News Broadcasting
News channels record increase in OTS in metros
MUMBAI: Connectivity of a television channel is something that every executive is concerned about in the industry – whether in the media or broadcast sector or cable TV. And pioneering this data and analytics information is Delhi-based Chrome Data & Analytics which keeps a tab on around 73 million TV homes nationally in analogue cable TV, digital cable TV and DTH.
We take a look at what the opportunity to see (OTS) was for various television genres and channels in week 48 of the year. It appears it was a week of the news channels, both business and general English news, as far as the eight metros are concerned.
The reach of English news channels grew by 1.5 per cent and business news channels witnessed a 1.1 per cent gain. However, the English entertainment channels in the eight metros witnessed a drop of 0.3 per cent while the English movie channels saw a 0.6 per cent rise.
Tarun Tejpal’s alleged misconduct with a journalist colleague in an elevator in a five star hotel in Goa, raised not only eyebrows of most urban Indians but also their interest as they tuned into news channels to catch up on the latest with the iconoclastic senior scribe.
Hindi GECs in the Hindi speaking markets (HSM) saw a drop of 0.9 per cent, while Hindi movies and Hindi news dropped by 0.1 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively. Only the religious channels saw a 1.4 per cent increase in HSM.
The all India performance of sports and infotainment channels dipped in week 48. While sports recorded a one per cent drop, infotainment witnessed 2.6 per cent shaving respectively. Only the position of the kids’ channels in the all India market remained stable.
The top Hindi GEC channel in HSM was Star Plus with a 97.8 per cent OTS. Zee TV and Colors were not too far behind with 97.4 per cent and 97.3 per cent OTS respectively. Life OK lagged behind in the race with 94.9 per cent OTS.
Amongst the Hindi movie channels in HSM, Star Gold was the biggest gainer with 96.7 per cent OTS, while UTV Movies lagged at 88.8 per cent.
ABP News was the leader in the Hindi News genre with an OTS of 93.2 per cent. And with 88.9 per cent, CNN-IBN was leading in the English news genre in eight metros, while CNBC Awaaz topped in the business news genre.
Undoubtedly, it has been an interesting week for the channels. Let’s wait and watch how things unfold for the channels in the coming week.
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.
