News Broadcasting
NDTV 24X7 launches ‘Fight for Jessica Lal’ SMS campaign
MUMBAI: TV news channel NDTV has launched a “Fight for Jessica Lal” campaign to garner support for a fresh trail in the ‘Jessica Lal murder case’ where all the nine prime accused were “honoroubly” discharged by a Delhi sessions court this week.( Lal, a model, was filling in as a bartender in a posh south Delhi restaurant when she was shot in the wee hours of 30 April 1999. This happened sfter she reportedly refused to serve liquor to Manu Sharma, the son of Haryana Excise Minister Vinod Sharma. )
NDTV is using its short SMS code 6388 as a driver to increase public awareness of what it believes was not a proper meting out of justice. It has asked mobile phone users to repond to its short code with a single word Jessica and following that it will approach the Indian President seeking an opening up of the case once again. Simultaneously, the channel has weaved around a show Special Guests: Fight for Jessica Lal at 10 pm on 25 Feburary as well as 26 February at 10 am.
The SMS campaign launched yesterday. On the same day the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi police to submit all the investigation details as well as the reasons, which caused the collapse of the prosecution’s case in a trial court in New Delhi earlier this week. The matter has been scheduled for a further hearing on 9 April.
The channel has posted a message on its website and is pushing the same via NDTV 24X7 only, seeking viewers’ helping hand on the Lal campaign . On air as well as on the website www.ndtv.com, viewers are being invited to SMS Jessica to 6388, which states that ‘each SMS will help the petition for a fresh trial’.
The acquittal of the accused in the murder has led to widespread public outcry for a re-trial of the case and action against officials responsible for ham-handling the case. As of now, the channel intends to run the campaign till Sunday. But, the channel may extend the campaign. Till 3:35 pm on 25 February, NDTV had received 84,344 SMS.
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.
