News Broadcasting
China to promote home-made cartoons
MUMBAI: A circular issued by China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) emphasises improving the quality and quantity of domestically created cartoons, while at the same time limiting the introduction of overseas cartoons.
The move is expected to boost the domestic Chinese cartoon industry. As per the circular, TV stations are required to ensure that the proportion of Chinese produced to foreign produced cartoons broadcast in China exceeds 6:4.TV stations targeted at minors must show Chinese produced cartoons between 5 and 7 o’clock in the evening, says the circular. Beneficial policies have also been issued for Chinese companies that produce and publish cartoons, including special tax guidelines.
SARFT has already banned online gaming commercials and content from TV broadcasts and has likewise prohibited the airing of foreign produced programming during primetime.
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.
