News Broadcasting
CNBC-TV18 to launch ‘War of Words’ with Karan Thapar
MUMBAI: CNBC-TV18 is launching a current affairs debate show War of Words on 23 August. Airing every Saturday at 8 pm, the show is hosted by Karan Thapar. War of Words will see politicians discuss issues of national importance.
The show is divided in three segments. The first segment will contain the views and counter-views of the guests on the topic of the day. This will be followed by audience interaction and finally the guests will discuss the solution to the issue.
CNBC-TV18 and CNBC AWAAZ VP marketing Neel Chowdhury said “With War of Words, we now offer our viewers a balanced viewpoint on the current issues. By adding this new show on CNBC-TV18’s weekend programming, we are now providing our viewers a complete perspective on week gone by and help them plan forward. Now, the discerning CNBC-TV18 viewer can be well informed, and jumpstart their new week fuelled with this new power packed lineup.”
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.
