News Broadcasting
Martin Baker is TWI’s commercial director
MUMBAI: Television production house TWI has appointed Carlton Content’s former commercial director Martin Baker to take on a similar role with it.
His responsibilities will include overseeing all TWI’s contractual relationships with broadcasters and co-production partners. He assumes his position next month..
The 44 year old Baker will also work closely with TWI senior VP- production and business development, Alastair Waddington, and its director of programming and production – Sport, Graham Fry, in relation to all TWI’s production business.
This amounts to nearly 9,000 hours a year. And he will have input into the business development arena overseen by Waddington.
TWI has stated that the new appointment reflects its growing activities across not only its traditional heartland of sports programming, but also in the entertainment and factual fields. This expansion into new areas has seen TWI win international awards for its In Colour documentary strand. This was the catalyst for burgeoning international sales of entertainment formats like I’d Do Anything, which has currently been sold or optioned in 24 countries.
TWI was recently appointed as the host broadcaster for the 15th Doha Asian Games 2006, in a joint venture with HBS.
As commercial director at Carlton, Baker was responsible for major deals for UK and international co-production, including a $20m international production fund with PBS. Baker was previously controller of business affairs at Carlton, and before that controller of legal and business affairs at Central TV.
News Broadcasting
Network18 channels lead YouTube news viewership in March 2026
CNN-News18, News18 India and CNBC channels top categories with record views
MUMBAI: When the world hit refresh on breaking news, Network18’s channels were already streaming ahead. As geopolitical tensions and war-driven headlines fuelled a surge in global news consumption, the network’s digital playbook delivered big clocking record Youtube viewership across English, Hindi and business news categories in March 2026.
At the forefront was CNN-News18, which emerged as the clear leader in the English news segment with 130 million live and video-on-demand views. The channel edged past competitors such as Times of India (126.5 million), Times Now (101.1 million), India Today (88.2 million) and NDTV (77.5 million), according to Databeings data for March.
In the Hindi news arena, News18 India delivered a commanding performance, racking up a staggering 3,297 million views on YouTube. The channel comfortably outpaced NDTV India, which recorded 3,119 million views, underlining its deep reach and consistent engagement with mass audiences, as per Playboard data.
The network’s dominance wasn’t confined to general news. In the Hindi business segment, CNBC Awaaz topped the charts with 92 million views, narrowly ahead of Zee Business (90 million) and well ahead of ET Now Swadesh (57 million). Meanwhile, its English counterpart CNBC-TV18 posted a strong 58 million views, reinforcing the network’s cross-category strength.
The spike in viewership reflects a broader shift in audience behaviour, with viewers increasingly turning to digital platforms particularly Youtube for real-time updates and in-depth coverage during high-intensity news cycles. For Network18, the numbers signal more than just scale; they underline the effectiveness of a multi-platform strategy that blends speed, credibility and continuous coverage.
In a month where the news never paused, it seems viewers chose to stay tuned where the stream never stopped.
