News Broadcasting
Star News to launch three shows in December
MUMBAI: Even as Star News plans to launch a full-fledged crime news channel, it seems to be testing the waters with two new crime shows that will go on air soon.
Early December will see the launch of Insaaf Ka Tarazu and Sansani. Star News already airs a successful weekly crime-based show Red Alert, which is produced for the channel by BAG Films.
Additionally Star News, which has introduced some changes in the programming line up recently, is also launching Janbaaz in December. “A weekly show, Janbaaz talks about acts of bravery shown by ordinary people in real life situations. The unsung heroes will be honoured and we will also take up the bravery acts which go unreported,” says Star News brand manager Keertan Adyanthaya.
According to Adyanthaya, “There is no scarcity of crime shows in the country. The TAM statistics suggest that crime-based programmes garner ratings in line with other popular genres like political news and lifestyle shows. Our Red Alert show, in fact, has been topping the rating charts.”
Sansani will air from Monday to Friday, while Insaaf ka Tarazu , a weekly show, will be based on court cases. The novelty factor in the latter is that viewers too would be involved and, as per a proposal, may also get to be
the judge for cases.
Crime-based shows seem to be the flavour of news channels. While NDTV 24X7 has Dial 100 and Crime and the City, Aaj Tak has Jurm. Zee News has Crime File and Crime Reporter while Sahara Samay Rashtriya airs Charge Sheet.
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.
