News Broadcasting
ICC Champions Trophy: Standard Chartered Bank signed as regional official sponsor
MUMBAI: Global Cricket Corporation (GCC), the commercial partner of the International Cricket Council (ICC), has roped in Standard Chartered Bank as the regional official sponsor of the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 for various territories in Asia including India.
As regional official sponsor, Standard Chartered Bank will receive on-ground sponsorship benefits like category exclusivity in all the relevant territories, branding and signage, tickets and hospitality, benefits and protections, informs an official release.
ICC president Percy Sonn says, “We are thrilled that Standard Chartered Bank has joined the ICC’s family of supporters by becoming an Official Sponsor. Cricket’s ability to attract a world-renowned brand such as Standard Chartered to become an Official Sponsor is a demonstration of the game’s global appeal and health.”
GCC MD Ian Frykberg says, “We are delighted to welcome Standard Chartered Bank to the family of ICC Champions Trophy 2006 sponsors and their support demonstrates their ongoing commitment to sports.”
Standard Chartered Bank India CEO Neeraj Swaroop adds, “With Partnership and Teamwork being core values of the Standard Chartered brand, and given our track record of sponsoring sports events across the world we believe this is a wonderful opportunity to reach out to our stakeholders cutting across boundaries, age groups and socio economic classes.”
Says Nimbus Sport CEO Digvijay Singh, “This is Standard Chartered Bank’s second major sponsorship in cricket and Nimbus is pleased to have played a key role in bringing them into cricket sponsorships and into the ICC sponsor family.”
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.
