News Broadcasting
Lewis-Klitschko fight delivers knockout ratings for HBO in US
MUMBAI: What is it about men (and women) pummeling each other to pulp that draws viewers? In India, one constant on Ten Sports’ top rated shows are World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programmes. In the US, premium movies network HBO drew its highest audience figures for a heavyweight fight in over six years from last weekends boxing match-up between WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko.
The fight, staged in Los Angeles on June 21, was watched in over 4.6 million homes, HBO’s best rating since George Foreman fought Shannon Briggs in Atlantic City in 1997, sportcal.com has reported.
Of course, the numbers are also because of the fact that unlike most big heavyweight fights, the match-up was not sold as a pay-per-view event. It is in PPV that the serious money is but that had to be given the go-by since the fight was scheduled at too short a notice to successfully promote and sell it.
Lewis previous fight against former champion Mike Tyson, grossed over $103 million in US PPV sales, earning $3 million more than the previous pay-per-view record. But if viewership numbers are taken, it drew 2.8 million fewer homes than the fight against Klitschko.
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.
