News Broadcasting
ABP News Network overhauls ABP Live team to elevate digital content
MUMBAI: ABP News Network’s digital platform, ABP Live, is restructuring its workforce. Vijay Jung Thapa will be the chief digital officer. With a professional experience of over 25 years, he will be spearheading ABP’s new and refined vision on the digital front.
With an aim to take ABP’s digital assets to newer milestones, Ramakrishnan Laxman will be taking over as AVP-Digital Media. Allen Sharma will be taking over the new role of Head – Digital Revenues. In this role, he will be accountable for Direct Sales, Digital Revenues, Programmatic Monetization and Brand Solution Monetization.
Furthermore, Tushar Banerjee has been appointed as the Head- Digital Content Strategy. He will ensure ABP Live’s Content and Social Media verticals with emphasis on programming pipeline, growth in viewership and monetization.
The platform operates 8 web portals in 6 different languages. ABP Live is implementing this step to transform their digital division and improve the effectiveness of their intellectual property.
Since its inception in December 2013, the digital arm of ABP News Network has championed issues on multiple spectrums – may it be social, political, environmental or cultural. ABP Live has kept its viewers engaged through Live TV, on-cue updates and real-time news on various social media platforms. In the same vein, ABP News Network’s regional penetration has also ensured the burgeoning success of its digital front.
To have a sharper edge in the digital era, ABP News Network is acting as the frontrunner in transforming and upgrading the platform. The hierarchy in the digital sphere of ABP News Network is undergoing a special makeover. This move will help revolutionize digital news and ensure the channel is more viewer-centric and responsive towards its audience.
Speaking on the development, ABP News Network CEO Avinash Pandey said, “In an ever-growing digital era, it is crucial to evolve and keep up with the market pace. The main aim of this decision is to empower our workforce to revolutionize digital news through innovation. This digital push will also help us tap newer audiences and overall maximize the potential of our content. Through this step, we aim to elevate our intellectual property to create ground-breaking, viewer-driven content."
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.
