The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) decision to prevent the improper use of logical channel numbers (LCNs) has led to a decline in Republic TV’s viewership to 1 million from 2 million, reported Economic Times.
Republic TV that went live on May 6 topped the BARC ratings within the very first week. The channel also claimed a 52 percent viewership in the very first week of its operations.
(Also read: Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV Becomes Most-Watched News Channel In Its Very First Week)
However, these numbers drew criticism from the National Association of Broadcasters (NBA) that objected to Republic TV’s presence on multiple LCNs/genres on several frequencies.
NBA has since urged BARC and TRAI to resolve the issue.
(Also read: Day After Republic Declared Most-Viewed, Other Channels Pull Out Of Ratings Agency BARC)
Economic Times has quoted sources saying that “with TRAI’s intervention to remove multiple LCNs by broadcasters, the numbers for reach look stable, but the time spent for Republic TV still looks like an anomaly and must be read with caution.”
Though TRAI has now banned multiple LCNs, industry observers continue to take the “abnormal” time spent garnered by the channel with a pinch of salt.
According to industry sources, despite Republic TV’s lack of presence in key areas like Chennai which constitutes up to 40 percent of the market share, it has managed to garner unusual viewership.
As much as 60-62 per cent of the channel’s ratings in the past two weeks have come from this one market, they informed Economic Times. Such anomalies require a deeper analysis of the data provided by BARC, they added.
(Feature image source: Republic)