News Broadcasting
Aaj Tak launches new crime show ‘Vardaat’
MUMBAI: Crime shows are the order of the day. Aaj Tak has introduced a new crime show – Vardaat after the overwhelming success of Jurm.
Vardaat will be a 30-minutes daily weekday show on news from the world of crime and will be aired at 11 pm. The show will focus on different kinds of crime based stories from all over India especially from the North and the metros.
Vaardaat will be sub-divided into segments each focusing on different kinds of crime. The program will begin with one or two leading stories of the day, following which there would be special segments Dafan File and Safedposh Mujrim, which will deal with unsolved crime stories and white-collar crimes respectively.
Special stories on Forensic Investigation will be part of Taftish whereas Mafia will be a feature on criminal gangs. Finally, the segment Khas Report will feature stories on crime committed against women.
Aaj Tak senior marketing manager Rajesh Sheshadari sais, “Crime-based programmes are increasingly becoming very popular. The performance of Jurm is a case in point. Viewers are showing a keen appetite in crime related news. With Vardaat we will provide them with a day-to-day update on crime, whereas Jurm will continue to remain as a weekly show with focus on in-depth investigative coverage.”
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.
