News Broadcasting
Sahara commences daily news round-ups hosted by Vinod Dua
MUMBAI: Sahara TV has launched a 30-minute daily news round-up, Sahara Newsline, from 25 August.
Telecast every day from 10:30 pm to 11 pm, the topical programme is presented by well known anchor Vinod Dua and covers the important happenings of the day. The USP of this news-cum-views presentation, says the channel, is that it “goes behind the news” and highlights the concerns of the man on the street.
According to Dua, Sahara Newsline intends to probe whatever happens behind the apparent news of the day, and to see to it that the powers-that-be are made accountable to people. Every day, Dua invites two guests from politicians, journalists, experts or analysts to the studio for discussions. The channel is employing interactivity through Sahara’s VSAT network – with questions being put by well-known personalities to guests in the studio. There is a fair mix of stories on the stock market and entertainment industry.
A daily segment called Lest We Forget based on issues that were once “hot” but have now been put on the backburner is also part of the daily news capsule. According to Sahara TV V-P, public relations, Priya Raj: “The overall orientation of the crisp, compact and concise programme is to make sense of the day’s happenings, going beyond mere headlines.”
The channel, that is slated to launch over 30 regional news channels before the end of the year and is preparing for a programming revamp in mid-September, currently claims a reach of 40 million C&S households in the country.
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.
