Aaj Tak History: From Doordarshan Bulletin to India’s Leading Hindi News Channel
Aaj Tak history: India Today's 1975 Emergency-era launch, SP Singh's 1995 DD Metro bulletin, the 24-hour channel in 2000 and 75m YouTube subscribers.
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Aaj Tak started in 1995 as a short Hindi news bulletin squeezed into Doordarshan’s DD Metro schedule. On 31 December 2000 it became a 24-hour channel, and by 2026 its owner reports 75 million YouTube subscribers and the lead in Hindi TV news among affluent viewers. Its roots go back further, to India Today magazine, launched in December 1975 during the Emergency. This is the Aaj Tak history in order: the magazine that started it, the bulletin and its founding editor, the channel, the ratings wars, the regulators’ orders, the move to phones and the numbers, with company claims labelled as such.
💡 Short Answer
Aaj Tak began in 1995 as a short Hindi news bulletin on Doordarshan’s DD Metro, produced by the India Today Group and anchored by its founding editor SP Singh. TV Today Network relaunched it as a 24-hour Hindi news channel on 31 December 2000, added Aaj Tak HD on 14 December 2018 and built one of the world’s biggest news channels on YouTube: the first to 50 million subscribers in January 2023, and 75 million by 2025-26. Its owner reports it led Hindi TV news among affluent audiences in FY 2025-26.
Aaj Tak History: Key Questions
Aaj Tak in Ten Points
- Dec 1975: India Today magazine launches during the Emergency; Aaj Tak comes 20 years later.
- 1986-88: the group’s Newstrack video magazine, sold on VHS.
- 1995: Aaj Tak starts as a short Hindi bulletin on DD Metro, edited and anchored by SP Singh.
- 1997: SP Singh dies on 27 June; the bulletin outlives him.
- 31 Dec 2000: Aaj Tak becomes a 24-hour Hindi news channel.
- 2003-2005: sister channels follow: Headlines Today (now India Today TV) and Tez.
- 14 Dec 2018: Aaj Tak HD, India’s first Hindi HD news channel.
- 2020: fines from BARC (later set aside) and the NBSA, in a bad year for TV news credibility.
- Jan 2023: first news channel in the world to 50 million YouTube subscribers.
- FY 2025-26: owner reports the lead among affluent Hindi news viewers and 75 million subscribers.
- May 2026: the NBDSA orders an edit to a 2024 Taj Mahal segment, a reminder that reach and trust are different tests.
From the Emergency to Aaj Tak: The Family Tree
Aaj Tak did not start during the Emergency. Its parent magazine did. Five steps connect them.
| When | What | Who | Why it mattered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1975 | India Today, fortnightly news magazine | V.V. Purie, Madhu Trehan, Aroon Purie | Launched under Emergency censorship; the group’s foundation |
| 1 Apr 1976 | Doordarshan split from All India Radio | Government of India | TV news stays a state monopoly into the 1990s |
| 1986–88 | Newstrack video magazine (VHS) | Madhu Trehan | The group learns television journalism |
| 1995 | Aaj Tak bulletin on DD Metro | SP Singh, India Today Group | Private Hindi news on state TV |
| 31 Dec 2000 | Aaj Tak 24-hour channel | TV Today Network | The channel the world knows |
The Emergency is where the group begins, not the channel. India Today’s print run grew from about 15,000 copies in January 1977 to about 50,000 by March 1977, when the Emergency ended, and passed 100,000 by December 1978, according to Wikipedia. Television news, meanwhile, stayed with the state until the 1990s, which is why the group’s first TV news was a cassette and its first broadcast was a slot on Doordarshan. For how one newspaper protested the censorship, see our story on the Indian Express blank editorial.
The Aaj Tak Timeline, 1975–2026
Newest first. Tags mark expansion, ratings claims, regulators’ orders and turning points. Company figures are labelled, and where sources disagree we say so.
Steadier profits, flat growth Expansion
TV Today Network’s results for April-June 2026 showed consolidated revenue of Rs 206.22 crore, up 4.58% on a year earlier, and net profit of Rs 10.26 crore, up 39.6%, as operating margins widened. The company, which owns Aaj Tak, India Today TV and Good News Today, reports its radio business as a discontinued operation. The numbers describe a mature broadcaster: profitable again, but growing slowly as advertising money shifts online.
2026
An order to edit Regulator
The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority directed Aaj Tak to edit a programme broadcast on 29 November 2024, presented by Sudhir Chaudhary, insofar as its segment on claims that the Taj Mahal was a Shiva temple. The authority said the channel cited Archaeological Survey of India records for one monument but not for the Taj Mahal, falling short of the code’s standards of neutrality and impartiality. Aaj Tak argued it had presented third-party claims without endorsing them.
2025–26
The company’s ratings claim Ratings claim
TV Today Network’s 27th annual report, for the year to March 2026, says that among affluent audiences Aaj Tak led the Hindi news genre throughout the year with a Gross Average Minute Audience of 1,343 million, against 1,289 million for News18 India and 1,077 million for India TV. It says Aaj Tak ranked No. 1 on all four days of Operation Sindoor in May 2025, and was the No. 1 channel across all genres during Bihar election counting in November 2025, with 5.2 million AMA. On YouTube it reports peaks of 2.0 million and 1.25 million concurrent viewers for those events, and 75 million subscribers. All of these are company figures for specific audience segments; Gross AMA is not a count of unique viewers.
A star anchor leaves Turning point
Sudhir Chaudhary, who had joined Aaj Tak as consulting editor in July 2022 and hosted the prime-time show Black and White, signed off in early April 2025. He moved to the public broadcaster DD News, where Decode premiered on 15 May 2025. Prime-time anchors are a large part of Hindi news branding; his exit showed how portable that brand value has become.
70 million on YouTube Expansion
Aaj Tak’s YouTube channel passed 70 million subscribers, which Wikipedia records as the first news channel in the world to do so. On YouTube, Aaj Tak competes not only with other Hindi channels but with every creator in India for the same phone screens.
2024
Counting day Ratings claim
On Lok Sabha counting day, BARC data reported by exchange4media gave Aaj Tak a 16.6% relative share of Hindi news viewing in the Hindi Speaking Market, against 13.2% for News18 India, and 17.6% in the counting hours from 8 am to noon. Over that week it had 14.5%, ahead of News18 India (12.6%) and India TV (12.2%). Election results remain the night when Hindi news channels compete hardest, and when ratings claims fly in every direction.
Rs 75,000 fine Regulator
The NBDSA fined Aaj Tak Rs 75,000 over a June 2023 episode of Black and White that responded to Barack Obama’s comments on minorities in India by linking him to a ‘tukde tukde gang’ and Khalistani separatists. The authority said the broadcaster had failed to present a controversial issue with sensitivity and objectivity and told it to remove the objectionable parts, or the whole video, from all platforms.
Sep 2023
Moon landing and G20 Expansion
Chandrayaan-3’s landing near the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023 and the G20 summit in New Delhi two weeks later were the kind of scheduled national events that live news is built for: long build-ups, a single moment of suspense and huge simultaneous audiences on TV and YouTube. Aaj Tak covered both as extended live specials.
First news channel to 50 million Turning point
In January 2023 Aaj Tak became the first news channel in the world to pass 50 million YouTube subscribers, earning YouTube’s Ruby Play Button. It had crossed 10 million in 2019; the jump came largely through the pandemic and 2022 assembly elections, when its live streams drew more than a million concurrent viewers. By then, for many younger viewers, Aaj Tak was something watched on a phone, not a TV.
Good News Today Expansion
TV Today Network launched Good News Today, a Hindi channel built around positive stories, in September 2021. Wikipedia records that it replaced Aaj Tak Tez, the network’s fast-format headlines channel from the 2000s. The new channel was an attempt to reach viewers tired of conflict-heavy prime time.
Pandemic, ratings and regulators Regulator
The pandemic sent TV news and YouTube viewing soaring. It was also a bruising year for news credibility. In July 2020 BARC’s disciplinary council fined TV Today Network Rs 5 lakh over what it called abnormal viewership spikes; the Bombay High Court set that order aside on 5 November 2020 after BARC agreed to rehear the case, with the network arguing the council had lacked a quorum. In October 2020 the News Broadcasting Standards Authority fined Aaj Tak Rs 1 lakh over fabricated tweets attributed to the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput and directed it to apologise on air. That same month, after a separate police case over ratings manipulation centred on other channels, BARC paused weekly news ratings.
2018
Aaj Tak HD Expansion
Aaj Tak launched Aaj Tak HD, described by Wikipedia as India’s first Hindi high-definition news channel, aimed at the growing number of HD set-top boxes and the advertisers who wanted to reach them. TV Today Network has since reported Aaj Tak HD as a leader in the HD news segment, a company claim.
2019
Online before it mattered Expansion
Aaj Tak started publishing on YouTube around 2009, years before cheap data. The 2016 Jio price war changed the economics of mobile video in India, and by 2019 the channel had crossed 10 million subscribers. Clips, live streams and short explainers turned a TV brand into a feed.
2005
A network around Aaj Tak Expansion
With Aaj Tak established, TV Today Network built a family of channels: Headlines Today, an English news channel launched in 2003 and later renamed India Today TV; Aaj Tak Tez, a fast headlines channel (Wikipedia dates its launch to 2005); and the city channel Dilli Aaj Tak. Aaj Tak won Best Hindi News Channel at the Indian Television Academy Awards repeatedly from 2001: 19 times in all, according to Wikipedia.
2000
The 24-hour channel Turning point
On the last day of 2000, TV Today Network launched Aaj Tak as an independent 24-hour Hindi news channel. Instead of one slot on Doordarshan, it had the whole day. The format rewarded speed: rolling updates, live reporters, breaking-news straps and, later, prime-time debate shows. Star News had shown in 1998 that Indians would watch news all day; Aaj Tak showed that in Hindi, the audience was far larger.
1997
The founding editor dies Turning point
Surendra Pratap Singh, Aaj Tak’s founding editor and anchor, died on 27 June 1997 at 48. He had brought the plain, direct Hindi of his print years at Ravivar to television, and is still widely credited with defining Aaj Tak’s voice. Sources differ on the cause, citing a heart attack or a brain haemorrhage.
A bulletin on DD Metro Turning point
Aaj Tak began as a short Hindi news programme on Doordarshan’s DD Metro channel, produced by the India Today Group and anchored by SP Singh. Wikipedia describes it as a 10-to-20-minute programme; other histories call it a 30-minute show. The most widely quoted start date is 17 July 1995, while Wikipedia’s TV Today Network page gives 30 September 1995. Either way, by the end of the decade it was one of Doordarshan’s best-known news slots.
1988
Newstrack: news on video Expansion
Madhu Trehan, India Today’s founding editor, came back from New York in 1986 and produced and anchored Newstrack, described by Wikipedia as India’s first video news magazine. It was sold on VHS cassette, because private news on air was still not allowed; Newslaundry reports it grew from 30 to 90 minutes on advertiser demand. Wikipedia’s TV Today Network page dates Newstrack to 1988. Either way, it trained the group in reporting with pictures, not just print, seven years before Aaj Tak.
1976
Doordarshan stands alone Turning point
Still under the Emergency, the government separated television from All India Radio: on 1 April 1976 Doordarshan became a separate department of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. TV news in India stayed a state monopoly for the next two decades. When the India Today Group finally got onto the screen with Aaj Tak in 1995, it was as a programme carried by Doordarshan.
Born in the Emergency: India Today Turning point
Aaj Tak’s family tree starts in print, six months into the Emergency. Indira Gandhi’s government declared it on 25 June 1975, suspended civil liberties and imposed press censorship. In that climate Vidya Vilas Purie, owner of Thomson Press, launched a fortnightly news magazine, India Today, with his daughter Madhu Trehan as editor and his son Aroon Purie as publisher. Its first issue was dated 1–15 December 1975. Wikipedia records about 5,000 copies at launch, 15,000 by January 1977, about 50,000 by March 1977, when the Emergency ended, and more than 100,000 by December 1978. That magazine became the India Today Group, which made Aaj Tak 20 years later. Aaj Tak itself did not exist during the Emergency.
Pick a year and see what Aaj Tak was, and where you could watch it
Drag from 1975 to 2026. Mint chips are TV channels; coral chips are platforms and programmes. Closed ones drop off.
The Ratings Claim, Charted
The figure behind “leading Hindi news channel”, exactly as the company reports it.
Number one by which measure?
Every Hindi news channel calls itself the leader somewhere. Pick a measure to see what the Aaj Tak figure is, who says so, and what it does not prove.
From TV Set to Phone Screen
Aaj Tak’s YouTube growth, at each published milestone.
Where Aaj Tak Lives Now
A television brand that now publishes everywhere its audience is.
| Platform | What Aaj Tak does there | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Doordarshan (DD Metro) | A short daily bulletin | 1995-2000 |
| Cable and satellite TV | The 24-hour channel: live news, debates, specials | 31 Dec 2000 |
| HD TV | Aaj Tak HD | 14 Dec 2018 |
| YouTube | Live streams, clips, explainers | About 2009 |
| Website, apps, social | Text, video and live updates | 2000s onward |
| Events | Agenda Aaj Tak, Sahitya Aaj Tak | Annual |
What Built the Brand
Four choices that explain most of Aaj Tak’s rise. None of them alone explains it.
Hindi, spoken plainly
SP Singh’s bulletin talked to viewers in everyday Hindi rather than the formal register of state TV news. The Hindi-speaking market is the largest TV news audience in India, and Aaj Tak spoke its language first and loudest.
Speed and the reporter on the spot
A 24-hour format rewards whoever gets pictures and a live reporter to a story first. Speed became the brand, along with the pressure it puts on verification.
Results night as the big show
Counting days are where Hindi channels fight hardest for share. Aaj Tak’s election coverage has repeatedly topped BARC’s counting-day data, which it then uses in its marketing.
On YouTube early
A channel opened around 2009, clips and live streams cut for phones, and the first news channel to 50 million subscribers. Digital reach now matters as much as TV share.
The Regulatory Record
Orders by the industry’s self-regulator and the ratings body that concern Aaj Tak or its owner. This list is not exhaustive, and rival channels have faced similar orders.
| Date | Body | What it concerned | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2020 | BARC disciplinary council | Alleged abnormal viewership spikes | Rs 5 lakh fine; set aside by Bombay HC on 5 Nov 2020 for a fresh hearing |
| Oct 2020 | NBSA | Fabricated tweets attributed to Sushant Singh Rajput | Rs 1 lakh fine and on-air apology |
| Jun 2021 | NBDSA | Broadcasts on the Tablighi Jamaat | Directed to remove videos |
| Mar 2024 | NBDSA | Jun 2023 segment on Barack Obama | Rs 75,000 fine; remove objectionable parts or the video |
| 28 May 2026 | NBDSA | 29 Nov 2024 segment on the Taj Mahal | Directed to edit the segment |
Aaj Tak’s critics argue that its prime-time debates and some segments have amplified unverified or one-sided claims; the orders above are the cases where the self-regulator agreed, in part. The channel has contested several findings and points to its awards and audience as evidence that viewers trust it. Both things can be true of a channel this size: a very large audience and a regular presence on the regulator’s docket. Readers can judge the coverage for themselves; the dates and orders are not in dispute.
Aaj Tak in Numbers
Independent, filed and company-reported figures, kept apart and dated.
| Figure | What it measures | Source and date | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,343m | Gross AMA, Hindi news, affluent audiences, FY26 | TV Today Network annual report | Company figure; minutes, not people |
| 16.6% | Hindi news share, counting day 4 Jun 2024 | BARC via exchange4media | Hindi Speaking Market |
| 5.2m | AMA during Bihar counting, Nov 2025 | TV Today Network annual report | Company figure |
| 2.0m / 1.25m | Peak concurrent YouTube viewers: Op Sindoor / Bihar | TV Today Network annual report | Company figure |
| 75m | YouTube subscribers | TV Today Network, FY26 | Milestone, not live count |
| Rs 848.68 cr / Rs 13.74 cr | Standalone total income / net profit, FY26 | TV Today Network annual report | Profit includes discontinued ops |
| Rs 206.22 cr / Rs 10.26 cr | Consolidated revenue / net profit, Apr-Jun 2026 | Q1 FY27 results | Revenue +4.58%, profit +39.6% |
| 19 | ITA Best Hindi News Channel awards since 2001 | Wikipedia | Industry award |
Corrections and Clarifications
Claims in the brief this page was built from, checked against Wikipedia, TV Today Network’s FY 2025-26 report, exchange4media, Business Today, LiveLaw and Newslaundry.
“1995 — the television programme begins”
The year is right, but the exact date is disputed: 17 July 1995 is the most quoted; Wikipedia’s TV Today Network page says 30 September. The bulletin’s length is given as 10-20 minutes or 30 minutes. We give both.
“Ranked first among television channels” in 2024
BARC data put Aaj Tak first among Hindi news channels in the Hindi Speaking Market on counting day (16.6% share). The “No. 1 across all genres” claim the company makes is for Bihar counting in November 2025.
“More than 70 million subscribers in 2025”
Aaj Tak passed 70 million in February 2025 and 50 million in January 2023, the first news channel anywhere to reach either mark, per Wikipedia and Business Today. The company reports 75 million for FY 2025-26.
“Early Best News Channel honours”
The specific record: Best Hindi News Channel at the Indian Television Academy Awards 19 times since 2001, according to Wikipedia.
FY 2023-24 report on Chandrayaan-3 and G20
We kept both events but could not trace the company’s specific audience claims for them, so they are not repeated here.
“India’s leading Hindi news channel”
This rests on TV Today Network’s own figures for affluent audiences and on BARC counting-day data. Rivals, including News18 India, publish rankings that put themselves first on other measures.
“Aaj Tak started during the Emergency”
No. The Emergency was 1975-77; Aaj Tak began in 1995. Its parent magazine, India Today, launched in December 1975, during the Emergency.
“Aaj Tak began in 1991; channel in 1999”
A 2022 Newslaundry ownership profile gives these years. Wikipedia and most accounts give 1995 for the Doordarshan bulletin and 31 December 2000 for the channel; 1999 matches when TV Today Network was set up. We use 1995 and 2000.
What the brief left out
SP Singh, the founding editor, and his death in 1997; the 2020 BARC and NBSA fines; NBDSA orders in 2021, 2024 and 2026; Sudhir Chaudhary’s 2025 exit; Good News Today; and the latest results: Rs 10.26 crore profit in April-June 2026.
What Comes Next
Aaj Tak’s history is a series of moves to wherever the Hindi news audience went next: Doordarshan’s schedule, cable and satellite, HD boxes, then phones. The next move is already visible in its owner’s accounts. TV revenue is growing slowly, while YouTube and social reach keep rising, and AI tools are changing how clips, translations and summaries are produced across the India Today Group.
The harder test is the one the regulator’s orders keep pointing to. A channel that wins the minute on speed still has to win the story on accuracy. As AI answer engines summarise news for free, the brands that last will be the ones whose reporting is worth citing.
Explore More Timelines
People Also Ask
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bottom Line
Aaj Tak’s parent, India Today, was born in December 1975 during the Emergency. Aaj Tak itself began in 1995 as SP Singh’s short Hindi bulletin on DD Metro and became a 24-hour channel on 31 December 2000. It added Aaj Tak HD in 2018, became the first news channel to 50 million YouTube subscribers in 2023 and, by its owner’s FY 2025-26 figures, led Hindi TV news among affluent viewers with 75 million YouTube subscribers. Its record also includes fines and edit orders from the industry regulator. Its scale is not in doubt; its challenge now is trust and profit on platforms it does not control.
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⚠️ Editorial Note
Last updated 11 October 2026. Early history is from Wikipedia’s India Today, Madhu Trehan, Doordarshan, Aaj Tak, TV Today Network and Surendra Pratap Singh entries and Newslaundry’s India Today Group profile; FY 2025-26 audience, YouTube and financial figures from TV Today Network’s Directors’ Report; counting-day data from BARC via exchange4media; YouTube milestones from Business Today and Wikipedia; regulatory orders from LiveLaw and Newslaundry; Q1 FY27 results as reported by HDFC Sky and others. Audience rankings are company-reported unless marked BARC, and are not measures of accuracy. AiTimeline has no commercial relationship with TV Today Network or the India Today Group.
Sources & further reading
Every dated entry above was checked against these references. Last reviewed 11 October 2026.
- Wikipedia: Aaj Tak (DD Metro 1995, 24-hour channel Dec 2000, Aaj Tak HD, regulatory orders)
- Wikipedia: Surendra Pratap Singh, founding editor and anchor of Aaj Tak
- TV Today Network Directors' Report FY 2025-26 (Aaj Tak AMA, Operation Sindoor, Bihar counting, 75 million YouTube)
- exchange4media: Aaj Tak tops counting day BARC ratings (4 June 2024)
- Business Today: Aaj Tak becomes world's first news channel to cross 50 million YouTube subscribers (Jan 2023)
- LiveLaw: Bombay High Court quashes BARC order imposing fine on TV Today Network (Nov 2020)
- Newslaundry: Rs 75,000 NBDSA fine for Aaj Tak over 'tukde tukde' remark on Obama (Mar 2024)
- Newslaundry: NBDSA directs Aaj Tak to edit Taj Mahal segment (28 May 2026 order)
- Newslaundry: Sudhir Chaudhary inks deal for DD News show (Mar 2025)
- HDFC Sky: TV Today Network Q1 FY27 net profit rises 39.6% to Rs 10.26 crore