News Broadcasting
Mip Junior puts spotlight on VOD
CANNES: Mip Junior took off on 5 October at the tony Carlton Hotel in Cannes.
The spotlight was on children’s content as delegates discussed everything from tight budgets to the change in focus to Video on Demand (VOD) to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
The first session ‘Money Matters: Finding Finance in New and Different Ways’, moderated by Debbie Macdonald consultant Debbie Macdonald and presided over by Snow River Media chief executive Angus Flethcher, concentrated on new business models, opportunities and challenges facing the independent creative and producing world.
“Technology has changed and so has the audience. The audience is moving dramatically from one platform to the other. There is an extraordinary revolution going on, and it’s exciting to be in the middle of that change,” said Flethcher, adding that though television could be scary, the good part is: “We can directly speak to our audience. Producers today need not make a half an hour or one hour series. Instead they can create a one minute video for the internet and get immediate feedback.”
He said content producers now had both newer entry points and people to talk to. Citing the example of Angry Birds, he elaborated: “The character was developed with a story, not as a series, but as a game, and it has done tremendously well.”
The first session stressed on the importance of the VOD platform. While it was the success of Netflix that made everyone think of VOD as a medium to reach out to audiences, BRB Internacional CEO Carlos Biern said, “Most important is the audience (kids), who can, with VOD, be glued to animation 24X7.”
Whereas the second session, ‘New Content Deal-Making: get the most of your VOD rights’, spoke about how the VOD platform could be utilised to reach out to audiences. Biern observed it could prove fruitful for advertisers as well while The Jim Henson Company executive vice president, global distribution Richard Goldsmith informed: “VOD is quickly becoming television. So while we look at VOD as a separate source of income, every time we have a conversation with channels, they also want to buy the VOD rights. This shows how important it is becoming for all of us.”
What emerged is that while Netflix and Amazon may continue to rule the roost, the remaining VOD players had to stand out from the crowd. “We want to become the only option in children’s tablets and smart phones. We all need to involve with our brands to be able to connect with our target group,” said Toon Goggles managing director Stephen L Hodge.
The key takeaways of the talks seemed to be that every show will sooner than later turn into an app and that SVOD will soon replace standard linear television.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI: Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
