News Broadcasting
Brake it to make it Times Now hits the brakes on India’s reckless driving
MUMBAI: On India’s 79th Independence Day, Times Now chose to free the roads from a different kind of tyranny, the chaos of reckless driving. Through its auto vertical, Times Drive, the channel flagged off ‘Brake The Habit’, a nationwide road safety initiative that’s turning bus shelters and billboards into stern speed-breakers for public conscience.
The campaign was officially unveiled by union minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, who praised the effort as a timely nudge against habits that kill. The statistics are chilling according to the MORTH 2022 report, India sees over 4.61 lakh accidents annually, most linked to over-speeding, drunk driving, red-light jumping, and increasingly, the deadly distraction of mobile phones behind the wheel.
Planned as a six-month drive culminating in Road Safety Week in January 2026, the campaign goes beyond finger-wagging. It blends print, outdoor, digital, and Times Network’s broadcast platforms to hammer home the message. Billboards across metros bark warnings against overspeeding, while digital activations invite citizens to vote, opine, and even share stories of lifesaving interventions that prove responsible driving is cool, not boring.
Young drivers are firmly in the crosshairs. With colleges and universities as key partners, the campaign is designed to catch drivers before bad habits harden into deadly reflexes. Early phases focus on online and on-air pushes, building towards a big on-ground crescendo during Road Safety Week.
But this isn’t just about scare tactics. ‘Brake The Habit’ also celebrates empathy spotlighting acts of road courtesy, timely rescues, and human kindness that too often go unrecognised. It reframes road safety not as a chore but as a shared responsibility and even a source of pride.
As Gadkari reminded, and as Times Now underlines: safety starts with the driver, not the car. With one reckless swipe or a single overshoot of the speedometer, lives can change forever. By hitting the brakes on bad habits, the campaign hopes India’s drivers can accelerate towards something far more liberating roads that are safe for all.
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.
