News Broadcasting
CNN takes an in-depth look at Japan next month
MUMBAI: The week of 4 December 2006 on CNN marks a series of special programming focusing on the diversity and complexity of Japan. The news broadcaster presents a series of talk shows and feature programs in the initiative Japan Now that includes five consecutive episodes of Talk Asia from Monday through Friday, Revealed and Business Traveller over the weekend.
Talk Asia off the week of specials with the likes of Bulgarian sumo wrestler champion (Ozeki) Kotooshu, architect Tadao Ando, ‘Mr. Nintendo’ Shigeru Miyamoto, and R&B Japanese pop singer Ken Hirai. Revealed then catches up with Japan’s most internationally recognized football star Hideotoshi Nakata at the crossroad of his career. Recruited by Italy’s series A, the world’s toughest football league, after representing Japan in the World Cup in 1998, he was the first to show the world what Japanese players are capable of on the pitch. Shocking Japan with his early retirement, the program follows Nakata on a post-retirement trip around Asia.
Also known as the city of merchants, Business Traveller flies to Osaka, Japan, to feature one of the most expensive cities in the world. Correspondent Richard Quest follows a daily routine of a businessman and attempts to replicate the same day in Osaka on a shoestring budget. The show will also focus on foreign expatriates, asking for their tips on how to survive and thrive at business scenes in Japan.
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.
