News Broadcasting
‘CNN working to build India content’
CNN International, which lags far behind other international news channels like CNBC and the BBC World in India, aims to expand its coverage of the subcontinent, Anshuman Mishra, managing director of Turner International India, has said.
He made his comments while attending the ‘Eureka 2001’ awards ceremony in Mumbai on Monday organised by the Entrepreneurship Cell of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, in association with CNN and Avendus.
Responding to queries on why the ratings of CNN had failed to pick up in comparison to CNBC and BBC, he said he had yet to go through the details of the rating. “But we are working to built the Indian content. Other channels like TCM Cartoon Network are doing well,” Mishra said, indicating that at this juncture the ratings issue was no paramount to CNN’s opeartions.
Ranjita Menon, marketing communication manager, South Asia, while echoing Mishra on the rartings issue, said shows like Q & A at prime time were doing extremely well. “We get responses from all parts India. The special show for the Gujarat earthquake was well received. Other India related programes like CNN India dotcom and Style South Asia are also doing well. We are looking forward to more India related programmes,” Menon said.
On the issue of outsourcing of content from Indian producers like Bharat Bala Productions, Menon said that for now they were providing fillers only.
“We reach around 5 million homes in India, while we are the leader in Asia”, Menon said. Quoting figures from The Asian Target Market Survey 2000 (ATMS) conducted by AC Nielsen, Menon said CNN International reaches 38 per cent of upscale business people in Asia on a monthly basis compared to CNBC’s 20 per cent and BBC World’s 19 per cent.
The association with Eureka 2001 is the first major on-ground initiative by CNN in India. “We are looking forward to supporting budding entrepreneurs in India. These awards are just one step in that direction. The winners will be taken to Silicon Vally where they will actually be presenting their products to prospective investors,” Menon said.
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.
