News Broadcasting
India Today’s Putin interview goes global
NEW DELHI: India Today has scored a rare global hit. Its exclusive interview with Vladimir Putin has rippled far beyond Indian screens, racking up vast audiences, heavy newsroom pickup and sustained international chatter, according to the group’s newly released media impact report.
The numbers are arresting. The interview generated 235 million video views across television and digital platforms, with peak concurrent live viewership hitting 1.2 million worldwide. Social media added muscle, delivering 5.8 million interactions across Meta platforms, X, Instagram and YouTube.
The reach was not merely wide, but influential. The report records coverage, citation and attribution across 25 leading international media organisations, alongside prominent front-page and headline placements across Europe, Asia and the global south. International pickup included BBC, Reuters, Associated Press, The Washington Post and The New York Times, supplemented by extensive regional and multilingual adoption.
Measured against other recent political exclusives, the contrast is stark. High-profile Western interviews—ranging from Donald Trump’s appearances on 60 Minutes and ABC’s 100 Days to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s US broadcast engagements—drew strong domestic audiences but struggled to travel. India Today’s interview, by contrast, became a sustained reference point across global newsrooms, policy debates and diplomatic discourse.
Depth mattered as much as scale. Beyond live transmission, the interview continued to draw audiences weeks later, with digital consumption remaining robust and social engagement signalling active participation rather than passive reach.
By peak live viewership and post-broadcast performance, the report ranks the interview among the most-watched real-time global political conversations in recent years.
“This milestone marks a powerful start to the year and reinforces our commitment to journalism that shapes conversations across borders by asking questions that resonate with the global citizen,” said Kalli Purie, vice chairperson and executive editor-in-chief of India Today Group.
In a crowded media world, attention is fleeting. This one travelled—and stayed.
News Broadcasting
Book Cricket gets a digital century on News18 amid T20 fever
Nostalgic classroom game revamped in English, Hindi plus Telugu on web and app.
MUMBAI: When the T20 World Cup fever hits fever pitch, News18 decides to flip the script straight back to the classroom. The digital news platform has revived the timeless schoolyard favourite Book Cricket as an interactive online game, perfectly timed to ride the cricket wave gripping fans across the globe. The reimagined Book Cricket ditches textbooks for smartphones, blending old-school nostalgia with modern gameplay. Once a sneaky recess pastime played by flicking book pages to score runs, the digital version now offers seamless fun for anyone craving a quick cricket fix between overs.
Available in English, Hindi and Telugu (with more languages planned across News18’s network), the game sits within the platform’s fast-growing gaming portfolio of over 20 titles, all built in-house. It joins event-driven hits like ‘Kursi Catcher’ and ‘Result Rewind’ during the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections, plus festive specials such as ‘Durga’s Astras’ for Durga Puja and ‘Mouse Modak’ for Ganesh Chaturthi.
News18 Digital CEO Mitul Sangani said, “Gaming is a key pillar of our engagement strategy. At News18, we uniquely combine our newsroom agility with immersive gaming experiences. By blending credible content with interactive formats, we are creating meaningful engagement in an era defined by shrinking attention spans and evolving consumption habits.”
Select titles have expanded beyond News18.com to CNBC-TV18.com and Firstpost.com, reflecting the network’s push to deepen user interaction across platforms. The Book Cricket game is live now at https://www.news18.com/games/book-cricket/.
In a tournament where every boundary counts, News18’s digital Book Cricket proves the simplest games can still deliver the biggest smiles no syllabus required, just pure cricket joy one page-flip at a time.
