Prajjal Saha
Media

ZEE News targets women with a host of new shows

ZEE News, which has been lagging behind in the TVR charts all this while, has recently started doing well. Emboldened by this, the channel is planning a slew of new programming initiatives

It might be a bit too early to uncork the bubbly, but ZEE News is steadily climbing up the popularity charts, as indicated by the TAM Media Research data.

ZEE News, in spite of being one of the front runners in the genre of television news broadcasting, could never make it to the top.

But, it seems, the channel with its changed look and style has finally started making inroads in the domain of Aaj Tak and its ilk.

In week 38 (ending September 18), three out of top five programmes on the Hindi news channels were on ZEE News. For instance, as per TAM Media Research (C&S Homes, 4+, all India), Crime File on ZEE News topped the list with a TVR of 0.65, followed by Jurm on Aaj Tak which managed a TVR of 0.61. Din Bahar and Crime Reporter of ZEE news are the other two programmes among the top five programmes with a TVR of 0.41 and 0.39, respectively.

Alka Saxena, editor, ZEE News, says, "The judicious mix of programmes and news-bulletins has helped us garner a larger share of viewership. The fact that the packaging and presentation of ZEE News was changed also worked as a big differentiator."

In fact, the channel scored very well in the metros especially in Delhi. As per TAM Media Research, the channel share of ZEE news was equivalent to Aaj Tak in all the four metros. In Week 38 ( ending September 18), both Aaj Tak and ZEE's channel share was 22.9 per cent followed by NDTV India whose channel shares was 20.4 per cent. DD News and STAR News followed next with a channel share of 12.7 per cent.

In fact, ZEE News has been successful in building a stringer market in Delhi. In the Capital, ZEE's viewership was marginally higher than the market leader Aaj Tak In week 38 (ending September 18), ZEE News got a channels share of 29 per cent in Delhi and in comparison, Aaj Tak got a channel share of 28 per cent in the Delhi market.

Saxena says, "In the last few months, we have tried to bring up issues and concerns of the masses. The Gudiya episode and how terrorists are undergoing plastic surgery were few such initiatives." "We want the common man to get involved with the channel," she adds.

Saxena adds that among the different genres on a news channel, sports, film-based programmes and crime shows click the maximum with the viewers. She says that experimentation is possible with these kinds of programmes rather than plain vanilla news.

In order to carry forward this viewership growth, ZEE News will be launching a couple of new shows soon after the Maharashtra Assembly elections are over.

To bring in more women viewers to the channel, ZEE News will be launching a daily health show in the afternoon time-slot. The health show will have contents such as health news alert and 'Dadima Ke Nushkey'.

The news channel will also launch a cookery show soon. Saxena, says, "This might be a new concept for news channels in India. But when newspapers can do it, why can't a television news channel?"

Talking about the strategy behind launching these shows, Saxena says, "Keeping in mind the viewership profile of ZEE News, a show on interior designing might not interest our viewers but shows on health and cookery will certainly help us increase our viewership among the masses."

ZEE News is also looking forward to launch a half-an-hour comedy show hosted by a celebrity apart from a current affairs programmes with plenty of live elements and behind the scene stories of breaking news. Saxena was reluctant in sharing any further information on the current affairs, fearing that the idea may be copied.

While ZEE is making the best possible moves to reach at the top, it remains to be seen whether the new packaging clubbed with a host of new shows can finally do the trick.

© 2004 agencyfaqs!

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