News Broadcasting
Brighton gets ready for BBC Showcase 2005
MUMBAI: BBC Showcase, which claims to be the world’s largest television programme market hosted by a single distributor, begins in Brighton next weekend. 500 TV programme executives are expected to attend the event.
Buyers from around the globe will represent more than 100 broadcasters in over 80 countries. Representatives from broadcasters attending for the first time include Nigeria (Proudly Africa Media), Georgia (TVR), Croatia (RTL), Estonia (Estonia TV) and Ukraine (ICTV).
BBC Worldwide deputy CEO Mike Phillips said, “BBC Showcase has become an essential date in the international TV calendar. The number of delegates attending each year illustrates the continued support of our broadcasting partners around the world and the magnitude of the BBC brand. The BBC is unique in that it’s the only broadcaster capable of providing such variety and quality of programming.”
Delegates will be treated to an array of BBC premieres and special events including a gala night of dinner and dancing, celebrating the global success of BBC’s format Strictly Come Dancing. Local versions of this format are in production in Russia, Poland and Italy.
BBC Worldwide will unveil more than 600 hours of programming at the market, from across the BBC’s drama, entertainment, comedy, factual and children’s genres, including Sherlock Holmes, The Smoking Room, Timewatch, Genghis Khan, The Iceman Murder, Kidnapped and the groundbreaking Planet Earth.
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.
