Arnab Goswami, the star news anchor who, very publicly, had left Times Now in November last year, is now back on TV.
His brand-new news channel, called Republic, was launched today, with an explosive expose of former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Republic is being live streamed on Hotstar, which makes it the first Indian news channel to be live-streamed on Hotstar, which is owned by Star India family, and already offers news content from Fox News, Fox Business and Sky News.
Republic is an officially free-to-air channel and is available ( or will be soon available) on various DTH providers, which includes Tata Sky as well.
As soon as the channel was launched, Arnab initiated a monologue, wherein he said, “Today this Saturday morning, we dedicate this channel to you, your faith, your belief and your love. We feel swayed in your affection…My team is raring to go and charged-up”
He ended his monologue by saying, “We are a free channel in a free country propelled by your faith. This time, I am not going anywhere. I promise you.”
Social Media Buzz on Republic
Various hashtags related with Republic were trending on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
On Twitter, #May6WithArnab and #Republic, both were trending since morning, as hardcore Arnab fans tweeted about the launch, their expectations.
We analysed Google India trends and found topics related with Lalu Prasad Yadav and Arnab trending among top 10 topics, pan India. Between 9 Am to 11 AM, Arnab and Republic, both were the top trending topics on Google India.
This means that Arnab and his team at Republic have done enough homework to create massive social media buzz, as evident on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google.
In the last few months, after Arnab left Times Now, he has been sharing his vision and plans about Republic, and digital is clearly one of the most important platforms for the channel.
During his Reddit India AMA session, he had said, “We will use digital + technology + the power of our democracy + our superior knowledge of English (relative to the British and the Americans) to broadcast news globally. On every screen. In the next two years. It’s going to happen. Believe in it. We do at Republic.”
Around 1.7 lakh people are following Republic’s Twitter account, 1.25 lakh people are fans of their Facebook page and their Instagram account has 3122 followers.
Republic is owned by ARG Outlier Media Private Limited, whose primary investor is Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekar’s company Asianet News Online Private Limited. Arnab’s own company, SARG Media Holding Private Limited is also an investor in ARG Outlier Media Private Limited.
Will you watch Arnab’s Republic over other English news channels? Do you think Republic would be able to beat other established news channels? Do let us know by commenting right here!