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Gurgaon News - 2004

News channels make a killing with elections

NEW DELHI : The general elections have been good for news channels. TAM Media research says the spurt in viewership and ad spend spanning four weeks starting April 18, 2004, is unprecedented. Viewership figures crossed that of 9/11, the Parliament attack and 1999 elections.

The share of news went up 9.3%, surpassing the 9/11 attacks in the US (4.5%), the Parliament attack on Dec 13, 2002 (2.7%), Gujarat earthquake (1.18%) and the elections held in 1999 (1.75%).During the counting week, viewership was double that of 9/11 and seven times more than the 1999 polls. Sports channel viewership dipped from 5.9 to 1.5%, regional channels from 25.8 to 25.5% and Hindi mass channels from 32.6 to 31.9%.The early morning slot on May 13 (counting day) grabbed a large share of the viewership pie of 24.2%, against the average of 9.2%.

Total election-related ad spend is estimated at Rs 175 crore.