News Broadcasting
NDTV MetroNation plans to launch in Chennai by October-end
NEW DELHI: After launching MetroNation in Delhi last September, NDTV Group plans to launch the city-specific channel in Chennai by October-end.
The next launch will be in Mumbai by the end of the fiscal. Says MetroNation CEO Rajiv Lulla, “As far as entering more markets is concerned, MetroNation will be launched in Chennai first by the end of October. The channel will be launched in Mumbai by the end of this fiscal. The subsequent launches will depend on the needs of the market.”
Lulla’s focus will be to expand the reach of the channel and tap advertisers. “I will not be changing the programmes of the channel. I will be working towards strengthening our relationship with advertisers. Then my job will be to expand the distribution to make sure that the channel is widely available. The thrust will also be on marketing the channel,” says Lulla.
However, Lulla did not give out the investment plans. “It would be inappropriate to comment on the investments, as it would depend on the markets we enter,” he adds.
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.
