News Broadcasting
Hallmark Channel US claims lead in ‘time spent viewing’ growth
The Hallmark channel may be struggling to find an audience in India but in America the story is different. Hallmark Channel has once again outranked all ad-supported cable and broadcast networks in time spent viewing growth in prime time, an official release states.
The channel has positioned itself as the network consumers are turning to for high-quality programming that is engaging, compelling and relevant. The release states that during the fourth quarter of last year (October, November, December 2002) Hallmark Channel US increased its “time spent viewing” (94 minutes vs. 74 minutes) representing a 27 per cent increase over its fourth quarter 2000 results. The network was followed by the Lifetime and TVLand networks.
Earlier, Hallmark claimed to have ranked number one with a 35 per cent increase in “time spent viewing” growth in third quarter 2001 (third quarter 2001 vs. third quarter 2000).
The figures were calculated by Nielsen Total Activity Report (fourth quarter 2001 vs. fourth quarter 2000, 10/1-12/30/01 vs. 10/2-12/31/00).
Hallmark Channel is a 24-hour television network that provides entertainment programming to a national audience of nearly 44 million subscribers, the release states. The programme service is distributed through 1,700 cable systems, DirecTV (Channel 312) and EchoStar (DISH Channel 185) direct-to-home satellite services and C-Band dish owners across America. Hallmark claims that its combined channels reach 83 million subscribers globally.
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.
