News Broadcasting
CNN Digital appoints new head of CNN Digital Asia
MUMBAI: CNN Digital has appointed Brett McKeehan as Director, CNN Digital Asia. Based in Hong Kong, McKeehan will lead the Asia-Pacific team and have editorial responsibility for content coming from teams across the region for CNN Digital’s global audience. McKeehan will work closely with CNN’s digital teams in London, Abu Dhabi, New York and Atlanta.
McKeehan will build on and strengthen the robust and impactful journalism already produced by the Hong Kong bureau. He will lead an audience and data centric approach to editorial strategy and maintain CNN’s Digital reputation as the world’s most trusted news source.
Before joining CNN, McKeehan worked at South China Morning Post as the Online Editor where he greatly expanded the team and substantially increased the reach of SCMP both in its home market and abroad. He also led the design, build and rollout of multi-platform editorial CMS for content production. Before that he was with NewsCorp in Australia after a stint with The Sun newspaper in the UK.
Executive Editor of CNN Digital, International Inga Thordar: “Brett’s editorial experience, understanding of the region and dedication to putting the audience at the core of everything we do, positions him for great success leading our Asia-Pacific region. His multi-platform skills perfectly complement the approach we are taking at CNN Digital internationally, and we are thrilled to have him join our team.”
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.
