News Broadcasting
Network18 group gets back on expansion track
MUMBAI: Gujaratis are known to be good business men and hoping to add to their business acumen is one of India’s leading media companies – Network 18. It has decided to launch a Gujarati business news channel called CNBC Bazaar as well as an online business website called firstbiz.com.
When contacted, Network 18 group CEO B Sai Kumar confirmed the news. While additional details on CNBC Bazaar were not available, firstbiz.com will be led by Firstpost editor R Jagannathan.
2013 was a tough time for the entire news industry and even the network as it underwent rationalisation and consolidation with some employees being laid off. Network 18 already runs several other news channels- CNN-IBN, IBN7, CNBC TV 18, CNBC Awaaz, IBN Lokmat.
On the other hand, Network 18 subsidiary Viacom 18 is all set to launch two new channels as well in the coming few weeks. One is its second Hindi GEC Rishtey that has already got on board several platforms and the other is a new music channel in partnership with PepsiCo called MTV Indies.
The flurry of launches this year indicates that the TV network has once again got into expansion mode and the days of overhanging debt are far behind it now.
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.
