast of such a minuscule viewership that it probably does not even count.
From a snapshot of television consumption in India in the Sunday Indian Express:
1. There are 134 million households which own television sets in India; 70 million are in rural areas, 64 million in urban India
2. India is the world’s second largest broadcast market in viewership base as well as the total number of channels (500)
3. An average Indian watches television for two and a half hours a day, South Indians are glued to the idiot box for longer
4. There are more news channels (81 and counting) than general entertainment channels
5. News and current affairs channels has 7.5% viewership share; GECs have 51%.
6. Hindi has 43% reach and audience; the regional language channels put together account for 37%
7. Hindi speaking market is larger but South Indians watch TV for longer, spending close to three hours a day
8. English channels, news and otherwise, gets only 11% of viewership share
9. English news channels have a 0.4 per cent viewership
10. Men watch sports, news and movie channels; women watch soaps and serials
Read the full story: How India watches television
Tags: Archna Shukla, Arnab Goswami, Barkha Dutt, Churumuri, Indian Express, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sans Serif
28 June 2010 at 10:31 am
English News Channels in the Country are as such running soap operas…..The headlines and breaking news are typical such as
Amitabh Bachan raided
Abhishek next film release
Salman khan met with an accident……
Ash to attend cannes….
How does it matter to me and the folks in my country…….
The day hero worship stops in this country the country can prosper….
28 June 2010 at 10:45 am
Good Statistics.. atleast now Rajdeep, Barkha, Arnab raises up and starts providing some serious news.
28 June 2010 at 10:56 am
This is not really a surprise. Knew it all along that English channels cater to an insignificant minority.
But.
The question is are any of these shrieking channels making any money? The last I heard NDTV hasn’t broken even in all its years of existence. How else does it pay fat salaries to its over rated journalists?
Is there space for so many english channels? Clearly, the answer is no. Unless the whole of India is English literate, it is futile for English channel honchos to pump in money in a loss making business.
And, all those big ticket advertisers who seek out English channels, is it giving them any bang for their buck? Or a mere whimper?
28 June 2010 at 12:05 pm
Oh the pygmies, when shall you cease strutting and start stuttering?
28 June 2010 at 12:25 pm
0.4% is rather inflated with the kind of news they dish out!
28 June 2010 at 12:47 pm
Fantastic… Useful statistics.
28 June 2010 at 1:23 pm
@Simple,
>The last I heard NDTV hasn’t broken even in all its years of existence. How else does it pay fat salaries to its over rated journalists?
May be some very good offbalance sheet revenue streams!! ;-)
28 June 2010 at 3:24 pm
As far as advertising is concerned, I would venture to say that the section of population which watches English news is most likely to buy stuff like Laptops, Cars, LCDs, etc. So, I suppose it isn’t entirely stupid to advertise such stuff on English news channels.
28 June 2010 at 5:59 pm
I am not sure how representative these numbers are of the whole population. 0.4% translates to 5,36,000 households which seems awfully small for the entire country. Even considering only the major metros which are likely the major markets for the English news channels, that seems quite small. Of course, that assumes “viewership” is equivalent to households.
So what exactly is being measured? If I get a Hindi channel at home but never watch it, am I counted in the 43% of the “broadcast universe”? On the other hand, if I watch an English news channels for 5 mins is that part of the 0.4%? Is that the same as someone who watches the channel for a whole hour at a stretch?
Regardless, how do the English news channels compare in terms of reach/viewership to English newspapers (absolute numbers, not percentages)? If that is consistent, should we be surprised? The article also mentioned that the Hindi news channels mainly focus on astrology and entertainment. Does that actually qualify as “news”? Doesn’t that tell a sadder story of Hindi (and other regional language) news channels than the 0.4% viewership does of English news channels?
Let’s throw a conspiracy theory in there. Should we be surprised that we see a (vague, badly written) report on the low impact of news channels, specifically English news channels in an English newspaper that is known to be financial dire straits? Is this a hint to advertisers and investors? Also makes you wonder why the paper’s editor takes long walks on one of the same English news channels that make up 0.4% of the viewership.
28 June 2010 at 6:50 pm
Vinay,
I know scores of my friends/neighbours/tenants/relatives who speak and understand English, but ALMOST never watch an English news channel.
They prefer their staple diet of reality shows, hindi sob operas, kannada channels and music channels
You are right it is not entirely stupid, but stupid, nevertheless.
Each Channel shouts out that it is Number one. How can all channels be number one? the devil, as they say, lies in the detail. One channel says it recorded highest number of viewership on Sunday between 8 and 8:15 pm. Therefore, they are the number one channel – what is hidden is that they are the number one for those 15 minutes.
28 June 2010 at 8:00 pm
Another useful link. Truth about India TV: http://stupidindiatv.blogspot.com/
28 June 2010 at 11:38 pm
good one (as usual), gokulam.
there seems to be something wrong with those numbers.
29 June 2010 at 1:36 am
“There are 134 million households which own television sets in India”
>> only 134 million ppl have TV out of 1000 million, thats like only 13%. This cannot be true !!!
23 July 2010 at 10:47 pm
I am surprised the viewership is so high. I thought only anti national elements watch English news. I am an voratious reader of english books . But I do not fine any thing worth watching english news channels. But my Tv watching is mostly kannada and english .)Other than english news channels.
The percentage of households watching english channels is not given . It may be high, only english news channels particularly indian are bad. may be they are propoganda channels funded by interested quarters.
10 October 2010 at 11:51 pm
May be a miniscule minorty watches the English Channels, but many of the Regional channels copy the English Channels for ideas ?
The Statistics may have to revised.:-)