News Broadcasting
CNBC show pits management students against corporate honchos
NEW DELHI: Business channel CNBC-TV18 has introduced a new game show titled ‘The Challenge’.Hosted by quizmaster and television personality Derek O’ Brien, the quiz show will witness management students taking on experienced corporate managers.
The Challenge has been conceptualized with the aim of placing today’s managers and the managers of tomorrow on the same platform. The show will uncover whether management students have in them the confidence, wit and mettle to outsmart today’s managers.
Interested students and managers from Corporate India can register themselves on www.moneycontrol.com/thechallenge/ <http://www.moneycontrol.com/thechallenge/> for a quick online test to qualify for the contest. Each round will have one team from a leading B-School take on a team from a leading corporate. Each team will comprise two participants. The winner of the round will then have an option to play a ‘double-or-quits’; they will either have to stay on and face the next round or, an option for the weak-hearted- opt out at that stage. The prizes at stake increase with each level of quizzing and the team that survives through all the rounds stands to win a mega prize.
Speaking on the occasion, an official spokesperson said, “The Challenge is a unique platform where business acumen clashes with mental agility; theoretical knowledge will be pitted against practical experience. After the resounding success of Trial By Fire, this initiative intends to be yet another exciting addition, focusing on the management community. Initiatives such as The Challenge, promote the level of interactivity and connectivity between the channel and its growing audiences.”
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.
