News Broadcasting
Rain fails to dampen Max’ buoyant Indo-Pak match ratings
MUMBAI: The recently concluded Videocon Cup may have been an overall damp squib but has worked wonders for Max.
The second and decisive half of the first match (9 pm to 11.30 pm) between India and Pakistan played on 21 August got ratings of 8.3 in the C&S 4+ Hindi-speaking markets, according to Tam data. As a result, the channel went straight to the 10th position on the Tam ratings chart in the above mentioned market.
Speaking on the same, Max business head N P Singh said, “Despite the rain and a five-hour delay in the start of the Indo-Pak match, Max delivered 6.9 TVRs (average) amongst all individuals across all C&S homes across all India as surveyed by Tam.”
In the major metros, Mumbai pegged a high of 11.3 TVRs, while Kolkata and Delhi turned in 9.55 and 9.52 respectively.
“What is especially noteworthy is that female viewership delivered an unprecedented 5.3 TVRs for the match. Female viewership in key metros was 8.3 in Mumbai, 9.2 in Delhi and 7.6 in Kolkata,” added Singh.
In comparison, on DD1 the same match got ratings of 2.6 in the time slot 9 pm to 11.15 pm in the C&S 4+ Hindi-speaking markets according to Tam data as the channel stood in the 68th spot among the top 100 shows. Hence, Max was ahead of DD1 across all India in the Hindi-speaking markets. Also notable is the fact that in the non C&S 4+ Hindi-speaking market, DD1’s telecast of the match stood in the 6th position with TVRs of 21.6 in the same time slot.
Across all India markets, Max pegged 6.9 against DD’s 1.92; in the Hindi speaking markets, Max fared even better, averaging a TVR of 8.83 against DD’s 1.91, while in the top 4 metros, Max pegged 7.85 against DD’s 1.67, and in the top 6 metros, Max ratings were 8.87 while DD’s were recorded at 1.59.
An official release from Max informed that in a single match telecast, Max reached out to 27.6 million individuals in C&S homes across India, which is approximately 32 per cent of the total universe of 85.5 million individuals.
“Overall, this performance is an excellent lead-in to the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2004 in England, which is undoubtedly the world’s biggest ODI (one day internationals) Cricket tournament in 2004, and where Max will showcase its popular Extraaa Innings in full strength,” said Singh.
Max, which has already unveiled it’s ad campaign with Mandira Bedi for Extraaa Innings will bare it’s plans for the ICC Champions Trophy tomorrow (1 September) at a media do.
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.
