News Broadcasting
India Today to premiere short films portraying India tomorrow
MUMBAI: Established Bollywood directors namely Imitiaz Ali, Pradeep Sarkar, Rohan Sippy, Hansal Mehta and Meghna Gulzar have joined hands to create short films for the mobile generation. The short three minute films have been created to portray their expression of IndiaTomorrow.
Focused on the future of the nation, the different directors bring their unique storytelling styles in these short mobile format films touching a million hearts across mobile, digital and the television medium.
Speaking on the films, India Today Group editorial director broadcast and new media Kalli Purie said, “The films reflect the spirit of IndiaToday that is constantly creating a better and more promising India Tomorrow. I would like to thank the directors for sharing their vision through these films.”
The movies provide a reflection of the curent times and a gaze into the future through the eyes of the different masters.
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.
