Anuj Singhal on CNBC-AWAAZ’s ‘Make or Break’ Budget 2025 coverage

As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman readies to present the Union Budget for 2025-26 on February 1, 2025, business news channels have kicked into high gear with varied programming to cater to all sectors and stakeholders.

In conversation with Adgully, Anuj SInghal, Managing Editor, CNBC-AWAAZ and CNBC BAJAR, speaks at length about the channels’ programming strategy for budget coverage this year, creating different panels to provide a 360-degree view of the Budget, how the channel is fortifying its viewer-first mantra, how social media platforms have influenced traditional business news channels, and much more.

What does the ‘Make or Break’ theme for Budget 2025-26 signify. How are you aligning your programming strategy with this theme for budget coverage?

This time we have done something very interesting. The ‘Make or Break’ theme has come from the fact that in the last few months, our stock market has gone through a brutal fall. And a lot of that fall has happened not because of any weakness in the global market. It has happened because of our own earnings and our own economy slowing down. And that’s where we, at CNBC-AWAAZ, strongly believe that this Budget can really make or break the market. That is why we have chosen the theme of ‘Make or Break’.

I think that’s one thing which is now being picked up almost by everyone in the community as well. We firmly believe that if the Union Budget delivers in terms of delivering on growth, capex and consumption, it will go a long way in solving India’s market problem and providing the pillar that the Indian market or the earnings basically need. And that is where we have taken that theme.

Another thing that we have done as far as the programming strategy for the budget is concerned, there is ‘Budget Yatra’, where we have gone to different parts of the country and asked the people what their vision is. This is a highly engaging activity that has brought them closer to our channel, which no other channel has accomplished.

CNBC-AWAAZ Budget 2025 – Make or Break is co-presented by SBI, co-powered by CoinDCX* and Royal Ranthambore Premium Glassware. UTL Solar is the Associate Partner.

Could you share some of the guests or experts that you have got on board for the Budget coverage this year?

There are three different kinds of panels that we have made. One is our Budget Editors. These are people who look at the market from a hawk-eye point of view, who analyse each and every news in terms of their impact on stocks and the market. They are very well-recognized faces like Rahul Arora, Prakash Diwan and Gurmeet Chadha.

Then we have a Budget Jury, which includes big names like Nilesh Shah of Kotak AMC, and Vijay Kedia of Kedia Securities, among others. They would look at the bigger picture in terms of what this Budget means for the market, for investors, and for the overall economy.

And then we must respect our trading audience. We have something called ‘Tech Panchayat’, where some of India’s best technical analysts would come and give recommendations on a real-time basis. This is how we have made sure that we cater to all our audiences.

How is the channel fortifying its viewer-first mantra to maintain its leadership in the Hindi business news genre? How does the channel incorporate viewer feedback into the programming?

For that, I’m personally getting involved a lot. I’m doing a lot of social media shows where I’m interacting with the audience every day. Every day I’m doing a show which is live on all social media platforms of CNBC-AWAAZ. We promote it every day, and then for half an hour, I am interacting with the viewers from YouTube, Instagram, X, and all these platforms. I also encourage them to tweet to us, to mail me, and try to take feedback on what people want, because at the end of the day, we want to deliver what people want from us.

I think that really helped in terms of our programming. We take feedback quite seriously. What kind of shows we should avoid, what kind of experts we should get more often, what kind of experts we should avoid. This is something that we take constant feedback on, and we work on that. For example, a lot of our viewers of late have requested that we have some programs which talk about mutual funds, long-term investing. This is because, traditionally, we have focused more on the trading audience. A lot of this is also dependent on the market. Because the market has been quite weak, a significant number of people from the trading side have turned to the investing side.

So, we have focused a lot on not just “buy today, sell tomorrow” kind of strategies, but also buy and hold investing. What you should be buying, how you should be creating wealth – there is a lot of focus on personal finance and mutual funds. That is something that we have done in the last six or eight months.

What are the key focus areas for programming and viewership growth on business news channels?

We have divided our programming into morning and evening time. In the morning time, we are primarily a stock market channel with some focus on the commodities market. And in the evening, we essentially become a consumer channel. A lot of our programming, whether it’s Consumer Adda or AWAAZ Adda or Tech Shows, all of these are focused towards a larger consumption basket.

The stock market audience is very sticky and stays with us till 4 pm, but after that, they are not really interested in what’s happening in the market news because then they hear about it only the next morning. That’s where business channels lose that audience. Thus, it’s important to get a new audience. After 4 pm, the stock market players switch to something entertaining. That’s what we get in the form of overall retail consumption. And that’s where our shows also take more of a consumption sort of lead instead of just staying focused on the stock market in the evening. We also do a lot of commodity programming because commodity markets are also active.

How has this programming strategy impacted viewership growth?

For a business channel, the bulk of the ratings or the bulk of the viewership still comes from the market hours. That is the case with us as well; I think we also get 70% to 80% of our viewership in market hours. But of late, we have picked up quite a bit in the non-market band also because of our consumption programming.

How has the consumption of business news content evolved in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets as well as on vernacular platforms?

Over the last four years, especially post-Covid, there has been an explosion of retail investors. The number of demat accounts has hit record highs, with more accounts added in the last four years than in the previous 20-25 years combined. Monthly mutual fund inflows now match what used to be yearly inflows, with much of this activity coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. This has significantly boosted viewership on digital and TV platforms, including vernacular channels. Interestingly, the Hindi business news market has grown across regions, including the North-East, southern, and western parts of India.

How have social media platforms influenced traditional business news channels?

In that, we have a big advantage that we’re part of India’s No. 1 network. So, we have a central team which guides us in terms of what all strategies we should employ on YouTube, what strategies we should employ on Instagram. For example, we are the No. 1 channel on Instagram, we are the No. 1 channel on Facebook, we are the No. 1 channel on a lot of platforms. On X also we are No. 1. On YouTube, we are No. 2, with a very small a margin separating us from the number one player. So, I think all of that clearly is reflecting in the kind of numbers that we post on social media and on our digital platforms.

I think the biggest positive that we have is that we are seen as a credible channel, which does not go over the top and talk about only buying in any market. Personally, I am very clear about it, that we will talk about fewer stocks even if it means that it might hurt us on ratings at some point. But we want to be credible. My mantra is very clear. People should not lose money while watching CNBC-AWAAZ. If they make money, that’s good for us, but they should not be losing money because of us. That, I think, is a conscious effort that we always try to make and is something which has kept us in good stead.

Finfluencers are increasingly becoming popular amongst the people seeking information and even advice on how to grow their money. Do you think business news channels can play an effective role of financial influencers?

It is actually already happening now. For example, I am already now among India’s top finfluencers. I don’t want to be categorized in that category, but I now have 1 million-plus in terms of social media following. And I do get invites for all these influencer conferences, but most of the time I don’t go there.

I think the advantage that I have, and also some of the other senior business editors have, is that there’s credibility associated with us. For example, a lot of these influencers started straight from social media. Some of them did well. Some of them, however, lost credibility quite soon. Some of them initially had a lot of euphoria, and after that, it died down. What has happened with us – for example, if you look at my Instagram feed, you will notice that constantly my Reels would be close to half a million, some of them 1 million or even 2 million. And all of them would have a good engagement rate of 5% to 6%. That is because of the kind of credibility that we have built.

I think, in a way influencers have also compelled us, the traditional media, to also think like them, and I dare say that we have actually succeeded, and now doing well, both on social media and on television. In fact, we have reached a stage now where a lot of people approach me and say, “We have seen your Instagram handle and Twitter feed”, whereas earlier people would say, “Hi Anuj, we’ve seen you on CNBC-AWAAZ.” A lot of people tell me that they start their day by watching my Reel on the stock market.

Looking ahead at 2025, what are the specific growth drivers that you have identified for CNBC-AWAAZ?

We have to focus on GenZ, because they have been commanding a lot of market share. For example, when I go to my Instagram analytics, what I see is that now I’m 45, but most of my audience is between 18 and 32 years – in fact, 80% of my audience is in that age group. So, now we have to think about how our programming appeals to a younger generation. We have been in the business for the last 20 years. We will sustain this growth and make necessary changes. And the sooner we do that, the better it will be.

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Additional inputs by Nehal Shukla.