News Broadcasting
Anil Uniyal is CNBC-TV18 and Awaaz CEO
NEW DELHI: Network18 will have a chief executive officer for its two business news channels, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz, as it prepares for its next phase of growth in a marketplace that is crowded with new entrants.
The company has elevated Anil Uniyal to the newly created post. He will be responsible for the strategic, financial and operational management of the channels and will report into Network18 Group COO B Saikumar.
Earlier, as Network18 Media COO and TV18 Media Operation business head, Uniyal was leading the commercial arm of the Group, with responsibilities for driving the topline for the CNBC channels and Forbes India.
As part of the restructuring, the company recently moved Ajay Chacko, who was playing a critical role in looking after CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz and Forbes India, to its new joint venture company AETN18 as its president.
On Uniyal’s promotion, Saikumar said, “Anil has been one of the key executives involved in the growth of Network18‘s business news channels – CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz since their respective launches. He is now expected to steer the channels into a whole new phase of leadership and profitability and I am sure that he will be equal to this challenge.”
Added Uniyal, “I believe that, as in the last decade, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz will lead a new phase of innovation and growth in the business news space and I look forward to working with the channel editorial and business teams to further strengthen our market “
Uniyal has over a decade of experience in sales and strategy and has been with Network18 since 2001. He has played a leadership role in building different revenue verticals for Network18 – from inventory sales to setting up the customised solutions business for the CNBC channels and other business brands in the Group.
He began his career as an entrepreneur, running a media services and consulting enterprise.
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.
