News Broadcasting
Star News claims top slot with Aaj Tak
MUMBAI: Star News has claimed that it has shot up to share the top position with Aaj Tak, fuelled by a spurt in viewership in Mumbai following the week that flooded the city.
According to latest Tam data, quoted by Star News, the channel enjoyed a 25 per cent share among C&S 15+ audiences in the Hindi speaking markets (HSM) for the week ended 6 August. NDTV and Zee News lagged behind, holding a share of 15 per cent share each.
In Mumbai, however, Star News was a clear leader in this audience group with a 33 per share, followed by Aaj Tak (28 per cent), while NDTV India and Zee News shared the third slot (11 per cent each).
Even in Maharastra, Star News was ahead with 30 per cent, while Aaj Tak’s share stood at 28 per cent. Zee News and NDTV India held 12 per cent share, respectively.
Commenting on the gains made by Star News, Media Content & Communications Services India Pvt. Ltd, (MCCS) CEO Uday Shankar says, “It is very satisfying. This points to the kind of endorsement Star News enjoyed with its slant on human interest stories following the torrid rains on 26 July.”
MCCS is a joint venture between Star Group and ABP TV ( owned by ABP Group of Kolkata) that manages Star News and its Bengali sibling Star Ananda.
Quoting Tam data, Star News claimed to have seven of its programmes in the top ten. Shankar says the people-oriented programming helped the channel to get in audiences.
Viewers also spent more time on Star News. According to Tam data provided by Star News, the time spent per viewer on the channel was 54 minutes as against Aaj Tak’s 42 minutes. For Zee News, the comparative figure was 32 minutes while NDTV’s stood at 28 minutes. Says a jubilant Shankar, “For Star News, the journey has just begun.”
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.
