News Broadcasting
Nickelodeon’s Nicktoons to present international cartoon film fest
MUMBAI: Nickelodeon’s US-based digital channel Nicktoons will present the Nicktoons Film Festival in association with Federator Studios and Animation Magazine. The first on-air festival of its kind will showcase the diversity of independent cartoon filmmaking by animators from around the globe.
Announcing the film festival, Nicktoons VP & GM Keith Dawkins said, “There’s so much great talent in the world of animation and we’re excited to give people the opportunity to have their work seen by experts and on Nicktoons’ air. Nicktoons is the place to be for animation lovers, which is why we’re forming a sort of ‘creative lab’ for a new generation of cartoon hits.”
Animators from around the world can download entry forms on www.nicktoons.com starting today and entries will be accepted through 10 September. Submissions should be animated shorts no longer than sevenminutes that combine a unique look, great character designs and a funny plot. A selection of shorts chosen by a pre-selection jury will broadcast on Nick US’s digital channel, Nicktoons, as part of a 13-episode compilation series launching this fall. One winner will be chosen by a grand jury and awarded a $10,000 prize, informed an official release.
The pre-selection jury will be an assembly of Frederator Studios and Animation Magazine staff. The grand jury members will be announced on the website throughout the Festival competition. Other festival prizes will also be announced on the website throughout the competition, added the release.
Animation Magazine, based in New York, is a leading trade publication devoted to the coverage of the business, technology and art of animation while the New York-based Frederator makes cartoons for television and the movies.
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.
