News Broadcasting
CNN-IBN to air show on Olympics gold medalist Bindra
MUMBAI: CNN-IBN is celebrating the victory of India’s first ever individual gold medalist Abhinav Bindra. The English news channel will air an hour-long show Abhinav Bindra-The Goldfinger with Rajdeep Sardesai.
Airing on 29 August at 8 pm, the show will unfold 13 years of rigorous practice, dedication and never ending hope that went into making Abhinav Bindra the 10 meter air rifle gold medal champion.
In the show, Sardesai will talk to Bindra’s parents, teachers and coach. The show will engage sports enthusiasts and school children from across the country to ask questions to Bindra. Bindra will speak his heart out with Sardesai sharing his hidden talent of painting and other such facts.
IBN Network editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai says, “The show Abhinav BIndra -The Goldfinger is a celebration of the moment that Abhinav Bindra brought to the country. The show gives a peek into Abhinav’s life beyond the shooting range from his parents, school teachers and coach”.
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.
