News Broadcasting
BBC online radio benefits from Ashes coverage
MUMBAI: Live coverage of The Ashes contributed to another record month of online listening to BBC Radio in the UK. Desk-bound cricket fans kept up-to-date with England’s progress.
Five Live Sports Extra and Radio 4 LW both eclipsed their previous online listening records by more than 300 per cent in August, notching up two million and 250,000 hours of live online listening respectively.
The networks’ figures – buoyed by office workers keen to follow the action on the Internet – contributed to a monthly total of 16.1 million hours of live and on demand listening.
BBC 7’s wide range of programming in August – from a Little Britain night to a Bill Nighy weekend – brought increased traffic to the station’s website, with more than 460,000 unique user agents visiting during the month.
Between them they consumed more than a million hours of BBC 7 on demand and secured the network six programmes in August’s On Demand Top 30.
This year’s Proms attracted more than 385,000 on demand listens – a 66 per cent increase on last year.
News Broadcasting
Network18 channels lead YouTube news viewership in March 2026
CNN-News18, News18 India and CNBC channels top categories with record views
MUMBAI: When the world hit refresh on breaking news, Network18’s channels were already streaming ahead. As geopolitical tensions and war-driven headlines fuelled a surge in global news consumption, the network’s digital playbook delivered big clocking record Youtube viewership across English, Hindi and business news categories in March 2026.
At the forefront was CNN-News18, which emerged as the clear leader in the English news segment with 130 million live and video-on-demand views. The channel edged past competitors such as Times of India (126.5 million), Times Now (101.1 million), India Today (88.2 million) and NDTV (77.5 million), according to Databeings data for March.
In the Hindi news arena, News18 India delivered a commanding performance, racking up a staggering 3,297 million views on YouTube. The channel comfortably outpaced NDTV India, which recorded 3,119 million views, underlining its deep reach and consistent engagement with mass audiences, as per Playboard data.
The network’s dominance wasn’t confined to general news. In the Hindi business segment, CNBC Awaaz topped the charts with 92 million views, narrowly ahead of Zee Business (90 million) and well ahead of ET Now Swadesh (57 million). Meanwhile, its English counterpart CNBC-TV18 posted a strong 58 million views, reinforcing the network’s cross-category strength.
The spike in viewership reflects a broader shift in audience behaviour, with viewers increasingly turning to digital platforms particularly Youtube for real-time updates and in-depth coverage during high-intensity news cycles. For Network18, the numbers signal more than just scale; they underline the effectiveness of a multi-platform strategy that blends speed, credibility and continuous coverage.
In a month where the news never paused, it seems viewers chose to stay tuned where the stream never stopped.
