News Broadcasting
Infomedia’s Chip’s journos get marching orders
MUMBAI: And so the pink slips continue at the Network18 group. Clear signs that the company is trying to bring efficiencies into what was once a bloated organisation. This time the layoffs have happened at Infomedia 18, the group’s publishing arm, which has laid off journos at Chip magazine today. The journos were given marching orders but were given three months severance pay in order to allow them to tide over until they get another job.
Employees of chip magazine have finally heard what they have been expecting from a long time
“The mood has been depressing since very long and people had started looking out months ago,” says a former employee. Currently, five people were running Chip and all of them were asked to leave. Other magazines such as T3 India, AV Max, could be next in line for layoffs. Two magazines which have not been affected by the turmoil apparently are – Better Photography and Overdrive – which reportedly are generating good revenues while the fate of others is in hanging on the ledge, says an industry source.
Infomedia 18 had previously shut down its printing press as well as other assets such as Yellow Pages to cut down on its expenses.
Calls to Network18 group CEO Sai Kumar and IBN Broadcast COO Ajay Chacko went unheeded.
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.
