News Broadcasting
Sahara Media Group hires Alok Nair as chief commercial officer
MUMBAI: Sahara Media Group, which includes Sahara’s electronic news channel bouquet of national and regional channels, Rashtriya Sahara editions of Hindi newspapers, as well as Rashtriya Roznama editions of Urdu Newspapers are undergoing strategic and structural changes in terms of content, technology, branding and distribution. Under the process, the group has hired Shri Alok Nair as a Chief Commercial Officer. Shri Nair will contribute in evolving an effective commercial strategy for the Media network. Shri Nair comes with a strong experience in the field of Media broacasting of about two decades with Bennet & Coleman Group, Network 18 and Bloomberg TV India in the past.
On the ongoing changes, Guardian of the Sahara Media Group, Mr. Abhijit Sarkar said, “There is an evident change in media consumption habits, which needs to be understood, apprehended and calibrated to. We are confident that the current strategic changes undertaken the present team at Sahara Media Group will help in better leveraging the depth of our network along with notching up scales to current and future requirements of the viewers.”
Sahara Media Group, CEO & Editor In Chief of Mr. Arup Ghosh, said, “ Sahara Media group is one of the biggest full play media house in the country that cater to regional & national audiences through all mediums – Print, Digital & Broadcast. The group has always remained an Indian hallmark in terms of its technological investments and has one of the widest news gathering or dissemination network. With changes emerging in the entire space of news gathering, dissemination, analysis, presentation and consumption, we are on the path of reinventing ourselves and reclaiming the position, which we deserve, based on our intrinsic strengths. The last few months we have been focusing on content revamp and very soon our viewers will see an energized sharp product. Shri Alok Nair has joined the team and will work on evolving a robust sales and marketing strategy plus contribute towards creation of a robust marketing and branding strategy. We welcome Shri Alok Nair on board and are sure that his experience and skills will help us in achieving our goals.”
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.
