News Broadcasting
NDTV redefines excellence in 2024 election coverage
Mumbai: NDTV has once again proven its unmatched position as the premier destination for intelligent and meaningful news with its dynamic and captivating coverage during this election season. From breaking news to in-depth analyses, NDTV ignited the electoral fervour with “India Decides” and “Chunav India Ka,” presenting an electrifying array of innovative formats to comprehensively cover elections across states, featuring over 100 reporters and more than 1000 ground reports.
The programming commenced with “Battleground with Sanjay Pugalia,” spotlighting key political figures in major cities. NDTV’s “Election Carnival,” launched in April, covered over 11,000 kilometres and 50 cities, providing unparalleled electoral insights from the ground. The “Pledge to Vote” initiative mobilized corporate leaders from the likes of Jayen Mehta (MD, Amul), Ajay Bijli (MD, PVR Inox), Rohit Kapoor (CEO, Swiggy), and Nadir Godrej (Chairman and MD, Godrej Industries) to drive voter participation among employees.
This holistic election coverage featured trailblazers spanning various domains, leading the line-up was PM Narendra Modi who engaged with NDTV on multiple occasions along with key figures from the Union Cabinet such as the minister of home affairs Amit Shah, the minister of defence Rajnath Singh and the minister of external affairs Dr S Jaishankar. These interviews highlighted the government’s achievements, national security efforts, and future plans, offering viewers a comprehensive understanding of the political landscape. Following this, prominent figures like Chandrababu Naidu & Pawan Kalyan, Anurag Thakur, Piyush Goyal, Revanth Reddy, KC Venugopal, Milind Deora, Amitabh Kant and Sachin Pilot also shared their insights, further enriching the coverage.
Additionally, we traveled 7,400 kilometers through southern India, engaging with 39 prominent leaders across 19 Lok Sabha constituencies in 4 states, engaging with key figures such as Siddaramiah, Shashi Tharoor, Annamalai, and Vijayendra Yeddyurappa, focusing on regional issues and transformative development initiatives.
The interviews with PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, in particular, garnered extensive attention, with multi-million views across platforms, and achieved a social impression of over 3 billion as per Twitter Analytics.
For the two marquee days of the season, NDTV’s “Poll of Polls” aggregated exit poll data, offering a balanced and comprehensive view of voter preferences and electoral trends, crucial for voters and analysts alike, and the Counting Day coverage, with its campaign #ResultKyaRaha, amassed massive traction.
“NDTV has consistently upheld a legacy of trust and credibility, reinforcing its position as the premier destination for comprehensive election coverage. As this election season concludes, we are proud to have significantly contributed to shaping voter opinions. Through intelligent conversations, high-quality production, engaging interactions, and sharp, focused discussions, we stood out from the herd and made a real impact”, NDTV – editor-in-chief and CEO Sanjay Pugalia.
NDTV also launched some groundbreaking initiatives, such as the innovative #NDTV18KaVote engaged first-time voters with influential young leaders and the youth-centric “Yuva” conclave. Meanwhile, “Poll Curry with Kunal Vijaykar” offered a unique blend of politics and local cuisine, featuring dynamic discussions with prominent political personalities.
The comprehensive 360 campaign, backed by a Pan-India media plan, gained substantial traction across platforms and topped industry charts on many fronts:
. As per data from industry platform SimilarWeb, NDTV.com was the No.1 English news website, with a groundbreaking 23.3 million visits worldwide, far ahead of every other English news website in the country on June 4th 2024
. According to BARB, UK, NDTV 24×7 was the No. 1 Asian channel in the entire UK, achieving the highest reach among all Asian channels on June 4th 2024.
. On YouTube, NDTV 24×7 attracted a peak concurrency of 94k, far higher than most others in the industry. Source: Playboard. YouTube Peak Concurrency, 4th June. 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. (NDTV 24×7)
This comprehensive programming strategy and extensive marketing plan not only set NDTV apart in the industry but also made a significant contribution to the democratic process.
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.
