News Broadcasting
IBF meeting with 3AofI and Tam, Intam on as scheduled
The alleged TRP scam has literally become a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is up to. Chaos reigned when the TAM and Intam sample lists were systematically leaked by vested interests. Chaos reigns even today when efforts are being made to come to a consensus on the future course of action about viewership ratings.
First a meeting of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation with the Advertising Agencies Association of India (3Aof I) and the market research agencies was announced. Then it was called off if one went by press reports and news releases from the IBF.
Now apparently, the meeting is on and IBF members and rating agencies’ representatives are slated to meet tomorrow (14 September) as scheduled. This was confirmed by senior IBF members, and TAM representatives.
However, strangely 3Aof I officials had not been informed that the calling off of the meeting had been called off. “We have not been informed that the meeting is on,” said a senior 3Aof I official.
According to sources the IBF secretariat had earlier informed the 3Aof I that the meeting had been cancelled, but then the decision had been reversed.
We obviously have not heard the last of TRPs.
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.
