News Broadcasting
10,000 Pakistanis take part in BBC audience campaign
MUMBAI: The BBC’s attempt to create further awareness about its radio service in Pakistan has paid off. Around 10,000 people took part in the BBC Urdu service’s month-long audience campaign across Pakistan.
Its campaign BBC Sangat… Kahain Aap Sunain Hum (You Say, We Listen) covered thousands of kilometres to meet the Pakistani audiences face-to-face, engaging people from local communities in discussions on the issues affecting their lives.
The events held in Baluchistan, Sindh, Punjab, Kashmir, North-West Frontier Province and Northern Areas were broadcast daily on the BBC Urdu service’s popular programme, Sairbeen, and featured online on the world’s leading Urdu-language site, bbcurdu.com.
BBC Urdu acting head Waheed Mirza said, “It was a great learning opportunity for our programme-makers, as they came face to face with people who listen to our output. It was also heartening to learn about the many ways the BBC touches upon its audiences – and the importance they attach to how we report news.”
People travelled hundreds of miles to meet their favourite presenters and share their views. BBC Urdu Radio editor Shahzeb Jillani says that meeting them was exhilarating. “These people humbled us with their enthusiasm, their respect for the BBC brand and their appreciation of the quality of broadcasting we provide.
“The campaign also enabled us for the first time to meet our new listeners: people in their early-to-mid twenties. Many of them are university students: serious, well-informed, curious about the world, and looking to us to widen their knowledge and enhance their aspirations.”
BBC Urdu broadcasts three times a day. Its flagship programme Sairbeen which airs everyday provides news and current affairs. Jahanuma, which starts at 6.30 am, is a 30-minute daily breakfast programme which sets the day’s news agenda. At the end of the day there is Shabnama. This half an hour show provides a round-up of the main events starting at 10.30 PM In addition, BBC Urdu brings listeners weekly magazine features on sports, science and economy that can also be accessed through www.bbcurdu.com.
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.
