News Broadcasting
CNBC’s Harishree Mehta joins Times Now as assistant editor, stocks
MUMBAI:Mehta, who is a qualified chartered accountant (CA), is known for her indepth understanding of the stock markets and her ability to draw links and trends between the markets, policy and the macro-economic scenario, informs a media release.
At Times Now, Mehta will take charge of primetime business shows. On CNBC, she has been associated with shows such as Closing Bell, Mid-cap Radar, Classroom and Stocks and Money.
Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami said, “We are delighted to have Harishree on board. Without doubt she is one of the emerging stars in business television. Besides hosting our key business shows and events, Harishree will work closely with a team to bring value to our viewers by synergizing with the Economic Times & Reuters.”
Times Now is slated to be launched some time before the festive season.
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.
