Chintamani Rao
Blog

All News is good news

First, the headlines:

CNN-IBN is the No. 1 English news channel

News X is the No. 1 news channel

News X is the No. 1 news channel in Bengaluru

India's top 13 news shows across all English news channels are from CNN-IBN (Making it No. 1)

CNN-IBN achieved absolute leadership (i.e., was or became No. 1) in the financial year

CNN-IBN was India's most watched (i.e., No. 1) English news channel during the Ayodhya verdict week

When the Ayodhya judgement was decided...Times NOW was the most trusted channel (i.e., No. 1)

During the Ayodhya verdict, India shunned all other news and entertainment channels, to tune in to Aaj Tak. (In other words, Aaj Tak was No. 1)

Zee News is no. 1 in the top 8 metros

IBN7 is no. 1 Hindi News Channel in the last 13 weeks

These are not conflicting statements. But when you see the ads from which these claims are quoted, notice the asterisk: conditions apply. It seems that at every news channel there is someone whose job is to slice and dice TAM data until they find a combination of audience, markets, and dayparts in which that channel is No. 1.

The most prolific of these data analysts seems to work at CNN-IBN. To claim its leadership during the Ayodhya week the channel defined eight different audience groups; for its claim of being the no. 1 English news channel, three; for absolute leadership in the financial year, four; and to claim all 13 top news shows, one. So as a marketer or a media planner for which audience am I supposed to think of CNN-IBN?

But CNN-IBN is by no means alone.

IBN7 is the No.1 Hindi news channel in the last 13 weeks – among 25-44 year olds; in Delhi; in some random 13 weeks that happen to suit IBN7.

News X makes an unqualified claim of being "The #1 News Channel" based on having the highest share among English news channels in six metros on one particular Sunday.

Aaj Tak has turned to the IRS, and zoomed out its competitive frame from news channels to include GECs. IRS, for TV? Whom is that supposed to impress?

NDTV 24X7 has gone further: ignoring TV audience research altogether. Some years ago, finding TAM data didn't suit their purpose, they turned to aMap. Now that doesn't work for them either, so their latest ads cite "three [unnamed] major surveys across India" to claim 60% viewership among an undefined audience.

News channels indulge the most, among all broadcasters, in obfuscation and half-truths. That is the genre which you would think should value credibility. If I lied about myself all the time, would you trust me to tell the truth about everything else?

Even those who actually have a story don't tell it. And that includes NDTV 24X7. The brand still has strong equity, but instead of leveraging that and giving you a reason to watch the channel, or to buy advertising on it, they have resorted to telling half-truths to claim leadership that they lost long ago.

Times Now does have differentiated content, which has been the driving force behind its sustained leadership. Ironically, the difference is news. Over 80% of Times Now content is what TAM classifies as 'New Bulletins'; for NDTV 24X7 it is about 55%. But its tag line "Always with the news" is now only a tag line, while its ads are all about being no. 1. Times Now is at least clear and consistent in its audience definition: Male, 25+, SEC AB, 1mn+ markets.1

And then there is Aaj Tak. With India TV and Star News breathing hotly down its neck, its leadership on a daily basis is more and more tenuous; but whenever there is a big news event viewers move en masse to Aaj Tak. What does Aaj Tak do with that? Nothing. Just keeps finding newer, and increasingly obscure reasons to make the No.1 claim.

Everyone has the same data (except NDTV's unnamed 'major surveys'), and no buyer worth taking seriously goes by a broadcaster's analysis, much less by the way they use that data in an ad. Yet they continue to put it out.

Do news broadcasters as a class really have such a poor understanding of how their customers buy? Or is their advertising targeted at naive new advertisers? Or perhaps it is an expensive in joke, intended only to cock a snook at each other.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com