News Broadcasting
ABC News Now expands to Europe
MUMBAI: As part of its international expansion plans, ABC News has launched its international service ABC News Now in three European territories on the internet service Zattoo.
The service will be initially available in Germany, Spain and Belgium but would soon expand its reach into additional markets including UK in the next six months.
Showing keen interest in the international markets, ABC had earlier announced plans to launch in India, which is still awaiting regulatory approval.
“We plan on significantly increasing our international presence. It is critically important for our news coverage and our survival to expand overseas and into broadband band other digital platforms,” said ABC News senior VP digital Paul Slavin.
In October ABC opened seven new international bureaus in places that include Seoul, Rio de Janeiro, Dubai, New Delhi and Mumbai in India, Jakarta, Indonesia, and Nairobi, Kenya. All the international bureaus have a single correspondent known as digital reporter, who primarily creates content for the digital platforms.
Slavin further added, “There were not a lot of outlets for international stories when we were just serving our television newscasts and there were other ways to cover international stories. It is hard to justify a bureau in a country when maybe four stories a year get on the air. Now, with the internet and with the cost of distributing content getting so much cheaper, we see international as significant opportunity and we are making a significant investment to become an international organization.”
He said that they are looking for all types of distribution for the ABC News Now channel and content.
“Broadband is probably the easiest, but we will utilise every platform from cable, satellite, IPTV, broadband and mobile,” he said.
He stated that ABC is looking for content partnerships to help expand their international presence and customise their international services.
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.
