News Broadcasting
Aaj Tak reintroduces ‘Sahitya Aaj Tak’
Mumbai: Aaj Tak is reintroducing its well-liked literary program, Sahitya Aaj Tak. The fifth edition of the show will take place at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi from 18 to 20 November after a three-year break caused by covid.
Sahitya Aaj Tak is a unique occasion that connects people to the literary and cultural worlds. Aaj Tak conceptualised and created the three-day event, allowing attendees to interact with a wide range of top legendary talent under one roof while directly listening to, watching, and meeting celebrities from the literary, artistic, and cultural worlds. Sahitya Aaj Tak offers free admission.
One such effort by Aaj Tak to help today’s youth and society better understand and connect with the world of Sahitya is this distinctive festival connecting various streams of Sahitya. The programme will feature authors, academics, composers, musicians, actors, columnists, business executives, poets, and theatre performers whose work has had a lasting impact on audiences.
Artists will reunite this year on a single stage once more to introduce guests to their ideas, voices, and performances.
Sahitya Aaj Tak is a forum where one can engage with authors and their works from all over India who have sparked their wanderlust while also challenging their minds with thought-provoking debates. Additionally, the event will include provocative conversations with notable leaders, novelty topics, and other topics. The addition of movie stars will energise an already impressive list of literary luminaries.
Live performances by B Praak and Asees Kaur will adorn Sahitya Aaj Tak. Names of the other great personalities who will shine on the show’s stage this year are as follows:
- Afsana Khan
- Bhupender Yadav
- Vikram Sampat
- Ashwin Sanghi
- Chetan Bhagat
- Prasoon Joshi
- Nasera Sharma
- Ashok Vajpeyi
- Anamika
- Arun Kamal
- Nand Kishor Acharya
- Naresh Saxena
- Leeladhar Jagudi
- Surender Mohan Pathak
- Rajesh Joshi
- Kabir Bedi
- Swanand Kirkire
- Morari Bapu
- Deepti Naval
- Kailash Satyarthi
- Mridula Garg
- Wasim Barelvi
- Sheen Kaaf Nizam
- Nawaz Deobandi
- Mahua Maji
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.
