Mumbai : As the Pathankot Terror attack gave Hindi news genre an increase of 145.4 Million Grats over the previous 4 week average, it widened the leadership margin of Aaj Tak by a massive margin of 4.8% market share over the no.2 player. Aaj Tak stood at 18.5% leading far ahead of India TV at 13.7%, ABP News at 11.6%, Zee News at 10.7%, News Nation at 10.6%, India News at 9.2%, News24 at 6.9%, IBN 7 at 5.6% and India 24X7 at 4% (Source: BARC, Wk 01’16, HSM (U+R), 15 + Individuals, NCCS All, Share %).
A similar trend in coverage highlighted the massive growth. Aaj Tak touched a peak coverage by a news channel at 94.5 Million in week 01’16. This is next only to highest of 96.4 Million coverage touched by Aaj Tak itself in week 48’15 (Source: BARC, HSM (U+R),15+ Yrs NCCS All). At TG of 4+ this is well past the 100 million mark at 112.2 Million (Source: BARC, WK 01’16, HSM (U+R), 4+ Yrs NCCS All).
The first channel to report from ‘on location’, Aaj tak maintained a dominating share of an average 21.7% through the Pathankot attack day. The no.2 channel India TV was at 14.4% and is followed by ABP News at 11.9%, News Nation at 11.2%, Zee News at 9.5%, IBN 7 at 6.8%, India News at 6.5% and News 24 at 5.6% (Source: BARC, Sat, 2nd Jan’16, HSM (U+R),15+ Yrs NCCS All, Share %).
Commenting on the performance, Ashish Bagga Group CEO – India Today Group said, “Aaj Tak has been the clear No.1 channel for the last 15 years and the data from BARC TG only establishes this fact. There is a consistent focus on raising the benchmarks for news delivery while staying true to the promise of ‘Sabse Tez’. It is this unrelenting journalistic spirit that has always kept the channel ahead”.
