News Broadcasting
Warner to get Japanese award for film distribution
MUMBAI: Shortly after receiving distributor honours from Japan’s Motion Picture Exhibitors Association, Warner Bros. Japan will also be awarded the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award for best foreign film distributor of the Year.
Achievements that Warner Bros. Japan will be recognised for include the success of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Combined they have grossed 17.65 billion to date. The Tom Cruise epic The Last Samurai made over 13 billion.
Additionally, the success of the critically acclaimed dramas Hero and Oscar winner Mystic River will also have special mention. Warner Bros. Pictures International marketing president Sue Kroll was quoted in a company release saying, “Our market-specific strategies carefully tailor each campaign in Japan. With efforts ranging from specialized creative materials to unique publicity events, we present the films in a sensitive and culturally appropriate manner.”
“This strategy was particularly successful with the The Last Samurai campaign which brought the epic film home to Japan, making it emotional, personal, and a must-see.” Warner added that Japan was the biggest market outside the US. The gross for the Tom Cruise film surpassed that of the US.
This is the third time that Warner Bros. Japan has been honoured with the Minister’s Award in recent years. It was earlier recognised in 1999 and in 2001. Warner Bros. Japan has been the top distributor in Japan for three consecutive years, with a nearly 30 per cent share of the market for imported films.
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: 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.
