News Broadcasting
CNN ties up with Suzuki for online football campaign
MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN is teaming up with Suzuki to launch ‘Football Fanzone’. This is an interactive online special where supporters worldwide can come together to share their love of the game at www.cnn.com/footballfanzone.
The Football Fanzone allows users to check out the latest results, tables and other statistics. Features include ‘player of the week’ and ‘team of the week’, while CNN sports anchor Pedro Pinto’s exclusive ‘Goal Mouth’ blog will bring insights from behind the scenes – the scoops, the big interviews and all the gossip.
In addition, fans can submit their pictures and videos as well as commentary which, if selected, will be posted on the site to be shared with millions of fellow fans around the world. Users can also cast their votes in polls and forums designed to gauge global reaction to hotly debated football issues.
CNN ad sales Asia Pacific VP William Hsu says, “Football is without question the world’s most popular sport and we are delighted to launch this interactive forum in association with Suzuki Motor Corporation for millions of fans around the globe. CNN.com continues to lead the field in global online news sites and this new initiative allows Suzuki Motor Corporation perfect reach to our audience who enjoy high disposable incomes and are proven regular purchasers.”
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.
