News Broadcasting
Modi lauds AIR for Mann ki Baat simulcast across radio, TV, DTH, internet
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded All India Radio for broadcasting his monthly Mann ki Baat in regional languages on the day he talks to the nation.
The broadcast is visually adapted by Doordarshan and other private TV and news channels in India simultaneously. Similarly, radio in the private sector patches AIR. All DTH operators also carry it.
It is live streamed for global audience and is accessible through mobile app, allindiaradio.gov.in, apart from the narendramodi.in/mankibaat, mygov.in, and the Narendra Modi app.
During his monthly broadcast for this month, he said he was also gratified that people were writing to him either on the Narendra Modi app, or mygov.in.
This was the twentieth time that he talked to the nation through the broadcast which coincided with the completion of two years of his government which assumed office on 20 May 2014.
He said that initially, a ten-digit missed call had to be made to get a call back to listen to his broadcast. But now one had to dial 1922 toll free and listen to him.
The broadcast by the entire network of AIR includes all stations, all AIR FM channels (FM Gold and FM Rainbow), local radio stations, Vividh Bharati Stations and five community radio stations.
It is also broadcast by the Urdu and Hindi Services of the External Services of All India Radio for listeners in the Indian sub-continent and the Indian diaspora spread across the globe.
The regional versions of the Mann Ki Baat are played at capital AIR stations in non-Hindi speaking zones at 8.00 pm hours on the same day. The regional versions are relayed by all AIR stations including local radio stations in the respective states. The English version of Mann Ki Baat is also broadcast by AIR Delhi at 8.00 pm the same day and also broadcast by the General Overseas Service.
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.
