Prime Time: 1.3 million watched the Trust Vote

On Tuesday, it was proved yet again that emotional outbursts, pandemonium and under-the-table deals made for better television than facts and figures.More people tuned in to watch the note-bomb and the climax to the trust vote as it unfolded on July 22 than the railway and Union finance budgets put together.Viewership for Lok Sabha TV touched over 13 lakh on Tuesday, while the finance budget attracted a net reach of 10,32,000 and 1,58,000 people watched the rail budget. Data collected by aMap from cable and satellite homes in the Hindi speaking market has estimated that nearly 13,67,000 people watched as three BJP MPs took out bundles of notes and plonked them on the Parliament table as stunned lawmakers gaped. Viewership for the second day of the special session was even higher than on the first, indicating the keen interest people had in political developments. About 9.5 lakh people watched Lok Sabha Television on July 21. The average daily viewership for the channel is about 6 lakh. The note-bomb notwithstanding, the suspense on whether the trust vote would eventually happen had viewers hooked till the end. Even the vote count was not without its share of drama; it was revised more than once with several members using paper slips to register their vote. The number of people watching Parliament proceedings is likely to be much higher as data available is only for cable homes, while LS TV is available on the terrestrial network. Viewers who do not have cable too can access the channel. It is also relevant that news channels which took live feed from LS TV drew away some of the viewership towards them.