News Broadcasting
Sahara aims at share of lifestyle programming pie
MUMBAI: Sahara Manoranjan has not tried lifestyle programming till now, but is now aiming to go full throttle at it with a fashion magazine show hosted by VJ and actor Malaika Arora Khan.
Slated as part of the channel’s weekend programming, the Malaika show is likely to have one telecast on Sunday mornings. Her presence on the channel is aimed at attracting younger viewers to this entertainment channel. The other show targeted at younger viewers, Saathiya, too goes on air on 19 July, and will run Mondays to Thursdays at 8.30 pm, in place of the outgoing Zindagi Teri Meri Kahani.
While Malaika will add the necessary glamour quotient to the Sahara Manoranjan programming, another mega show, Chandramukhi (directed by Sunil Agnihotri, who earlier created the opus Chandrakanta) has also commenced shooting. Produced by Applause Entertainment, this show is expected to go on air in the coming few months.
Sahara officials also confirm that Malini Iyer, the Sridevi starrer that was expected to create waves but has caused hardly any ripples in television programming, is due for a revamp by September. The programming revamp at Sahara Manoranjan is being phased in gradually, and more changes could be in order as the management contract deal struck with Percept D’Mark takes shape in the following weeks.
Officials also confirm that pre-production work has begun on a Hindi quiz show to be produced by ace quizmaster Sidhartha Basu’s company, Synergy Productions. Basu, however, will this time not be seen in front of the camera, but will restrict himself to wielding the director’s cap.
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.
