News Broadcasting
BBC’s teen brand Switch launches new content
MUMBAI: BBC’s teen brand BBC Switch has announced a raft of new content aimed at 12 to 17-year-olds, across TV and online at bbc.co.uk/switch.
The first programme to launch in late March/early April on BBC Two will be The Surgery. The remaining content will launch on BBC Two in May.
New teen talk show The Surgery will be a series of 15-minute programmes linked to BBC Radio 1’s The Surgery, giving British teenagers a voice. The show, hosted by new signing Jeff Leach, will deal with an assortment of topical issues facing teens such as dating, family, social networking, ASBOs, fashion, drinking and drugs, body image, celebs, politics and more.
Each week, Jeff will have an open and challenging discussion with the teen studio audience, with weekly contributions from teens across the UK. The Surgery will also have a dedicated section on bbc.co.uk/switch, which offers expert advice and practical information.
Class of 2008 is an observational documentary series that follows six up-and-coming young talented people in London on their creative journeys as they strive to establish themselves as successes in their fields of fashion, music, design, acting, DJing and entrepreneurship.
The eight-episode series will follow the group and their ups and downs as they try to land record deals, modelling contracts, acting roles, show fashion collections and launch club nights.
Revealed will be a journalism series of current affairs programmes that give an authentic depiction of the teenage world in the UK today. The show, presented by young journalists Charlotte Ashton and Anthony Baxter, will inform and lead viewers on a journey to make sense of a variety of subjects such as teen alienation, gangs, family life, sex, school and more.
Kyle XY is a teen drama from the US which will air for the first time on UK terrestrial TV. The show tells the story of a unique teenage boy Kyle, played by Matt Dallas, who has a mysterious past and the family that takes him in.
Launched in October 2007, BBC Switch is the BBC’s teen service delivering content to 12 to 17-year-olds across multiple platforms, TV, Radio 1 and online.
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:Â 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.
