Mirror Now - a disruptor that's in a different league: Faye D’Souza

Launched as the second English general news channel from Times Network in March this year, Mirror Now has been gaining traction. Launched on the erstwhile Magicbricks Now platform, the channel has been covering a diverse range of subjects such as crime, women’s safety, traffic woes and civic issues such as cleanliness, health, environment, power, water, etc. 

Mirror Now has put up a strong show in Week 26, especially in Mumbai, with the channel garnering 40,920 Impressions [Source: BARC | Mumbai | 22+ Males AB | Wk 26’17 | All Days | 24 Hrs | Impressions]. The channel was placed in the second spot behind sister channel Times Now and ahead of Republic TV, which was placed third. Meanwhile, in BARC| Mumbai| 22+ Males AB| Wk 26’17| Mon-Fri| 2000-2100 Hrs, Mirror Now surged to the top spot, garnering 6,210 Impressions. 

Ecstatic about the channel’s performance in Week 26, Faye D’Souza, Editor, Mirror Now, said, “Mirror Now has outrun our own expectations with a phenomenal response from the audience on television and social media. We attribute the success of Mirror Now to the issues raised by the channel and picking up stories that are away from melodrama and we believe are important for our viewers as individuals.” 

Speaking on how Mirror Now completes the bouquet of Times Group, D’Souza remarked that while Times Now has been a market leader which deals with bigger issues in the country, Mirror Now is a differentiated product that adds to the bouquet of Times Network and deals with issues that Indians are facing, Hence, there is a difference in the choice of stories, the shows design, along with differentiated programming. “Though both channels are a part of the same media house, the content is very different on both of them,” she added. 

While affirming that there was no question of Mirror Now being overshadowed by Times Now, D’Souza said that Mirror Now complements Times Now and both the channels together form an extremely formidable team. “With Times Now being in the No. 1 position and Mirror Now taking 8 per cent of the viewership pie, together we dominate the market and we closely work together,” she asserted. 

The channel considers Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata as its core markets, and though the viewership is mainly derived from the urban cities, it is also looking at expanding to other cities. According to D’Souza, “The coverage in these 6 megacities is strong and aggressive, but there is an increasing viewership from second literate cities and the channel wants to let its content do the talking for them. Mirror Now does not believe that it is in competition with any other channel, but is in a different league altogether with its differentiated programming line-up and sees itself as a disruptor.” 

The content strategy of Mirror Now is to disrupt in all time bands and the channel is working on creating a disruptive morning and early prime time band. The channel will launch new shows over the next two months and there will be a marriage between medium sized screen and small screen and viewers will be able to interact between the two. Taking a dig at other channels, D’Souza said, “We have done quiet launches unlike other channels by adding new elements to our shows and content.” 

Mirror Now also taps into Times Network’s extensive news gathering resources all over India and across divisions, picking up stories which they believe are more relevant to their audiences. 

Going forward, D’Souza’s vision for Mirror Now is to bring credibility back to journalism and giving the channel a fresh face. “We don’t track politics or national issues, but real issues that matter to Indian citizens and I believe this will, over the course of next few months or a year, change the way news is presented in India,” she concluded.