News Broadcasting
Private producers shifted off prime time slots on DD News
NEW DELHI: To have them, or not? Failing to answer the question fully, Doordarshan News has gone in for a compromise formula regarding the private producers who had been farmed out programmes.
All those private producers, who have been producing programmes for the news channel under the sponsored category, and had been given prime time slots initially, have been asked to vacate those time slots.
So, a Nalini Singh with her Ankhon Dekhi will move to a 6 pm slot from next week after being on air at
11:30 pm for some time. When DD News had been re-launched, Singh was given a 10 pm time slot.
Similarly, another news and current affairs show Rozana, produced by Anurradha Prasad’s BAG Films,
would move out of a 8:30 pm time slot to an early evening timing. On weekends, BAG-produced Bollywood Batein would occupy the slot that airs Rozana on weekdays.
DD News has justified shifting private producers out of prime time by saying that attractive packages to advertisers and big clients cannot be given if part of the prime time advertising time was in the hands of private producers.
Since the private producers like Singh and Prasad (earlier, Rajat Sharma too did a show for DD News
before opting out to concentrate on his own channel) have got programmes under the sponsored category, they also control several hundreds seconds of advertising time that come to them under the scheme after payment of a minimum guarantee money to DD, which can be sold by them at rates they prefer.
Earlier in the year, DD and All India Radio’s parent organization, Prasar Bharati, was considering a proposal to do away with outsourcing of programmes totally. It had stopped giving extensions to shows produced by outside producers for the news channel after their mandatory run.
Though the private producers have not taken verykindly to the new move on the part of DD News, publicly they are keeping their counsel. “We have received the letter communicating a change in timing (of the programme Ankhon Dekhi) today only. Since 6 pm is a bit early for a current affairs show, I guess advertising rates per 10 seconds would be comparatively lower,” Nalini Singh told indiantelevision.com.
Singh claimed that the popularity of the show might reduce the attrition of viewers because of change in timing and described the move as one from a “revenue-driven DD”.
Meanwhile, DD News is introducing several new shows on prime time soon, including a show at 8 pm, and a weekly wrap up of events and news on weekends. A senior official of DD News claimed that barring those “very high-end products that prefer to be on NDTV, most big advertisers (like Airtel, Hutch and Honda) have returned to DD News.”
It seems that DD News is making an extra effort to go those extra miles amidst speculation that the new Congress-led government would down its shutters.
News Broadcasting
Network18 channels lead YouTube news viewership in March 2026
CNN-News18, News18 India and CNBC channels top categories with record views
MUMBAI: When the world hit refresh on breaking news, Network18’s channels were already streaming ahead. As geopolitical tensions and war-driven headlines fuelled a surge in global news consumption, the network’s digital playbook delivered big clocking record Youtube viewership across English, Hindi and business news categories in March 2026.
At the forefront was CNN-News18, which emerged as the clear leader in the English news segment with 130 million live and video-on-demand views. The channel edged past competitors such as Times of India (126.5 million), Times Now (101.1 million), India Today (88.2 million) and NDTV (77.5 million), according to Databeings data for March.
In the Hindi news arena, News18 India delivered a commanding performance, racking up a staggering 3,297 million views on YouTube. The channel comfortably outpaced NDTV India, which recorded 3,119 million views, underlining its deep reach and consistent engagement with mass audiences, as per Playboard data.
The network’s dominance wasn’t confined to general news. In the Hindi business segment, CNBC Awaaz topped the charts with 92 million views, narrowly ahead of Zee Business (90 million) and well ahead of ET Now Swadesh (57 million). Meanwhile, its English counterpart CNBC-TV18 posted a strong 58 million views, reinforcing the network’s cross-category strength.
The spike in viewership reflects a broader shift in audience behaviour, with viewers increasingly turning to digital platforms particularly Youtube for real-time updates and in-depth coverage during high-intensity news cycles. For Network18, the numbers signal more than just scale; they underline the effectiveness of a multi-platform strategy that blends speed, credibility and continuous coverage.
In a month where the news never paused, it seems viewers chose to stay tuned where the stream never stopped.
