News Broadcasting
Zee News’ exit polls predicts Congress gains in state elections
MUMBAI: Zee News’ exit poll results revealed that the Congress would emerge the main gainer in the elections in all three Indian states called to the ballot box. The exit poll survey of 15,000 people also revealed that the Congress will win a majority of seats in northern Haryana and eastern Jharkhand states. The survey was conducted by Zee News and C-Voter agency.
In Bihar, the Congress would emerge as “kingmaker” with its ally Ram Vilas Paswan, whose party LJP is emerging as the the surprise element in these elections, holding the balance of power. Bihar has been run since 1991 by the populist Rashtriya Janata Dal party of Laloo Prasad Yadav.
In Haryana, the Congress is poised to get two third majority as a very strong anti-incumbency wave swept across the state. The interesting this to wait for would be to see if the BJP takes over as the main opposition party in the state.
In Jharkhand, the Congress was inching ahead towards majority with its ally JMM, but the figure might not be comfortable enough for the party. The RJD combination in Jharkhand has polled well to split the anti-BJP vote and that might be the gaining factor for congress, the polls revealed.
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.
