News Broadcasting
News18 Kerala announces special line-up of programs for Onam
Mumbai: Onam – the colourful festival of Kerala’s culture and tradition – is round the corner. The 10-day festivity includes Sadhya, Thiruvathira Kali, Pookalam, Ona-thallu, Pulikali, Onavillu, and welcome songs for King Mahabali. Highlighting Onam’s sublime activities such as Pookalam, aromatic Onasadya, spectacular Snake-boat Race, and the enticing Kaikottikali Dance, News18 Kerala brings to its viewers a special line-up of Onam programmes guaranteeing a complete cultural extravaganza.
The programs lined up for this beautiful festival by News18 Kerala will include folk rituals, music and dance performances, interviews and chat shows with celebrities such as P Jayachandran, Bhavana, and eminent politicians VD Satheeshan, P Prasad, and a lot more. There will also be a special segment on boat races, traditional attires, and unique dishes of Onam, along with a special film release on the festival.
Some of the prominent programs to look for are: Onam with aattam, a special program on a folk ritual called Aattakkalasham that connects Onam and Pulikali, and is observed around Thrissur and Palakkad districts; Onam songs and chat with singers of Trivandrum; Interview with actress Bhavana; Onam with actress Surabhi Lakshmi; Minister Veena George with Aranmula Kudumbasree; Special program on Nehru trophy boat race; Celebrity chef Suresh Pillai with film stars; Onam Capsules – 10 Payasam 10 Days; Special coverage on Onam celebrations of Onattukara; Onam film release
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.
