News Broadcasting
BBC Worldwide announces new management team in Hong Kong
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has announced that following a review of its organisational structure in Hong Kong, it has appointed a new management team, reporting to managing director Asia Pacific David Vine.
Pierre Cheung has been appointed to the new role of senior business development manager. He will be responsible for new business development initiatives across the Asian region working with the television, content and production and new media divisions and the sales teams in Hong Kong. Pierre and his team will also be responsible for the TV business in China , Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Linfield Ng is the senior television sales manager and will manage the television sales team responsible for sales across Asia, excluding China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Freda Chan will continue to manage the publishing and licensing businesses.
Helen Wong is the senior finance and administration manager. She will provide business and financial support and guidance to the sales teams and operational support staff in Hong Kong and is responsible for the overall administration of the office.
Zwanenberg will return to his role in BBC World as regional director, Distribution and Business Development, responsible for the channel’s development across Asia and will continue to work from the Hong Kong office.
BBC Worldwide MD, Asia Pacific, David Vine said, “I would like to congratulate the team on their new appointments and look forward to growing our business further in this important region for BBC Worldwide. In addition, I would like to offer special thanks to acting GM Nic van Zwanenberg for his invaluable support over the past 4 months and his contribution to BBC Worldwide’s business in Asia during this period of transition.”
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.
