Hello Reader,

Before we start counting the votes, let's take a peek at the role of media in driving India's election narrative during the poll phases from our latest report, "How Indian Media is Shaping the 2024 Election Narrative," powered by Arkreach's advanced analytics.

Key Highlights

1. Volume of Coverage:
   • PM Narendra Modi: Dominated the media landscape with 13,848 articles, an 82% increase compared to Rahul Gandhi's 7,616 articles. This surge can be attributed to Modi’s incumbent status and frequent public appearances.
   • Rahul Gandhi: Despite fewer articles, Gandhi's content garnered a remarkable 66,495 social media engagements, 304% higher than Modi’s 16,493 engagements, highlighting his strong online resonance.
2. Engagement Peaks:
   • Rahul Gandhi: Achieved significant social media traction, especially on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, indicating a highly engaged digital audience.
   • PM Narendra Modi: While his overall engagement was lower, Modi’s articles with positive sentiment saw higher social media interactions, suggesting a more polarized audience response.
3. Share of Voice (SoV):
   • PM Narendra Modi: Held a slightly higher SoV at 1.53% compared to Gandhi’s 1.34%, indicating a marginally stronger presence in the media during the analysis period.
4. Sentiment Analysis:
   • Positive Sentiment:
     • PM Modi: 19.3% of his coverage was positive, reaching 20.11 million readers, showcasing widespread distribution of favourable news.
     • Rahul Gandhi: 12.7% positive coverage with a reach of 8.92 million, reflecting less prevalent positive news.
   • Negative Sentiment:
     • PM Modi: 5.2% negative coverage with a reach of 1.35 million, indicating limited critical focus.
     • Rahul Gandhi: 4% negative coverage but a higher reach of 6.68 million, suggesting wider dissemination of critical news.
   • Neutral Sentiment:
     • Both leaders saw the majority of their coverage as neutral, with Gandhi’s neutral articles achieving significantly higher engagement rates.
5. Language and Publication Coverage:
   • Diverse Language Use:
     • PM Modi: Featured in 241 unique online publications across multiple languages, reflecting a broad appeal.
     • Rahul Gandhi: Covered by 177 unique publications, indicating a more concentrated media focus.
   • Predominant Languages: Both leaders received extensive coverage in English and Hindi, with Modi also showing notable presence in regional languages like Marathi, Gujarati, Bangla, Kannada, and Tamil.
6. Peak Coverage Days:
   • PM Narendra Modi: Highest reach on Tuesday (28.44 million readers) and lowest on Saturday (5.25 million readers).
   • Rahul Gandhi: Highest reach on Tuesday (32.28 million readers) and lowest on Sunday (5.75 million readers).

This comprehensive analysis conducted during the election phases places PM Narendra Modi ahead, demonstrating significant interest in his actions and statements. On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi outperformed in social media engagement, showcasing his effective utilization of digital platforms to communicate his message and engage with followers.

Explore the Full Report: To get deeper into these findings and access our live data set, updated every 15 minutes, hit reply to this mail and we will be in touch.