News Broadcasting
Mathrubhumi’s Naveen Sreenivasan aims to build new revenue streams, expand client base
NEW DELHI: As the industry steps into the crucial revival phase post several months of Covid2019-induced downturn, Naveen Sreenivasan has taken charge as the new head of Mathrubhumi Group’s media solutions team for the group’s TV channels — Mathrubhumi News and Kappa TV, its radio brand Club FM, as well as all of its digital business.
Sreenivasan is visibly excited about his new role and is positive that the market will only grow in the coming months. He said, “The business environment in Kerala started bouncing back quite quickly post an initial couple of months of the pandemic and advertising picked up during Onam. Now, with the national festive season starting, we see the momentum carrying on. Interest in advertising is definitely alive and we have been seeing active advertising from a wide range of verticals including automobile, NBFCs, FMCGs, jewellery, and education. We have also witnessed substantial activity from local businesses especially in Club FM, which clearly indicates that the local markets are alive.”
He noted that while the market conditions are on an upward trajectory, challenges still persist. “This is an opportunity for us to dig deep, double down on our efforts smartly, build new revenue streams and expand our client base. My experience of working with the print business will definitely hold me in good stead in leveraging synergies between our media verticals.”
The festive season has opened up the gates of opportunities across sectors in the state, as a result of which the group is slowly getting back to its pre-Covid advertising rates, he added.
Speaking about his strategy and initial plans, Sreenivasan said that he is looking forward to leveraging synergies amongst the group’s assets and the team’s deep understanding of the Kerala market to deliver value for various clients.
He added, “On digital, where the market is evolving the fastest, we are looking at very aggressive growth by building on our strengths and tapping into new revenue streams. We already have a news ecosystem which delivers 100 million page views and 10 million monthly unique visitors and a social media ecosystem with five million followers. Among our other digital products, we have industry-specific offerings – like FindHome, our real estate portal.”
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.
