News Broadcasting
Alpha Marathi Opinion poll shows Congress NCP in lead
MUMBAI: Alpha Marathi is all geared to unviel the result of the third and the final phase of the opinion poll conducted by them.
The poll indicates that though Congress NCP front has maintained its edge over the Sena BJP alliance their share of seats has come down from the second phase of poll and independents and others may decide who would come to power in Maharashtra.
The third phase of the opinion poll conducted by Ahmedabad based Taleem organization between 4 and 6 October for Alpha Marathi, was be telecast by the channel on a special programme Janadesh from 10 pm to 11 pm on Saturday, 9 October 2004.
According to the poll, 23 per cent voters are still undecided over whom to vote. A vast majority of 72 per cent respondents said that they will not vote for a rebel candidate and only 12 per cent said that they would vote for a rebel candidate while 15 per cent said that there was no rebel candidate in their constituency, says a company release.
One striking outcome of the poll is that the voters have rejected use of religion in politics. Only 8 per cent respondents approved use of religion in politics. Eighty five per cent voters have supported reservations for women in jobs and interestingly 80 per cent men have supported the reservations for women.
In Opinion Poll III, apart from 36 selected constituencies surveyed in Opinion Poll-II, an additional assembly constituency in Mumbai, namely Worli has been included, in order to provide better representation of Mumbai. In this way, a total of 3686 voters were interviewed in the third opinion poll, adds the release.
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.
