News Broadcasting
News broadcast stuck in time warp, must evolve or die: Sudhir Chaudhary
MUMBAI: News broadcasting hasn’t had a proper makeover in two decades and is paying the price as viewers switch to sexier platforms, claims popular anchor Sudhir Chaudhary. Speaking on a Governance Now podcast with Sri Adhikari Brothers managing director Kailashnath Adhikari, , Chaudhary delivered a blunt diagnosis of the industry’s ailments.
“Least innovation has taken place in the news broadcast industry,” lamented the veteran journalist. “With nearly 400 news channels today, the big 10-15 follow identical breaking news formats with red alerts, similar headlines, and studios where anchors look remarkably alike—debating the same subjects with familiar panellists.”
The industry, he argues, has become obsessed with ratings rather than reinvention. “Experts in newsrooms study TRPs and suggest content creation based on popularity. Ninety-nine per cent of the industry functions in this reactive manner. The industry has lost its way.”
Chaudhary, who boasts 7.9 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), noted a telling shift in viewer language: “Earlier people said they watch me on TV, but now they say they follow me.”
While traditional news outlets flounder, social media influencers are cultivating massive audiences through innovative formats. Unlike cricket—which reinvented itself from five-day tests to T20 spectacles—television news remains trapped in amber, with the same stale formulas recycled night after night.
“Today the consumer has a plethora of available options,” Chaudhary observed. “News is available on WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, television, print and social media. You have to show the same story in different formats, durations and parts on different platforms.”
Looking ahead, Chaudhary—rumoured to be joining the National Broadcaster—says he craves “freedom to create content instead of chasing TRPs” and will seek alliances with social media creators. The message is clear: evolve or become yesterday’s news.
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.
