Republic TV overtook Times Now in viewership in 2018: Reports

Chrome DM, a reputed market research firm, has found that Republic TV has a higher OTS (Opportunity-To-See) than its rival media network, Times Now, since 2018, as per a report in Indiantelevision.com.

OTS refers to the number of times a viewer is likely to watch a channel/brand. As such, any channel with a high OTS implies that the channel has a higher consumption/reach. Chrome DM analysed the OTS data between 2016 and 2020 and found that Republic TV overtook Times Now in 2018 in terms of higher OTS and in 2019 became the largest available English channel in Indian urban homes.

In its report, Chrome DM noted, “The distribution and availability of the channel have been extremely high in comparison to any other channel in the genre.” The firm discovered that the entry of Republic TV to the industry in 2017 marked a significant expansion of the news genre.

How Republic TV fared over Times Now since 2017?

Since Republic TV has been a free-to-air channel, TRAI’s implementation of its new tariff order (NTO) ensured that its reach increased across India. And thus, the gap in viewership/reach between Times Now and Republic TV has further widened in 2019 and 2020.” Chrome DM noted that Republic TV has been on a sharp growth trajectory ever since its launch in 2017. However, the growth has been slow or semi-stagnant for other news channels when compared to Republic TV.

OTS analysis reflects growth, the leadership of Republic TV: Republic CEO

While speaking about the OTS analysis by Chrome DM, Republic Media group CEO Vikas Khanchandani stated, “Republic Network has focused and delivered the largest reach platforms in its respective genres. The above data from Chrome is yet another data point that reflects on the growth and leadership that our brand enjoys.” He further said that Republic TV has also the highest engagement on social media, in its own genre.

“We have similar data points for our humongous consumption on OTT as our brand has very wide availability on connected devices and I am more than confident that we will continue to bring the largest English and Hindi news platforms for consumers and advertisers,” he concluded.

Mumbai Police accuses Republic TV of TRP manipulation

On the 8th of October, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh held a press conference where he categorically stated that Mumbai police have been alerted about a new racket involving false television rating points (TRP). He said that three channels, including Republic TV and two other Marathi channels- Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema have been reportedly involved in distorting the apparatus used by BARC to rate television channels. The commissioner said that arrests have also been made in this regard. He further added that Republic TV’s bank accounts were under scanner and that their officials would be summoned soon.

Parambir Singh further said that the confidential contract was given by BARC to a company called Hansa Research which has filed the complaint against some former employees who misused the data on households where the TRP monitoring systems are installed. Interestingly, in this FIR that was filed by Hansa Research, Republic TV was not mentioned even once. The channel that was mentioned several times was India Today.

Several senior staffers of Republic TV, have been arrested and interrogated by Mumbai Police so far.