News Broadcasting
S Kotecha is BBC World’s new marketing head
NEW DELHI: BBC World has appointed Seema Kotecha as head of marketing based in London. Kotecha will work closely with BBC’s director of marketing Jane Gorard and will be responsible for developing marketing strategy for the channel’s international teams in London, Singapore and Delhi.
A press release quoted Gorard as saying: “We are delighted to have someone of Seema’s calibre join out team. In marketing terms, we are facing some great challenges in a number of markets and I am confident that Seema’s experience in the fields of broadcasting and international travel will be a great asset.”
According to the release, Kotecha worked as marketing controller at BSkyB in London, where she was responsible for developing, implementing the annual marketing plan and focusing on increasing subscribers. She had also worked for the airline industry prior to this stint with BSkyB.
The release adds that Kotecha is a linguist – fluent in French, Spanish and Gujarati. She has a degree in European Studies and Languages from manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Granada. She has also worked as an intern in the European Commission in Brussels.
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.
