News Broadcasting
BBC Showcase to have record number of buyers at Brighton
MUMBAI: BBC Showcase which claims to be the world’s largest television programme market hosted by a single broadcaster, will play host to a record 480 of the world’s top TV programme buying executives. This number represents a 10 per cent increase on last year’s attendance.
Buyers will come from countries such as India, Chile, japan, Thailand, US, Australia. Now in its 28th year, the four-day event gets underway at the Brighton Centre on 22 February. The market is expected to generate sales in the region of ?50 million for BBC Worldwide. In all over 100 broadcasters in over 80 countries will be represented.
BBC Worldwide CEO Rupert Gavin had the following remarks to make the market. “This year’s record-breaking attendance figure illustrates the continued support of our broadcasting partners around the world, the magnitude of the BBC brand, and the importance the market has in the international TV calendar. The BBC is unique in that it’s the only broadcaster capable of providing such variety and quality of programming.”
BBC Worldwide will unveil more than 600 hours of BBC programming at the market, from across the BBC’s drama, entertainment, comedy, factual children’s and music genres. Programmes include Hustle,Nighty Night, Shoebox Zoo, D-Day, Walking with Spacemen, The Divine Michelangelo and Animal Games. In india viewers can catch Walking With Dinosaurs on Pogo.
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.
