News Broadcasting
#9pm9mins sees lowest-ever viewership since 2015
MUMBAI: Prime minister Narendra Modi’s addresses to the citizens of India have been keenly watched in the last few weeks. Even as his address on 24 March, announcing the 21-day nationwide lockdown, got the highest ever views, his subsequent address on 3 April led to a low point for TV viewership.
On 3 April, PM Modi had urged people to demonstrate a collective will to fight COVID-19 by switching off all lights at home and lighting a lamp, candle or turning on the mobile phones’ flashlight on 5 April, Sunday, at 9 pm for nine minutes.
The third edition of BARC-Nielsen report studying viewership trends during lock says that TV viewership dropped by 60 per cent during these 9 minutes as compared to previous weeks. Additionally, the viewership during these nine minutes was the lowest ever since 2015.
“The decline started by 8.53 pm and came back to current trends only after 9.30 pm,” adds the report. 9 pm is considered as a primetime, even for a Sunday and so the viewership dip is staggering.
The latest address of PM Modi failed to achieve traction the way the first two addresses announcing Janta Curfew and 21-day lockdown, did.
“The prime minister’s 11-minute video message on #9PM9Minutes garnered over 1024.5 million viewing minutes. The Janta Curfew address (19 March) and 21-day lockdown (24 March) announcement achieved 1275.3 million and 3862.9 million viewing minutes respectively. Both the addresses were telecast for at least 30 minutes on almost all news channels..
As the media and entertainment industry has stopped generating fresh content, the only genre being kept under essential services – news channels – is able to show and update viewers about the pandemic with new content. This has helped news broadcasters to gain viewership exponentially by over 250 per cent for the third week straight, as per the report.
It is observed that viewers watch news on TV first thing post waking up and also sign off their day either by watching news or movies.
News Broadcasting
Parikshit Luthra exits CNBC-TV18 after 20-year run
Former bureau chief to take brief pause before next role
NEW DELHI: Senior journalist Parikshit Luthra has signed off from CNBC-TV18, marking 28 February 2026 as his final day and closing nearly two decades with Network18 Media & Investments Limited, including eight years at the business news channel.
During his tenure, Luthra interviewed prominent business leaders and Union ministers, reporting on economic policy, corporate strategy, the automobile sector and financial markets. His coverage spanned key inflection points in India’s economic narrative.
He also led new programming formats such as Newscentre, Global Eye and Global Lens, shows that examined politics and foreign policy through an economic prism, reflecting the channel’s push towards globally linked business reporting.
In a LinkedIn post, Luthra said his final weeks were spent covering the Union Budget, the India AI Summit, India’s trade agreements with the US and EU, and the group’s flagship Rising Bharat Summit 2026. He added that he continued anchoring until his last day and briefly met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his closing assignments.
Luthra joined CNBC-TV18 in June 2018 as assistant editor, later rising to senior editor and chief of bureau, a position he held for over two years. Before that, he worked with Republic TV and CNN-News18.
He said he plans to take a short break before embarking on his next professional chapter.
