News Broadcasting
Murdoch takes a re-look at cyberspace
MUMBAI: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is looking at focusing at the Internet space with renewed vigour. In a meeting with the top American editors of various publications, Murdoch stated that the plan ahead was to focus on the space and shake it up in the same manner he did with TV.
Murdoch pointed out that the Internet was a fast-growing reality and an emerging medium. The immediate plan to go in for an overhaul of the Murdoch-owned websites of his New York Post, Fox News Channel and other properties to make them destinations for young people. He also added that increasingly people don’t have time for daily newspapers as well as the evening news broadcasts and hence the Internet plays a crucial role for news delivery.
Murdoch also acknowledged the cost factor that would be needed to go in for the upgradation of News Corp’s sites, but also said making them a pay service at this time was distant. Among the major papers, only The Wall Street Journal, currently charges access fees.
In addition, Murdoch also said bloggers should be encouraged to join news sites. This, he said, would broaden the coverage of news as well as make it interactive for the community at large.
Interestingly, Murdoch was one of the first movers into the Internet space but took a back seat when the dotcom bust took place in the late 90’s.
Now that one is seeing the revival of the dotcom space, Murdoch’s renewed interest in this space seems only justified.
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.
