CNBC-TV18, India’s leading business news channel has garnered an All-India viewership of 70.7% against 29.3% for others in Week 2 of COVID-19 disruption hitting the country, according to data by BARC.

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Overall TV viewership also saw a spike in the week of March 21 to March 27 as people In India watched 1.2 trillion minutes of Television, the highest ever for TV. There was a 37 percent growth in TV viewing across the country in week 2 of COVID-19 disruption.

Network18 channels reached 19 crore people daily on an average during the week from March 21-27. Almost 2 crore people watched 100 cities 100 reporters on Network18 during the corona warriors appreciation. In all, 42 crore people watched Network18 channels during the whole week .

62 crore people watched TV on an average during the week from March 21-27. Of this, 47.3 crore watched any news channels, out of which 19 crore watched the coverage on Network18 .

Janta Curfew day (the day which also appreciated the frontline fighters against COVID-19) garnered the highest reach on news channels of Network18; 22.12 core viewers.

Demand for content on both TV and digital spiked during COVID-19 disruption period and advertisers remain upbeat about the two mediums. According to BARC-Nielsen data, total TV consumption grew by eight percent across India during COVID-19 disruption period.

This data further revealed that Indians are spending more time on TV to watch news, GECs (general entertainment channels) and movies. These three genres have contributed the most in the spike in viewership on TV during COVID-19 week, which is the week starting March 14.

In terms of viewership, TV news saw 57 percent growth in viewership across India and the growth was witnessed across all major languages.

The daily average reach of the news genre on TV grew by 34 percent, highest amid all categories.

“Television is the screen of the households and under these circumstances, household is glued to TV,” says Sunil Lulla, CEO, BARC India. “The audience, they don’t have anywhere else to go. What do you have surprisingly is even kids are watching news. So there is big growth in news. The consumers trust the news which is on TV. They know it is credible. Hence, they are watching it continuously,” he adds.

In fact, Network 18 channels recorded a 50 percent growth in average daily reach during Week 1 of COVID-19. During the same period, Network18 reached out to more than 10 crore TV viewers on a daily basis.

First Published:Apr 2, 2020 4:04 PM IST