News Broadcasting
Miditech gears up for advertising show on BBC World
NEW DELHI: Miditech Private Limited is working on a new advertising/marketing show for BBC World. The 13-episode series is expected to go on air by March next year.
Miditech’s chief executive officer Nikhil Alva confirmed the development. “The pilot has already been cleared and we are getting on to the production of the show. The show is going to be about business of advertising. For this, we would be getting in touch with main players of the ad industry. The idea is to provide an insight into major trends and developments,” Alva said.
In comparison to CNBC’s Storyboard, which mainly focuses on emerging news from the advertising industry, the show on BBC will focus on the broadcaster’s perspective.
“Unlike Storyboard, this particular show will focus on advertising at macro-level. We will look at the overview of the advertising business,” Alva said.
On BBC’s plans for the ad show, a Delhi-based senior planning director, said, “From an advertising professional’s perspective, Storyboard is not a serious show. It is interesting but it’s not meant for insiders.”
Talking on the present scenario, the planning director said, “Overall, advertising today is surely reflecting the common man’s tastes. The coverage in media has increased. One has to remember the profile of the channel where the show is being aired and audience it caters so. Shows on advertising definitely have niche audience and the move (by BBC) is in tune with the growing importance of advertising.”
Alva’s Miditech has some other interesting projects in store. Alva said, “Science of India is expected to go on air on DD International in January. The 13-part series showcases Indian science and is divided into four sections – general science, medicine, architecture and art. Other shows include Off the Beaten Path, 26-episode travel series, focusing completely on India.”
On operations front, Alva is moving his base to Mumbai while his brother Niret, president of Miditech, will remain in Delhi. “Mumbai is the hub of activity and we get more projects from general entertainment channels there,” said Alva, who refused to reveal the names of the new projects.
The production house, which has got offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, has also launched its Singapore office.
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.
