News Broadcasting
‘Balle-Balle’ claims top slot amongst Punjabi channels
MUMBAI: It has balle-balle’d’ its way to top, or so it claims. India’s first 24-hour non-stop Punjabi music channel- Balle-Balle, launched on 14 October 2002, claims to be the market leader amongst the Punjabi channels.
With it’s reach soaring from 1,00,000 households to one million cable and satellite (C&S) households, 4 + target group, for week 7 March 04 to 13 March 2004, the channel is said to be attracting 34 per cent of the total Punjabi eye balls.
Quoting Tam ratings data, the channel claims that it is, in fact, the most watched channel. With its 33 per cent share, the erstwhile numero uno channel ETC Punjabi is now placed at number two, albeit in a segment of the market
While MH1 is in the third place with 18 per cent of the total share, Alpha Punjabi comes fourth with 15 per cent.
According to the ratings data, Balle-Balle’s reach averages 0.3 TVR in C&S TG 4+ with 2.14 shares. It has garnered 0.29 TVR in TG 15+ C&S homes. The channel claims that in the total market universe group, Balle-Balle has a 1.97 and 1.66 per cent share in TG 4+ and 15 + respectively.
WKFR:11;WKTO:11;YEARFR:2004;YEARTO:2004;DATEFR:07/03/2004;
DATETO:13/03/2004
11:CHANNEL SHARES BY DAYPART / TARGE Target Group
TG_1 TG_2
CS 4+ YRS CS 15+ YRS
Channel TVR Share TVR Share
*PHCHP 1 MN.+ (FROM Universe
Alpha Punjabi 0.28 2.01 0.29 2.08
Balle Balle 0.3 2.14 0.29 2.07
ETC Punjabi 0.5 3.58 0.45 3.23
MH1 0.29 2.09 0.29 2.09
*PHCHP .1 TO 1MN. (F Universe
Alpha Punjabi 0.12 0.85 0.15 1.04
Balle Balle 0.27 1.92 0.23 1.55
ETC Punjabi 0.26 1.88 0.27 1.87
MH1 0.14 0.97 0.15 1.04
TOTAL MARKET Universe
Alpha Punjabi 0.15 1.11 0.18 1.26
Balle Balle 0.27 1.97 0.24 1.66
ETC Punjabi 0.31 2.25 0.31 2.16
MH1 0.17 1.21 0.18 1.26
Interestingly, while Balle-Balle had bagged 1.66 of the total universe shares, ETC Punjabi has 2.16 of channel shares.
While the channel might tout that it is on its way up, what remains to be seen is if it is able to sustains the growth spurt.
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: 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.
