News Broadcasting
Alice Manuel quits Escotoonz, to join Malaysian studio
NEW DELHI: Faridabad-based Escotoonz Animation Studios head of production, Alice Manuel has decided to leave the Indian animation industry.
Manuel, who has been involved with the operations of Escotoonz since its launch in 2001, will join Cyberjaya-located 3D animation studio Persistence of Vision, as general manager operations and international marketing.
In all, Manuel worked in India for five years. She had first joined UTV Toons in 1998.
On her stint in India, Manuel says, I am so glad I got an opportunity to work here. The animation industry had just started when I came here and it has grown rapidly. The international companies now definitely consider India as an option for outsourcing and co-production work.
She feels that Indian studios need to train more artists. Apart from training, the other critical issue is under cutting of rates by other competitors in India. Studios here will still depend on international clients. It is still early for Indian content to breakthrough in the international market and it may only happen after two to three more years, says Manuel.
Manuel, the only foreigner in Escotoonz, was instrumental in getting the studio is first international project ‘King’, a co-production with Canadas Funbag Animation Studios and Decode Entertainment, which was aired on Family Channel in August this year.
In fact, Manuels decision to leave Escotoonz follows the series of new projects, which studio is currently working on. Escotoonz has been allotted the animation production for the continuation of Kings first series, which will be a 26-episode, 23-minute series (first one was 13-episode 22-minute series). The work is expected to get over by expect to finish it by July, 2004.
The second project, under production, is a 36-episode series called ‘Cyber Dodo’, being done in partnership with UKs Sparkus Animations. The two studios are co-producers of this series with CyberDodo Productions.
In her new role, Manuel will oversee the entire operations, including production, training and marketing. POV, which is a division of Asias leading independent distributor Vision New Media (operating as a joint venture with the Multimedia University in Malaysias Multimedia Super Corridor), offers services in high-end post-production, visual effects production and motion capture.
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.
