NDTV Imagine – the general entertainment channel

When Narendra Modi had swept Gujarat in 2002, Rajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswami (along with Barkha Dutt, of course) were loyal foot soldiers of Prannoy Roy. By 2007, Goswami was heading Times Now and making life miserable for strategists at NDTV. By 2007, Rajdeep had turned semi-entrepreneur and leading CNN-IBN into the leadership position in the English news channel sweepstakes. Prannoy looked suave no doubt; but he also looked like an ageing war horse while Rajdeep and Arnab were emanating ebullience all the way. Both Arnab and Rajdeep told 4Ps B&M in exclusive interviews that television journalism was no longer about ‘faces’ and celebrities,’ but hard core news.

One of the reasons Prannoy Roy looked tired while reluctantly declaring Modi a winner that day was related to his entrepreneurial ambitions. His NDTV Good Times – launched in September 2007 – was going through really bad times. And his most ambitious launch till date, NDTV Imagine – the general entertainment channel – was being upstaged by old warriors like Subhash Chandra of Zee and Peter Mukerjea of INX Network(See box). Says Yashwant Deshmukh, well known television commentator and psephologist, “But in many ways, the Prannoy Roy era in television news is coming to an end.”


Numbers don’t lie and there is simply no doubt that Prannoy and NDTV have been dislodged from the undisputed numero uno position they enjoyed till a few years ago, when there was no competition in the English news channel space. Look at gross TRP ratings. In July 2007, Rajdeep’s CNN-IBN was decisively ahead with 30.08 points while Prannoy’s NDTV managed 26.63 points as per data provided by TAM. In December, Times Now was the number one with 23.01 points while NDTV finished second. The story is similar when you look at relative channel shares. And both CNN-IBN and Times Now hold a decisive edge because of their strategic alliances with CNN and Reuters respectively. This was clearly visible in the aftermath of the Benazir Bhutto assassination in December 2007, when feeds from CNN and Reuters added that much depth to their coverage. And of course, the less said about NDTV’s Hindi news channel, the better; with rivals like Aaj Tak and Star News miles ahead of NDTV India.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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