News Broadcasting
TOI Bangalore makes way for good times with an 80-page issue
Mumbai: One of the most palpable ways to tell if things are coming back to normal is to begin the day with a newspaper whose mere heft bears a piece of positive news.
In the wake of a devastating second wave and amidst concerns about a third one, it’s how businesses strive to make the present worthwhile that inspires and injects new hope in all of the economy. It’s an effective stimulant on the consumer side too. When readers see a thicker paper filled with brand advertisements, they are more motivated to come out of the inertia of consumption and begin to feel a sense of comfort with the status quo.
A bearer of this sweet news was Saturday’s Times of India Bangalore 80-page edition filled with ads from consumer-facing brands who want to usher in a wave of normalcy without waiting for the situation to fix itself.
According to TOI, the edition featured as many as 125 advertisers. The paper drew brands from across the categories of consumer durables, retail, luxury, real estate, BFSI, apparel, digital, automobile, and more signaling that they are ready as ever to make the ‘New Normal’ not just a survival story, but a story of growth.
“This uplifting edition could not have been accomplished without the combined efforts of the Times of India Bangalore team whose unwavering belief in change translated into this bumper issue,” the organisation said in a statement.
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.
