News Broadcasting
FremantleMedia appoints Andrew Piller as intl brand manager for ‘Planet Cook’
MUMBAI: FremantleMedia Licensing Worldwide (FLW), the licensing division of FremantleMedia has announced the appointment of Andrew Piller as International Brand Manager for the culinary adventure format, Planet Cook.
FremantleMedia is one of the largest international creators and producers of programme brands in the world including American Idol.
Piller will be responsible for managing and driving the Planet Cook brand around the world, both on and off screen, working in partnership with FremantleMedias production and licensing teams. Alice Whiteley.
FLW director acquisitions and development Alice Whiteley said, Planet Cook is a key brand for FremantleMedia, both in terms of production and
licensing. Andrews appointment is a further sign of our commitment to the development of the brand worldwide. We are really excited to have Andrew on board and we are confident that, with his talent and wealth of experience managing kids entertainment brands, he will be a fantastic asset to the company.
Planet Cook is a cookery adventure show for children where mealtime disappointments are a thing of the past. Set on a tropical island, each episode sees Captain Cook guide three young Cook Cadets as they create a meal against the clock. Eache is i recipnspired by the natural world from leaf-eating dinosaurs to volcanoes which gives Captain Cook the inspiration to create delicious dishes like Erupting Volcano Surprise.
All recipes have been analysed by independent, qualified nutritionists to fit within the context of a balanced, healthy diet. Planet Cook already claims to have a first class international broadcast platform in place. The BBC has commissioned 104 episodes of the show. This is the largest commission ever for the corporation outside of pre-school. Platinum Films and M4E have secured a format deal with German public broadcaster, ZDF. In addition, a tape deal has been struck with ABC in Australia for 52 episodes of the UK show.
The first series of Planet Cook recently finished on BBC1 where it regularly ranked as the top-rating childrens show in its timeslot. The show currently airs on CBBC at 12pm on Saturdays and Sundays and on ZDF at 11.45am on Saturdays.
Piller was previously Childrens Global Brand Manager at Chorion. He was responsible for the global strategic management of Enid Blytons portfolio including the Noddy TV brand.
Prior to this, he was Global Brand Manager at Hasbro, where he managed the development of the Action Man and Micro Machines brands worldwide and European Brand Manager, where he managed the direction of the Disney toy properties across Europe.
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.
