Increase in share of English general news genre in Budget week

It's the day business news channels eagerly await - the Budget Day - which was on February 26 this year. While the citizens of India debate about the reasons to rejoice, news channels seem to have managed to raise the bar in terms of viewership on the day.

TAM data suggests that in the week of the Budget, CNBC TV18 led the pack with a massive share of 60 per cent (C&S, 25+, SEC AB, All India) in Week 9 (Feb 20-27). Interestingly, this is not the highest share that the business news channel has acquired in the last few weeks. In Week 8, the channel had garnered 66 per cent relative share.

On the day of the Budget, CNBC TV18 garnered a share of 52 per cent, the highest in the English business news genre, followed by ET Now, which garnered a relative share of 17 per cent. However, CNBC's share was as high as 77 per cent exactly a week ago on February 19. ET Now widened its share by 10 percentage points compared to its share exactly a week ago (February 19).

Bloomberg UTV beat NDTV Profit in Budget coverage, with the former garnering a share of 16 per cent. In Week 9, Bloomberg UTV's average was 8 per cent. While NDTV Profit's share in Week 8 and Week 9 was 19 per cent, on the day of the Budget, the channel managed to grab a share of merely 15 per cent.

About CNBC's decreased viewership share in week 9 compared to week 8, Rajiv Gopinath, COO, Madison Platinum, says, "As the budget day nears, channels hype up the coverage and programming. On occasions such as budget there is high sampling and viewers watch more than one channel specially to catch the post budget opinions and discussions."

Times Now leads the pack of the English general news genre, with a 34 per cent share on Budget Day (C&S, 15+, SEC AB, All India). There hasn't been any change in the channel's share compared to that of the previous week's average. NDTV 24X7 and CNN-IBN came almost at par with each other on Budget Day, with relative shares of 30 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. Their previous week's average was 24 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.

Headlines Today and News X managed to record 6 per cent and 1 per cent share respectively, on the day of the Budget.

Among the Hindi business news channels, CNBC Awaaz garnered a 71 per cent share on Budget Day, while Zee Business garnered 29 per cent share (C&S, 25+, HSM).

The top four Hindi general news channels recorded a rise in shares in the budget week. Aaj Tak was the most watched Hindi general news channel on Budget Day, garnering a 21 per cent share of the overall Hindi general news channel pie.

While STAR News and India TV were equally watched in Week 9, the former garnered higher share on Budget Day and Zee News attracted higher viewership on the day compared to India TV. The channel shares of STAR News, Zee News and India TV, as on Feb 26, was 16 per cent, 15 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

Both NDTV India and IBN7 garnered 8 per cent share each on February 26, followed by News 24 and Tez, which managed to attract 5 per cent share each.