Launched in the year 2003, India Today is a sister channel of the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak. It is one of the four niche news channels from the TV Today Network. India Today is a popular 24-hour English language television network that telecast news, current affairs and business programming in India. The channel is sponsored by TV Today Network Ltd. which is a part of the well-known India Today Group. With a tag line of `Sharp News for Sharp People`, the channel is the first of its kind in English language news segment. Currently the channel"s audience sharing is around 498,000.
Programming of India Today
India Today has many trendy extra-news programmes such as "WheelSpin", "EQ", and "The Last Word". Some of its prominent prime time anchors are Mr Chetan Sharma, Ms Avantika Singh, Ms Radhika Bajaj and Mr.Zakka Jacob.
India Today has a channel share of 28 % amongst the English news channels in 6 metros and with the likes of CNN, BBC and CNBC trailing behind. It is a news channel that gets straight to the point and has been created to match the speed and lifestyle of the big city. The channel has been specially designed to understand the urgency of news by the urban audience. The stories are slick, short with young and direct anchors. It has split screens with multiple tickers. India Today is up linked from the country and is free-to-air.
The distribution team at India Today is working aggressively to ensure that the channel is available across the length and breadth of the country. The channel is already available in most English-speaking households in the metros and in southern states. The channel had been heavily publicized initially. It had been advertised across all major publications, as well as on sibling Aaj Tak. TV Today Network had been carrying 20-minute previews of India Today on Aaj Tak. India Today features power packed daily news segments like "Headstart," which provides an update on politics, business and sports, hourly live updates of the stock market on "Sensex Today," and much more with an interesting discussion session among three of the newsreaders of this channel. They are:
•Avantika Singh for National and International news
•Rashim Sharma for Sports news
•Mandeep Beivi for Entertainment news.
The channel aims to capture 30-40 per cent of the English news market and has created an interesting rate card, which, according to a prepared note by the company, will ensure high cost efficiency to the advertisers.
Personalities of India Today
•Rahul Kanwal - Managing Editor
•Vishal Pant - Executive Editor
•Rajdeep Sardesai - Consulting Editor
•Karan Thapar - host of a show on the channel called To The Point
Awards of India Today
India Today has been awarded with the Exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards in 2015.