News Broadcasting
Kartik Sharma to take over from Ajit Verghese in January 2014
MUMBAI: GroupM and Maxus has announced the new managing director for Maxus South Asia, Kartik Sharma. Sharma takes over the reins from current managing director Ajit Varghese wef January 2014, as Verghese moves into a new regional role as CEO Maxus Asia-Pacific.
Kartik moves up from Managing Partner, Maxus and will report into GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas and Verghese. He will also now be a part of the GroupM South Asia EXCO.
Commenting on Sharma’s Appointment, CVL Srinivas said, “Kartik has done a stellar job as managing partner, Maxus, working closely with Ajit in shaping the Maxus brand, creating client delight, winning several new businesses and helping Maxus dominate industry awards. I wish him the very best and also welcome him to the GroupM South Asia EXCO which will benefit immensely from his product knowledge and experience.”
On handing over the charge, Verghese added, “Kartik is an excellent choice for Maxus going forward especially considering his product strengths and client focus. A long standing employee of GroupM, he has the in-depth knowledge and insight of what is needed to take Maxus to the next level. Kartik has been the key architect in growing the Maxus Mumbai office 3 fold in the last 6 years and building up a collaborative culture of working across offices and between various teams inside GroupM.”
With over 18 years of experience under his belt, Sharma said on his appointment, “The last six years at Maxus has been very exciting. What I love most is the passion & collaborative culture where every team member works hard to deliver on our 10/10 vision of delighting clients. Our focus on constantly improving the product and the ability to develop a unique work culture has helped us deliver winning solutions for clients. I look forward to my new journey and am confident it will be equally exciting & fulfilling.”
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.
