News Broadcasting
ABC News to shorten staff by 25 per cent
MUMBAI: ABC News, a Walt Disney Company, will shortly reduce its news-gathering staff through buyouts and layoffs.
Employees of the company fear that the cutbacks would affect 300 to 400 people of the news division.
A spokesman said that the cuts at ABC are among the steepest ever made at a network news division. The current workforce of ABC News is roughly around 1,500 people.
Said ABC News president David Westin in an interview that the reductions were an effort to get ahead of economic pressures squeezing the broadcast business.
Calling the cutbacks as a “fundamental transformation”, Westin said, “The time has come to rethink how we do what we are doing.”
Westin also said that the news division was not in extreme economic duress. “ABC News has always kept its head above water, even in really bad times,” he said.
He, however, did not comment on reports that the goal was a 20 per cent cost reduction across the board at ABC News.
For decades, the network news divisions have suffered audience erosion, the result of competition from cable, the Internet and changing consumer habits.
Earlier this month CBS News, said that it was laying off dozens of employees.
ABC plans to combine its weekday and weekend staffs of “Good Morning America” and “World News,” and rely more heavily on freelancers for newsmagazines like “20/20.”
The network will also further reduce its news bureau structure by replacing some bureaus with more flexible so-called digital journalists who work on their own in foreign capitals.
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.
