‘News beats noise’: On front page of Hindustan Times, CNN-News18 announces it’s trumped Times Now

News channel CNN News18 has beat Times Now and become the “No. 1 English general news channel”. Not our words, that’s what CNN-News18 claimed in a front-page ad today in the Delhi edition of Hindustan Times. It’s apparently a triumph of “news” over “noise”.

CNN-News18’s source for its claims was ratings released last week by the Broadcast Audience Research Council.

Speaking to Firstpost on Friday, CNN-News18 anchor and managing editor Zakka Jacob said, “I want to thank our viewers who have reposed immense faith in CNN-News18’s programming and in our journalism. We have always believed in keeping it classy, that you don’t have to shout from the rooftops.”

Now, news channels regularly remind viewers that they’re “No. 1”. It often happens that several channels make the same claim at the same time. How, you ask? Because even while they use the same metric (BARC’s ratings), they focus on different sections of the population – touting their viewership in a particular demographic as proof of their victory.

So, last week, CNN-News18 had a 26.3 percent share in the 15+ age group, both urban and rural India. Times Now had a share of 25.6 percent and Republic 25.4 percent.

But in the primetime slot for all-India AB 15+, Republic was No. 1 with 29.7 percent share, followed by CNN-News18 at 25.1 percent. “AB” refers to classifications under BARC’s new consumer classification system, or NCCS.

In the 22+ age group, CNN-News18 was at No. 1 with 34.6 percent, followed by Republic at 23.8 percent.

And in the 22+ AB group, Republic was first with 26.9 percent followed by CNN-News18 at 26.4 percent.

For more truths about TRPs, read our report here.