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Nithya Subramanian

NEW DELHI, March 20

IS it the Sehwag-Sachin fireworks at Kingsmead, Durban that is going to keep the Indian viewer hooked or the fireworks over Baghdad? That's really the toss-up.

While the exact viewership numbers for the India-Kenya semi-final will be out later next week, the television industry feels that World Cup will continue to draw in the audiences. But these viewers will frequently flip to the various news channels to see the action on the battlefront.

Mr C.V.L. Srinivas, Chief Operating Officer of Madison Communications, said, "Cricket is undoubtedly the most popular game and the interest levels are extremely high especially since India is so close to entering the finals. People are expecting India to bring home the World Cup."

However, the US attack on Iraq will definitely bring in more viewers to the news channels especially among people in the SEC A and B class (belonging to the upper strata).

"With events like the war, there is always a surge in viewership for news channels. After the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center the viewership for the news channels grew by about two-and-a-half times. One is expecting a similar pattern this time too," said Mr Atul Phadnis, Director, S-Group, TAM India.

Mr G. Krishnan, CEO of TV Today, however, felt that viewership for channels such as Aaj Tak could go up in the mornings. "Whatever has happened today happened early in the morning and fresh initiatives will take place only the next day," he said.

However, with the weekend round the corner, more male viewers are expected to tune in to news channels. "Weekends see a considerable increase in male viewership and a lot of time will be spent on news channels. Also, after Thurday's match, there will only be the final left," he added.

So, while most of the advertisers have currently jumped on to the cricket bandwagon, money could flow into news channels later. "So far, we have not seen advertisers shifting towards news channels. But with just a few days of cricketing action left, there could be significant interest in news channels," said Ms Sumita Das, General Manager of Enterprise Nexus.

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