MxMIndia

Tag: Republic

  • It is evident from the report that the high timespent of Republic is a sore point for Times Now

    BCCL fires fresh salvo against Republic. ET report raises doubts on timespent in BARC data

    By A Correspondent

    Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd, the owner of The Times of India, Economic Times, Times Now and a slew of topselling media brands, has fired a fresh salvo against former Times Now editor-in-chief and President News’s entrepreneurial venture, Republic TV.

    The clip of the report on Page 8 of The Economic Times Mumbai dated June 12, 2017

    Since the data for the first week of Republic TV’s launch, Times Now, which was the highest rated amongst English news channels, found itself ousted from the top spot by Goswami’s channel. Consequently, the channel along with a few others, prevailed upon the News Broadcasters Association to act on the usage of dual LCNs and advise that they remove the watermarking on their channels thereby opting out of the BARC measurement.

    Other than NBA, many channels are also part of the Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF). Interestingly, IBF in turn is 60 per cent owner of BARC India, which is a joint industry body.

    The channels came back to the BARC fold after they felt assured when Republic TV is said to have told the Court that is not taking multiple LCNs. Interestingly, India Today TV also filed a complaint with TRAI about Times Now using the dual LCN route to boost ratings.

    Last Thursday, BARC released date for Week 22 which marked the return of all English news channels to watermark-led measurement.

    While there is a sentiment that even this data is boosted by channels employing landing pages, an Economic Times report has cautioned media buyers and advertisers that all isn’t well with BARC viewership data. It is evident from the report that the high timespent of Republic is a sore point and Times Now hasn’t gone up in terms of timespent.

    There are questions that need to be addressed now:

    01.Will BARC probe the charges in the ET report?

    02.What does BARC think about the ET report? While ET is not indicting BARC in any direct way, the fact that the timespent data has been questioned, it impacts the reputation and credibility of the joint industry measurement body. What do BARC and owners IBF, ISA and AAAI have to say on this?

    03.Is this a misuse of sibling media by Times Now? If it was such a grave issue, how come other business dailies haven’t taken it up?

     

    It’s perhaps time for NBA and/or IBF to bring order in the house. It should bring together the four or five top English news channels and get them to stop throwing muck at each other and more importantly conduct their business in a fair manner.

     

  • … that was possibly the most forgettable episode in recent media history, notes Pradyuman Maheshwari

    10 Takeaways from the recent NBA-Republic-BARC face-off

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    The last fortnight has seen many developments on the English news broadcast front, which was decidedly the most forgettable episode in recent media history. MxMIndia has been on the forefront on reporting these and also commenting on them. We believe that as a mature voice of the industry, it is important that we should comment on issues, and even if it means that we are the only ones in the business doing so.

     

    Now that the dust is beginning to settle on the controversy, we list here 10 takeaways from the episode:

    1. The IBF has curiously been very quiet on the entire development. We are sure (and hope) it’s been working in the background, but a public statement would’ve ensured that we know that IBF, as the apex body of broadcasters, is non-partisan on the issue.

    2. The NBA issued a statement on Friday, but there was no remorse or regret on opting out of BARC’s measurement system. This even a day after BARC chairman Sudhanshu Vats issued a statement which said: It is unfortunate that some members have taken issue with the use of multiple LCNs when many have themselves set the precedent for it – either as a promotional or as a defensive tactic.

    3. Multiple LCNs isn’t the only inorganic booster employed by the broadcast fraternity. Landing pages are looked at by not just the newswallahs, but the general entertainment channels too. There needs to be a standard policy for all such inorganic measures for boosting viewership.

    4. Republic TV is not yet a member of the NBA, the apex body of news broadcasters, which is also recognised by the government. The NBA has also promoted a self-regulatory body – the NBSA. That Republic isn’t a member of the body doesn’t augur too well for both. And most importantly given its non-membership, Republic is not subject to a self-regulatory mechanism. This could work against it in the short and long run. In case it chooses not to join the NBA, Republic must have its own ombudsman and self-regulator.

    5. NBA must cease to be seen as partisan. Its statement issued on Friday, specifically points to Republic, which is a non-member and has been serious competition to some key NBA members like Times Now and India Today. The heads of both these organisations are the two top NBA officebearers. Even though the CEOs of both networks are seasoned and respected professionals, there have been doubts expressed about NBA not being exactly neutral in this episode.

    6. Most of the key news channels are members of the IBF. The IBF and NBA must enforce the rules laid by BARC on advertising on all its members. Perhaps either of the bodies must have a ‘fair play ranking’ like the IPL has, with a roster on how members have been faring on certain parameters

    7. BARC has been forgiving and not imposed its own ruling of reprimanding channels that remove the watermark. By doing so, it has possibly lost an excellent opportunity of telling erring channels/networks that what they did was incorrect. Now just in case a single channel or a group does something similar in future, it will have to condone that act too!

    8. Going to the TRAI and MIB for stuff is not good. These are things that broadcasters must settle amongst themselves. But by according TRAI a key role in their lives, the broadcasters  – the newswallahs in particular – could well be playing with fire

    9. The secretariats of the various industry associations must be made stronger and with people who can deal with things independent of their elected masters. That’s the only way associations will be considered neutral and that’s the only way in which industry associations can be relevant.

    10. Lastly, in love and as in war, there are no permanent friends and enemies. In fact often the two sentiments can co-exist. As we saw in the current episode where at one level India Today and Times Now had combined forces on Republic TV’s multiple LCN deployment and on another India Today complained against Times Now for also deploying multiple LCNs. Imagine if Republic was also a member of the NBA… there could’ve been one complainant…

     

    Pradyuman Maheshwari is Editor-in-Chief and Founder, MxMIndia. The views expressed here are his own

     

  • … over the last few weeks, writes Pradyuman Maheshwari

    10 Reasons why English News Channels have been generating a Frown…

     

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    If you’ve been subjecting yourself to the developments of the last few weeks, you would possibly be left wondering whether the same news media that sermonises on what’s wrong and what’s right in India has embarked on a path that’s very uncool. Uncool is perhaps too soft a word. As the road sign says: Danger lies ahead.

    Let’s start with the beginning:

    01. Shout as if there’s no tomorrow: I was among the first commentators to applaud Arnab Goswami in 2008 for asking the tough questions. But is it right to forever keep raising your voice – with 6 to 8 talking heads screaming and shouting? Perhaps not. And even on nationalistic issues, if Pakistan is Enemy #1, why call people from there? How about some neutral, global commentators? And look at what’s happened when Goswami left Times Now? Another bunch of noise-makers!

     

    02. There’s no really neutral English news TV channel. Sadly, there is no clearly neutral English television channel. NDTV 24×7: Appears neutral only because it doesn’t gush about the government, but clearly left liberal. CNN-IBN is mostly neutral and isn’t obviously pro-Modi even though it’s Mukesh Ambani-owned, but given its ownership, it can’t obviously be neutral. Must say that it hasn’t been tested on this score yet. India Today: Rajdeep Sardesai is exceedingly neutral, but Gaurav Sawant? And why did they need to cover Yogi Adityanath live for nearly two days. And Times Now: unlike the paper, the channel is pro-BJP, and in my mind, it’s to the extreme. Sorry, I don’t watch enough or any of NewsX and WION to comment on them, but from what I remember of it, NewsX isn’t exactly neutral and WION is as of today too insignificant to matter

     

    03. Legit, but unfair distribution marketing: Using multiple frequencies to promote themselves on different genres is wrong as per the rules, but almost every channel has been reported to have indulged in it – in the distant and recent past. At one level, it’s an unfair practice. But why should the government or TRAI bother. An activity likes this costs top $$$s (in fact $$$$$$$$$$s), and a channel can’t do it forever, unless it cares a damn about its bottomline. Crying to the quasi-government TRAI and the ministry too often can backfire bigtime!

     

    04. Pulling out from the BARC ratings is incorrect. The joint industry body was set up by the ecosystem – broadcasters, agencies and advertisers. And the setting up was accelerated because of a news network’s angst against the earlier measurement firm (TAM). The likelihood of relative errors is a reality, and needs to be factored in at all times. Does this mean one must pull out of the measurement system. What the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has done doesn’t augur too well for the entire ecosystem. In fact it was Regressive. Let’s capitalise that: REGRESSIVE!

     

    05. While television channels can be aggrieved, industry associations should be above interests of individual channels. The NBA erred on that. NBA President Ashish Bagga, is also CEO of TV Today Network, which runs the India Today channel and the decision to advise member English news channels to pull out was taken under his leadership. From what I hear, NBA may not be a divided house on this decision, but it’s clearly not united on it. There are some who believe that the episode could’ve been handled better. Meanwhile, I believe constituents of the ecosystem mustn’t handle them with kid gloves, as I think they have been.

     

    06. The secretariat of the two key industry associations could do with some attention. The reason why NASSCOM or the much larger FICCI and CII are so successful is not because of the Chairman or Presidents, but because of the Secretary Generals or whatever the head of the secretariat is designated. The IBF, which is 60 per cent owner of BARC, chose to stay mum on the issue. And the NBA secretary-general chair perhaps needs a new occupant. The issue could’ve been handled better had there been a more dynamic head of both these bodies

     

    07. Times Now has been making optimum use of its siblings The Times of India and Economic Times for promotion. What it doesn’t realise is that its readers see through the negative propaganda and every printed report actually gives more publicity to Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV. While it’s got India’s most celebrated journalist as a mascot, Republic got a major shot in the arm with all the publicity in the #1 paper of the country. Earned media or whatever it’s called! PS: the page slug on the ET page that carries the report today says: Pure Politics.

     

    08. Cross-ownership issues have sprung up again with the Times of India and Economic Times offer prime space for negative stories on Republic TV. The stories make for good fodder for a trade site, but for a broadbased general news or a business daily? Had it been any other country, there would’ve been complaints on cross-media ownership. In India, no such luck. Governments are just too scared of the print mediawallahs

     

    09. BARC guidelines not followed on advertising: This is something that Republic TV is going to get nailed on. By promoting viewership numbers for just one or two weeks, one is going against the guideline of advertising viewership numbers. The problem is that the reprimand, if any, happens when the damage is done. And the only way in which this malaise can be corrected if an industry association issues a diktat and imposes penal action.

     

    10. The NBA and all the English news channels must realise that while the wars may have resulted in greater viewership attracting undue attention can be counter to their overall interests. For instance, the repeated statements by various people that the English news channels audiences don’t really matter. Etc, Etc. In the longer run, the perception sticks while making advertising decisions. And all of it is very bad for the genre as a whole.

     

    Pradyuman Maheshwari is Editor-in-Chief, MxMIndia. The views expressed here are his own

     

     

  • According to an announcement made on the channel, Republic claims 52% viewership, the next channel being half the viewership numbers

    Republic TV, the New #1?

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    BARCIndia, the joint industry body, that measures television audiences in India hasn’t released its data to the media as yet. But they have reached subscribers as of 11am today (May 18), and the numbers have now been claimed by Republic TV on its broadcast.

    Note, while we have no reason to disbelieve Republic, these numbers are not verfied by MxMIndia, and BARC has not shared its numbers with MxMIndia – under embargo otherwise.

    The claims:

    * Republic viewership is 51.8% in its debut week (Week 19 as per BARC data readings). The second best channel has 25% viewership.

    * Republic has 60 per cent viewership

    * Republic viewership is more than 550 times that of the third channel

    According to a statement on the channel, founder, chief promoter and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami said: “Deeply grateful to people of India”

    The second and third channel being references to Times Now and India Today.

    Please await detailed and official numbers by 1.30pm today

  • For TV anchors, practising better journalism is perhaps a good way to fight Republic TV, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: In a high decibel world, anyone for better journalism?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Times Now anchor: Don’t you think, Mr Salve, that the Pakistan lawyer’s speech was all rhetoric?

    Mr Salve: I would not like to comment on another lawyer’s speech.

    Times Now anchor: But don’t you think Mr Salve…

     

    At this point, I put my earplugs back in because I can take high decibel screeching only for short intervals after which my ears need a break.

    The issue being discussed was of course the death sentence against Indian national KulbhushanJadhav by a military court in Pakistan on charges of spying, and the subsequent case being fought at the International Court of Justice between India and Pakistan.

    What I understood from Times Now is that its top anchors Rahul Shivshankar and Navika Kumar had listened to the arguments at The Hague and come to certain conclusions. They then tried to get their guests to corroborate or sanctify those conclusions. Times Now constant Maroof Raza knows how to play the TV news game and agrees with the anchors and then adds his own ideas. Other panellists sometimes fall victim to the absurd idea that the anchors are interested in their personal opinions and up go the decibel levels. Mr Salve, by refusing to play the game, somewhat befuddled our anchors, who constantly interrupted him but did not have the required chutzpah to argue with him. A #BigFail for entire law degrees acquired in one’s own mind, would you say?

    A far better discussion happened on NDTV and NidhiRazdan’s Left Right and Centre. Diplomat KC Singh, lawyer Dushyant Dave, journalist Jyoti Malhotra, party spokespersons SambitPatra and Manish Tiwari and the gentleman from Pakistan all had diverse views and ideas which gave the viewer something to chew on. Razdan did not allow too much hysteria and managed to check the gentleman from Pakistan and Patra from getting into a major battle. There was disagreement but it was civil. What a disappointment for viewers who are used to manufactured hysteria!

     

    **

     

    Speaking of which, it was fascinating to try and understand the results of MxMIndia’s poll with MRSS on English language news channels. Republic TV, headed by the inimitable ArnabGoswami, seems to winning hearts and minds, with 41 % of urban Indians giving it a “better than the rest”. What does that say about other news channels and the hopes and expectations of urban Indians?

    The “success” of Republic TV – too early to comment on success is my personal opinion and hence the inverted commas – continues to upset Rahul Kanwal of India Today TV. His latest flurry of tweets is about news reports alleging shady practices by the channel. Apparently it is available on secondary spots on the various platforms, according to a complaint made by the News Broadcasters Association of India to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Obviously unethical trade practices must be reported. But for TV anchors, are there better ways to fight Republic TV, one wonders. By practising better journalism, perhaps? I know. That was a joke.

     

    **

     

    On the subject of better journalism, interesting that after all the anger we spent in December 2012 over the brutal gangrape and murder of Jyoti Pandey, now called “Nirbhaya” forever, more recent horrific crimes against women fly completely under the radar. It is TV journalism which sparks and encourages public outrage very often at times like this and strangely, the gruesome details of the latest case in Rohtak, Haryana, do not seem to have created any collective froth amongst our intrepid TV anchors. One understands they are ready to go to war with Pakistan, bullet-proof vests and all, but surely the women of India deserve some attention.

    But perhaps, not when they are from Rohtak and not when Rohtak is in Haryana which is ruled by a BJP government…

     

    **

     

    Meanwhile, a week back in this wonderful nation of ours and our village newspaperwallah has not responded to messages that we have returned. Therefore, newspaper journalism will be under the scanner only whenever his scooter arrives at top speed with high-decibel beeps.

     

  • The target for Arnab Goswami and his backers is never likely to be the BJP government or the Prime Minister or indeed any minister in the BJP, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: When TV journalists lose all semblance of being observers, reporters & editors

    By Ranjona Banerji

    Coming back to India this week after a month away in the UK, I see that I have Republic TV’s commitment to nationalism to look forward to. Or, in another way of putting it, more of the same but this time, with a great leap backwards to Arnab Goswami.

    Advertising appears to suggest that Goswami and his news channel will be “Pakistan’s migraine” and that the mantle of nationalism that has been lying forgotten will now be won with pride. That India’s borders will defended to the last shout in Indian TV studios. Where else, you may ask, should India’s borders be defended?

    However, given the make-up of Republic TV and much of Indian news television, almost no one is likely to question how and why India’s borders have been breached quite so often in recent times or how terrorists from Pakistan have walked into armed areas with so much apparent ease. Perhaps it is unfair of me to suggest that no one has been questioned. Over and again, India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who died in 1964 has been questioned. His great grandson Rahul Gandhi, who has not held any constitutional administrative post has also been questioned. No one currently in power has been found responsible in any way.

    My fellow columnist Jaisurya Das was asked recently if “decorum was dead in the news media”, after a news anchor told a studio guest from Pakistan to “shut up”. Jaisurya commented: “This is typical of the immature arrogance of anchors who often forget where to draw the line in their effort to build TRPs. Little do they realise that such language and demeanour only turns people off and they stand to lose more in the bargain.”

    That people are writing in to complain about such behaviour is small comfort when you know the immense reach and influence that TV has on the public. Adulation, stardom, hatred, familiarity all allow TV journalists to become bigger than they are. The result is that they lose all semblance of being journalists, of being observers, reporters and editors. Sadly, TV has brought out the worst in us.

    Goswami in his interview to Pradyuman Maheshwari before the launch of Republic TV declared that he was proud of his nationalism and that he held no truck with “Aman ki Asha”, an initiative towards dialogue with Pakistan started by his former employer, the Times of India.

    This makes for an intriguing position – would any attempt at peace with Pakistan be stopped by Goswami? If the current Indian government tried it, would he fight them? Is diplomacy to him a lost cause already? Because Goswami operates only within the confines of one news show, it is hard to grasp his intellectual position on such matters. Is humankind doomed to never make peace in his mind?

    Interestingly and perhaps expectedly, Republic TV’s big “scoop” on launch day was some expose on former Bihar chief minister Lalu Yadav. As anyone with any smattering of political knowledge is aware, Yadav is already debarred from standing for elections because of corruption cases. The target for Goswami and his backers is never likely to be the BJP government or the Prime Minister or indeed any minister in the BJP.

    Once you know that, it makes life and choices much easier. As Maheshwari pointed out in a column here last week, “Or is it that a country which is not too fussed on ethics and corruption, passage of time ensures things are forgotten and condoned. We all know of some entities indulging in unethical practices, but do we really shun them? On the contrary, we embrace them. We allow them to flourish. We read or watch them, we attend or speak at their events, we accept their awards.

    Perhaps we deserve such a media.”

    Do wee?

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator and Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. The views expressed here are personal

  • With an impressive experience of over 20 years, Vikas Khanchandani will head the business of the upcoming independent media venture

    Vikas Khanchandani joins Arnab Goswami’s Republic as CEO

    Vikas Khanchandani

    By A Correspondent

    Vikas Khanchandani, former Chief Business Officer of RBNL (Reliance Broadcast Network),has joined Republic as Chief Executive Officer. With over two decades of working across ad sales, digital, television and media technology, Vikas Khanchandani will play an integral roleto grow Republic as an independent media tech company.

    Commenting on the same, Arnab Goswami, Founder of Republic said, “We are delighted to welcome Vikas on board. He is a great leader and joins us with very strong industry experience across multimedia platforms. Together, we believe, we will create the No. 1 news channel in India.’’

    Added Khandchandani: “I am looking forward to working with Republic as I believe in the core objective and vision of launching the first global independent media venture. I am certain we will change the media scenario in India”