News Broadcasting
Aaj Tak leads HSM market share from week 1-10 ’22: Barc
Mumbai: Aaj Tak had the highest market share amongst eight opt-in Hindi news channels from week 1-10 in 2022, according to the data shared by Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) India.
The data shows that Aaj Tak had a market share of 25.3 per cent, followed by TV9 Bharatvarsh at 21.4 per cent and Republic TV with a 19.9 per cent share. The data was for the Hindi-speaking market, 15+ target audience, NCCS All. Aaj Tak also had the highest market share in urban and rural markets at 27 per cent and 23.2 per cent share, respectively.
As per Barc, Aaj Tak’s coverage since the beginning of the year 2022 has reached 10 crore viewers every week (TG 2+). The latest data released by Barc for news channels is governed by an augmented data reporting standard which has a four-week rolling average.
Barc India has released data for individual news channels after a 17-month hiatus. The TV audience measurement agency had also agreed to release the past 13 weeks of data after consultation with industry stakeholders. However, many news channels including India TV, News18 India, ABP News, Good News Today, News 24, and NDTV India have opted out of past data. NDTV India has completely pulled out of Barc ratings.
(Source: BARC; TG: 15+ NCCS All; Market: HSM; Period: Wk 1-10’22; 8 Opt-in Hindi News Channels)
(Source: BARC; TG: 2+ NCCS All; Market; India Period: Wk 1-10’22; Cume Rch (Crores); 8 Opt-in Hindi News Channels)
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.
