News Broadcasting
Raj TV stakes claim to number two spot
MUMBAI: Raj TV seems to be in no mood to give up its claim as the second most popular channel in Tamil Nadu.
A few months ago, the channel had cited TAM data to indicate that it was the number two channel after Sun TV. The credit to this, Raj gave to its Friday night blockbuster movies. However, the claim had sparked off a scramble for the slot.
Eight months down the line, the big fight continues.
Pointing to a survey initiated by The Hindu and conducted by TNS Mode (the fourth largest market information group in the world), Raj TV has again asserted its number two position in Chennai.
This, of course, means that Raj is the most preferred channel after the undisputed leader Sun TV and its sibling KTV.
The TNS poll was conducted in Chennai among 230 men and women.
According to the survey, while a major chunk (77 per cent) respondents claimed to be loyal viewers of Sun TV and 5 per cent watched KTV, Raj was the hot favourite among four per cent television viewers.
Of the rest, viewership for Vijay TV and Sumangali Cable Vision (which also belongs to the Sun TV stable) was two per cent each. The other channels – including Jaya TV – put together figures for only 10 per cent viewership, Raj claims.
The survey indicated that 26 per cent respondents watched television for one to two hours. Only 13 per cent people said they watched the channel for more than four hours.
Raj TV backed its claim to popularity with another significant aspect that the TNS survey revealed. According to the survey, Raj TV is the only channel besides Sun, whose daily serial ranks among the top five most popular shows in Chennai.
The survey shows that Raj’s Geethanjali is the fourth most popular serial in the metro. The number one serial Metti Oli, number two Annamalai, number three Kungumam and number five Appa are all aired on Sun.
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.
