On August
28, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he
was found guilty of raping two women in a 2002 case.
Turns out, the verdict proved to be fruitful for a number of news channels.
According to a
report published in indiantelevision.com, news about the fate of
godman Ram Rahim was one of the most watched events on news television in the
recent past in India and data shared by Broadcast Audience Research Council of
India (BARC) is proof.
Viewership of the
Hindi News genre grew 2.1 times from 121.5 million impressions (the average
viewership for the previous four Mondays’) to 256.1 million impressions on
Monday, 28 August 2017.
Week 35 of 2017
(Saturday, 26 August 2017 to Friday, 1 September 2017) saw viewership of Hindi
News channels grow as compared to week 34 (Saturday 19 August 2917 to Friday,
25 August 2017). The combined viewership of the top 5 Hindi News genre (Urban +
Rural) grew 20.4 percent to 738.482 million impressions in week 35 from 613.396
million impressions.
On the other
hand, viewership of the top 5 English News channels actually shrank by 1.2
percent in week 35 to 2.942 million weekly impressions from 2.979 million
weekly impressions in week 34 of 2017. It is probably the Ram Rahim verdict day
news that helped them retain their previous weeks ratings, almost.
The English News
Genre grew by 46 percent from 482 Impressions ‘000s (Av Impressions for the
last 4 Mondays) to 703 Impressions ‘000s on Monday 28 August 2017.
Coming back to
the verdict, days after the judgment, CINTAA (The Cine and TV Artists
Association) has unanimously decided to cancel Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s work
permit.
The association decided to terminate his permit owing to serious criminal
convictions and accusations including rape, homicide and money laundering. The
decision will be implemented with immediate effect.
Image Source: gazabpost