News Broadcasting
Aaj Tak relaunches ‘Seedhi Baat’
MUMBAI: TV Today Network has relaunched its big-ticket Hindi show Seedhi Baat. The show will be hosted by Sweta Singh, news anchor and executive editor of special programming at Aaj Tak.
The first episode of the show, which will air at 8 pm on 24 March, will feature BJP president Amit Shah as the guest.
TV Today Network managing editor Supriya Prasad said, “Seedhi Baat aims to have blunt straight talk with various leaders of the industry. It embodies a tough-as-nails approach to interviews. One-on-one hard-hitting conversations with powerful leaders, celebrities, tycoons and so forth as opposed to noisy debates.”
The guests in Seedhi Baat will be from across a variety of sectors – UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia to name a few from politics and Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan from Bollywood while Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya from the world of sports. The channel intends to approach prime minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
“Sweta is one of our most experienced journalists. She has tremendous exposure to news coverage. She has interviewed politicians, cricketers, international leaders, actors. But above all, her style of interviewing is direct without being fierce. She asks straight questions but does not shout down her guests,” added Prasad.
The promotions of the show will run all through the year. The network will also have a driver program running up to the 2019 elections. Out of home campaigns will run in Delhi and major cities in Uttar Pradesh as well as the old mix of outdoor, TV, radio, print and social media.
Speaking on the opportunity, Singh said, “I will be direct, tough and assertive. But I don’t believe in cutting my guest mid sentence. Seedhi Baat is a huge brand and I will put in all efforts to uphold the dignity, neutrality and credibility of the show.”
She believes that the show will deliver what the audiences are looking for. “The audiences want to hold power to account. They want honest answers. They want to see the reality, the truth. Seedhi Baatpromises to deliver all of that. It’s assertive but not noisy. The show has a proud history. It has had leaders like Narendra Modi facing tough questions. It featured superstars of the stature of Salman Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. Our Seedhi Baat with them is still etched in public memory,” she said.
Seedhi Baat is iconic for its earlier host Prabhu Chawla who won several awards for the show and for his style of asking direct and to-the-point questions. After his departure from the India Today group in 2010, the show was taken over by MJ Akbar.
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News Broadcasting
Network18 channels lead YouTube news viewership in March 2026
CNN-News18, News18 India and CNBC channels top categories with record views
MUMBAI: When the world hit refresh on breaking news, Network18’s channels were already streaming ahead. As geopolitical tensions and war-driven headlines fuelled a surge in global news consumption, the network’s digital playbook delivered big clocking record Youtube viewership across English, Hindi and business news categories in March 2026.
At the forefront was CNN-News18, which emerged as the clear leader in the English news segment with 130 million live and video-on-demand views. The channel edged past competitors such as Times of India (126.5 million), Times Now (101.1 million), India Today (88.2 million) and NDTV (77.5 million), according to Databeings data for March.
In the Hindi news arena, News18 India delivered a commanding performance, racking up a staggering 3,297 million views on YouTube. The channel comfortably outpaced NDTV India, which recorded 3,119 million views, underlining its deep reach and consistent engagement with mass audiences, as per Playboard data.
The network’s dominance wasn’t confined to general news. In the Hindi business segment, CNBC Awaaz topped the charts with 92 million views, narrowly ahead of Zee Business (90 million) and well ahead of ET Now Swadesh (57 million). Meanwhile, its English counterpart CNBC-TV18 posted a strong 58 million views, reinforcing the network’s cross-category strength.
The spike in viewership reflects a broader shift in audience behaviour, with viewers increasingly turning to digital platforms particularly Youtube for real-time updates and in-depth coverage during high-intensity news cycles. For Network18, the numbers signal more than just scale; they underline the effectiveness of a multi-platform strategy that blends speed, credibility and continuous coverage.
In a month where the news never paused, it seems viewers chose to stay tuned where the stream never stopped.
