Television News
19.1Scope
What TV news shows, weighted by who watches.1
The arena is measured by National Hindi and English news channels and regional channels in every major language: 91 channels, each coded on its own headlines and weighted by audience, plus the YouTube audience of the same newsrooms (149 TV-brand channels).
19.2Significance
The daily agenda of about 745m weekly TV viewers (all TV, BARC 2025; news is about 7% of viewing time); framing of crises and elections.
19.3Indicators and weights
Table 19.1 lists the 2 indicators of the arena, the weight of each within the arena, and each indicator’s reading (the Hindutva-aligned share, from 0 to 100).
Table 19.1. Indicators of arena 5.1
| Indicator | Weight | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Broadcast audience by side, weighted by language (91 channels) | 0.75 | 55.0 |
| TV news brands on YouTube (149 channels, 12-month views) | 0.25 | 67.8 |
| Arena reading | 1.00 | 58.2 |
19.4Reading
The arena reads 58.2, 8.2 points above parity, and is classified as contested (a reading from 45 to below 60). With a weight of 3 of a total 107.7, it contributes 1.62 points to the composite reading of 45.7.
The indicators diverge: the highest reading is for TV news brands on YouTube (149 channels, 12-month views) (67.8), the lowest for broadcast audience by side, weighted by language (91 channels) (55.0).
Each bar divides the indicator between Hindutva-aligned (left) and opposed (right) holdings. The vertical rule marks parity.
19.5Measures and exhibits
The exhibits below are the Atlas’s own views of the data behind each measure: shares by side, the largest units, breakdowns by source, recipient and country, money-flow diagrams and time series. Full row-level ledgers are in the data file (Appendix D).
Measure 1. Broadcast audience by side, weighted by language (91 channels)
Reading 55.0%
Each language’s Hindutva share of audience (91 channels), weighted by its share of TV-news viewing (BARC 2025 average-minute audience, via FICCI-EY 2026): regional 59.7%, Hindi 39.8%, English 0.5%.
Data table
| weekly reach, thousands | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Hindutva-aligned | 8,87,310 | 46.8% |
| Opposed | 3,80,730 | 20.1% |
| Transactional | 0 | 0.0% |
| Neutral / not counted | 6,26,683 | 33.1% |
Data table
| weekly reach, thousands | Side | |
|---|---|---|
| Aaj Tak | 1,06,813 | Hindutva-aligned |
| News18 India | 1,01,306 | Hindutva-aligned |
| India TV | 81,618 | Hindutva-aligned |
| Republic Bharat | 73,245 | Hindutva-aligned |
| TV9 Bharatvarsh | 71,510 | Hindutva-aligned |
| Zee News | 69,247 | Hindutva-aligned |
| Times Now Navbharat | 57,933 | Hindutva-aligned |
| Others / unattributed Urdu news | 55,428 | Neutral / not counted |
| ABP News | 50,389 | Hindutva-aligned |
| TV9 Telugu | 47,702 | Neutral / not counted |
| TV9 Kannada | 47,371 | Opposed |
| Others / unattributed Other scheduled languages news | 45,362 | Neutral / not counted |
| Others / unattributed Telugu | 40,845 | Neutral / not counted |
| Puthiya Thalaimurai | 40,200 | Opposed |
| Good News Today | 39,829 | Hindutva-aligned |
Measure 2. TV news brands on YouTube (149 channels, 12-month views)
Reading 67.8%
Data table
| million views, 12 months | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Hindutva-aligned | 42,216 | 38.7% |
| Opposed | 20,007 | 18.3% |
| Transactional | 0 | 0.0% |
| Neutral / not counted | 46,960 | 43.0% |
Data table
| million views, 12 months | Side | |
|---|---|---|
| Thanthi TV (YouTube @thanthitv) | 3,718 | Neutral / not counted |
| NDTV India (YouTube @ndtvindia) | 3,593 | Hindutva-aligned |
| Polimer News (YouTube @PolimerNews) | 3,098 | Opposed |
| Aaj Tak (YouTube @aajtak) | 2,885 | Hindutva-aligned |
| TV9 Marathi (YouTube @TV9MarathiLive) | 2,754 | Neutral / not counted |
| Saam TV (YouTube @SaamTV) | 2,695 | Neutral / not counted |
| NewsTamil 24X7 (YouTube @NewsTamil24X7TV) | 2,645 | Neutral / not counted |
| News 24 (YouTube @News24thinkfirst) | 2,605 | Hindutva-aligned |
| Sathiyam News (YouTube @SathiyamTV) | 2,582 | Opposed |
| ABP MAJHA (YouTube @abpmajhatv) | 2,509 | Neutral / not counted |
| OTV (YouTube @otvodisha) | 2,393 | Neutral / not counted |
| IndiaTV (YouTube @indiatv) | 2,258 | Hindutva-aligned |
| ABP NEWS (YouTube @ABPNews) | 2,257 | Hindutva-aligned |
| PuthiyathalaimuraiTV (YouTube @PuthiyaThalaimuraiTV) | 2,178 | Neutral / not counted |
| News18 India (YouTube @news18india) | 2,039 | Hindutva-aligned |
19.6Evidence base
The arena rests on 105 coded units. Of the units and flows, 31 are coded Hindutva-aligned, 29 opposed and 45 neutral, mixed or transactional. By source grade: 21 grade C, 9 grade D, 75 grade E.
The full set of rows for this arena, each with its source, is in the Atlas data file (Appendix D).
Notes
- BARC 2025; Atlas M6 audit. ↩