News Broadcasting
Indian producers need to co-produce animation
MUMBAI: While future certainly seems to be looking up for the animation industry, it isn’t as a bright option unless the producers team up with animation companies abroad for co-production deals. That seemed to be the crux of the afternoon session on Animation: Co-production and production values and expectations from Indiaat the Ficci Frames 2004.
“The rapid advancement of technology has made computer animation available to the masses and the animation industry is one of the fastest growing industries. But who are we looking at when we venture into animation? The real market lies in the US, not in India,” said Phase Space International development head Ajay Koshy.
Indian producers to join hands in co-production if they’re interested in pursuing their business in the animation industry.
Another dignitary who presided on the panel of speakers, DQ Entertainment Ltd, CEO,Tapaas Chakravarti, endorsed in a humorous way, “The content is the king is alright, but let us follow the British monarchy system where the Queen is the Boss, for the cash is the Queen.”
Further ahead, great stress was laid on the fact that animation is all about owning the rights, but most of the Indian producers, who enter into co-production, get it all wrong. This is mainly due to the fact that their pacts and contracts run into hundreds of pages and certain important clauses are not read, which gives an opportunity for the experienced partner in the co-production to con the junior partner. “Please do take up co-productions in animation, they are required, exciting and tempting, but don’t rush into things and imagine that everything will fall in place on its own,” warned another speaker Animation Bridge CEO Biren Ghosh.
Another speaker, Ink Animations’ managing director Bob Last, who last came to India ten years ago when produced a documentary film for Mrinal Sen, viewed that U K can be a potential partner in this regard because it encourages multi-cultural programming.
The need for animation schools in India was also discussed; there is enough talent but that has to sustain, survive, and better still, grow.
Jadoo Works COO Ashish Kulkarni was the host for the session.
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.
