News Broadcasting
Anita Kanwal turns producer with ‘Goonj Ateet Ki’
MUMBAI: Television actress Anita Kanwal seen in serials like Chanakya and Humraahi’ will produce Sony’s new serial Goonj Ateet Ki. The show premieres on the channel from 1 November.
Goonj Ateet ki, scripted by writer Sutapa Sikdar of Banegi Apni Baat fame is a family drama set in Kerala with an element of supernatural thrill. Directed by Leena Yadav, it stars Surekha Sikri, Ritu Raj Singh, Payal Nair besides Kanwal herself in a key role.
Kanwal has set up her production banner Small Screen Productions. This was accomplished with help from Vicky Tejwani, who had co-produced Safar and Mohandas BA LLB and ex-head of Zee Music and Zee Cinema Kailash Gandhi, who has directed shows like Chalo Cinema and Ikke Pe Ikka,
Kanwal is the creative head of Small Screen Productions and looks into all the creative inputs that go into software productions. Kanwal however has not hung up her acting boots and is also doing Kalpana Lajmi’s Kyon .
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.
