News Broadcasting
Animax reaches eight million homes in four days
Mumbai: Just how the strong the One Alliance distribution bouquet is can be gauged from this piece of news. Animax, which gives viewers the best that Japanese animation has to offer was able to achieve a reach of over eight million cable and satellite homes within four days of its launch.
Animax reaches 90 per cent of India’s five metros, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore, stated a press release.
The success of Animax is significant due to the current competitive environment, where, the cable operators don’t want to carry new channels due to their capacity constraints, quoted the media release.
SET Discovery president, Shantonu Aditya added “Amongst the niche channels that have been launched in the recent past, the initial reach of Animax has probably been the best. Within the next few weeks, we want to double this connectivity and reach 16 million households nationally,” informed
Animax has three key prime time blocks catering to viewers of different ages and the special programming on weekends. The channel completely dubbed in English features animation works by Japan’s top producers and studios, including global successes such as Astro Boy, Gundam and Dragon Ball. In addition to English, the 4-hour time block targeting kids have programmes dubbed in Hindi.
As reported earlier by indiantelevision.com the channel had roped in Irfan Pahtan as its brand ambassador.
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.
