News Broadcasting
News18 lines up the biggest counting day coverage on 3 December
Mumbai: As the much-anticipated counting day for state elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram draws near, News18 Network is all set to bring the most incisive, comprehensive, and accurate minute-to-minute updates on the same. The Network’s coverage will kick-off at 6 am on the 3 December and will consist of live reporting, real-time updates, and in-depth analysis, featuring top anchors, experts, and prominent political leaders throughout the day.
News18 India’s coverage will be spearheaded by the channel’s managing editor Kishore Ajwani and will also feature the channel’s top anchors and editors including Amish Devgan, Prateek Trivedi, Aman Chopra, and Anand Narasimhan. The channel will focus on the incoming trends and results as they come in and will provide viewers with perspective through sharp analysis and thoughtful discussions.
News18 Rajasthan and News18 Madhya Pradesh will of course be in the thick of the action and will be reporting extensively from the ground bringing to the viewers interaction with regional leaders, candidates and tracking the mood of the poll at an unprecedented scale.
News18 Network has over the year built a formidable reputation for its coverage of elections across the country. The Network will strive to build on this same legacy and bring to the viewers coverage of these elections that is unmatched in both its breadth and depth.
Tune in to News18 India, News18 Rajasthan, and News18 Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh to watch the LIVE updates of the Counting Day on 3 December from 6 am onwards.
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.
