News Broadcasting
CNN-IBN to launch The Weekend Edition with Rajdeep Sardesai
MUMBAI: CNN-IBN is launching a weekend show ‘The Weekend Edition with Rajdeep Sardesai”. Starting on 12 July, the one-hour show will focus on the topics that matter to the citizens.
Hosted by Sardesai, the show will showcase the biggest stories of the week. It will be divided into five segments, starting with a discussion on the big story of the week.
This will be followed by feedback on the issue reflected through blogs ‘Blogger Talk’ and also via SMS from viewers in the section ‘Have Your Say’. The show will also profile the newsmaker of the week and will conclude with an editorial called ‘Our Take’ and image of the week in ‘Parting Shot’.
“This show will give the viewers an opportunity to voice their opinions, ask questions and participate in the discussion by emailing the anchor directly,” CNN-IBN said in a release.
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.
