BARC report: TV news viewership nearly doubled during Covid lockdown
TV viewership surged 18 percent during peak lockdown and overall was 9 percent higher in 2020 compared to the year before.
01 Mar, 2021
TV news channels benefited from the coronavirus lockdown, growing their viewership from 7.6 percent to 14.6 percent of viewership, according to the Broadcast Audience Research Councilâs annual report.
The spike in viewership could be related to coronavirus coverage, prime minister Narendra Modiâs addresses, and the round-the-clock
coverage of actor Sushant Singh Rajputâs death,
LiveMint
Overall, TV viewership surged 18 percent during peak lockdown, and was 9 percent higher in 2020 compared to 2019, as per the BARC report. General entertainment channels also saw a rise with viewership, growing by 9 percent. Children watching more television as they were forced to remain at home while schools remained shut could be a factor adding to the growth in the viewership
How a pliant media enables the rise of authoritarianism
In the post-truth era, Indian TV news channels have slowly turned into an extension of the state.
â
Highlight how the Duce wasnât at all tired after threshing for four hours,â reads one of the veline. Some others go: âNever care about anything concerning Einsteinâ, âDo not mention in todayâs reporting the ballet the Duce attended in Belluno.â
The Italian word
veline means tissue paper but during the rule of Benito Mussoliniâs fascist party, it had acquired another meaning. The fascists would send to the press, as guidelines through their ministry of popular culture. Initially, these veline were used as suggestions about what should or shouldnât be discussed, while also providing recommendations on stylistic elements, tone, choice of words, and occasionally grammar. Over time, these suggestions became directives on news to cover, the ways to cover them, words to use (no
Read more about Eyes and ears of marketing on Business Standard. Media experts point out various flaws in the BARC television rating system. But what they don t point out is that BARC ratings (or the earlier TAM ratings) are not used by advertisers in isolation
The crime branch of Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested a former CEO of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) from Pune district in the fake TRP scam, an official said. Partho Dasgupta, the accused, is the fifteenth person to be arrested in the case related to alleged rigging of Television Rating Points (TRP) by some TV channels. He was arrested by Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) from the jurisdiction of Rajgad Police Station in Pune district and will be produced before a court here on Friday, the official said. Earlier, the CIU had arrested former chief operating officer (COO) of BARC Ramil Ramgarhia in the case, among others.