AFTER months of persistent rumours about her role, Apurva Purohit, president of ZEE TV, has finally resigned from the company. "Apurva will be with ZEE TV till January 31, 2004," the company confirmed.

Purohit’s movement comes exactly 15 months after she joined a floundering ZEE TV in July 2002, then under the tutelage of group broadcasting CEO, Sandeep Goyal, who attempted a dramatic turnaround a year earlier with the launch of 24 new shows, a fresh logo and slogan in August, 2001.

The attempt, however, proved to be a damp squib, further consolidating the position of STAR, which had wrested the No 1 position from ZEE in the second half of 2000 with the eponymous Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), a fresh look and feel, and of course, some intelligent programming and scheduling decisions. This act was followed up by STAR, who introduced shows such as Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki immediately after the Amitabh Bachchan-anchored gameshow at 9.00 pm prime time, giving audiences a taste of kitchen politics, something they haven’t been able to get over to this day.

Purohit’s mandate was clear – to take charge of ZEE and bring back those glory days – a difficult task considering that the market had matured over time with audiences getting smarter, attention spans getting shorter and rival broadcasters getting sharper.

Purohit took some bold decisions during her tenure, in the process turning programming rules upside down. Notable was her introduction of the three-hour movie block on Thursdays titled Thursday Premiere, which marked a shift from the traditional weekend slotting of movies to weekdays. Notable also was the shift in the prime time programming line-up of ZEE from the conventional Monday to Thursday to Sunday to Wednesday.

Sundays acquired a new-found significance in Purohit’s scheme of things and she never shied away from experimentation introducing programming innovations such as Chausath Panne, Kambhaqt Ishq, which was a slot for romantic thrillers that never quite took off, and the recent Kabhi Kabhi, a three-episode series based on woman-oriented stories drawn from popular literature.

Her tenure was marked by a certain consistency, both on the programming as well as on the management front and ZEE was able to break into the Top 100 with shows such as Astitva – Ek Prem Kahani, Jeena Isika Naam Hai, and of course, Thursday Premiere. Though the online lotteries, launched before she joined ZEE, did give the channel some lee-way in the Top 100, their novelty soon wore off, leaving it to Purohit and her team to come up with some winning programmes.

Purohit also played an instrumental role in getting ZEE to subscribe to TAM, which it chose to rubbish in the wake of the TVR controversy in 2001, and HLL was back as an advertiser on the channel this year owing to her efforts at convincing both the client and the agency MindShare that it was business as usual at the erstwhile No1 general entertainment channel.

THE single-most powerful event in the country, and a sort of lifetime opportunity for the new channels to make or break an impression, is the election. For the younger channels (such as STAR News, Sahara Samay, Doordarshan News and NDTV India) the stakes are even higher. Elections for them is an acid test of acceptance. It explains why all the channels went whole hog covering the Assembly polls held recently with live bulletins, interviews, exit polls, analyses et al. The results of all that actions have started pouring in. According to figures released by TAM Media (for C&S 15-plus individuals in Hindi-speaking markets), STAR News’ election specials (on the exit poll and counting day) have helped it emerge as the No 2 Hindi news channel (November 30-December 6) after the unequivocal numero uno Aaj Tak. NDTV India too gained a lot of mileage from its well-put-together election package.

In the markets of Delhi, Kolkata, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Mumbai, and rest of Maharashtra, STAR News channel’s market share on the counting day in the time band of 8.00 am to midnight was 17 per cent. The corresponding figures for NDTV India was 16 per cent. Aaj Tak, as expected, had the lion’s share of 36 per cent. While ZEE News managed to capture 12 per cent of the market, terrestrial channel Doordarshan News was tied with Sahara Samay at the fifth spot with 10 per cent share of the Hindi-speaking market. In the prime-time band of 8.00 pm to midnight, STAR News had a market share of 20 per cent, while NDTV India had 13 per cent. Aaj Tak had double the market share of STAR News, at 40 per cent.

During the exit poll telecast, ZEE News turned the tables on STAR News in the crucial 6.00 pm to midnight time-band to command the second position with 20 per cent market share after Aaj Tak’s 29 per cent. STAR News was relegated to the third slot with a share of 16 per cent. In the markets of Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, STAR News and NDTV India hogged the limelight.

ACCORDING to the National Readership Studies Council (NRSC), which brings out the print media readership estimates or the National Readership Survey (NRS) annually, the pecking order for the top 10 national dailies is as follows: Dainik Bhaskar at the top of the heap with readership of 15.7 million, Dainik Jagran (14.9 million), Daily Thanthi (10 million), Eenadu (9.4 million), Malayala Manorama (8.7 million), Amar Ujala (8.6 million), Hindustan (7.89 million), Lokmat (7.86 million), Mathrubhumi (7.6 million) and The Times Of India (7.4 million).

Perhaps the most interesting finding of the study - and one that resulted in a hastily called press meet by the TOI group - The Times of India has emerged as the most read newspaper in the Capital. An average of 1.4 million readers in Delhi went through TOI, compared with an average of 1.3 million readers for the Hindustan Times. The survey shows that TOI scored over Hindustan Times in all readership segments. Students as well as younger audiences (12-24 years) showed a greater preference for the TOI. Here’s how the Top 10 magazines (rural and urban) stack up. Hindi publication Saras Salil tops the list with readership of 9.3 million, followed by India Today (Hindi) at 5.9 million. The other eight magazines that complete the Top 10 list are: Vanitha (5.5 million), Grihashobha (5.41 million), Malayala Manorama (5.4 million). Meri Saheli (4.2 million), India Today (English) (4.1 million), Balarama (a children’s magazine in the Malayalam at 3.9 million), Mangalam (3.5 million) and Filmfare (3.5 million). The NRS is commissioned by the NRSC, which has members from the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the Advertising Agencies Association of India and the Indian Newspaper Society. The survey has been conducted jointly by four market research agencies, including IMRB, TNS-Mode, AC Nielsen and ORG-Marg. "NRS 2003 is based on the latest census 2001 enumeration," says the official communiqué.

According to the survey, the print media commands a readership of 187 million in the age group of 12 and above, and 45 per cent of these readers come from rural India. "In an environment of increasing media options, the print medium has retained its audience," the NRS release said.