News Broadcasting
BBC celebrates 70 years of broadcasting in Brazil
MUMBAI: BBC Brasil celebrates its 70th anniversary by hosting four special debates in the cities of Brasília and São Paulo, starting 12 March 2008.
BBC Brasil head Rogério Simões says, “BBC Brasil is 70, and I am very proud of how far we have come since 1938. Our aim has always been to help our audience understand the relevant issues behind the news and their consequences.
“In turn, our audiences keep telling us that they see us as fresh, innovative and reliable broadcasters, connected to the world and with these debates we aim to prove these credentials once again. Our online operations go from strength to strength, and in January 2008, we received 4.2 million visitors to bbcbrasil.com and from content on our Brazilian partner websites.
“We are also reaching new audiences with video on Bandeirantes TV and our radio output has a loyal listenership. We invite all our radio, online and TV audiences to engage with the debates.”
The BBC Brasil debates will discuss “The Giant Neighbour: Brazil and South America,” “Journalism in the 21st Century: Objectivity and Subjectivity,” “Freedom of Speech: Limits of Journalism in the 21st Century” and “The New Journalism: Convergence and Interactivity.”
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.
