News Broadcasting
Sahara India launches Sahara Samay NCR
MUMBAI: Sahara India’s long awaited Sahara Samay NCR, the network’s news channel catering specifically to Delhi and NCR, has launched.
Headed by Prabudh Raj, Sahara Samay NCR aims to be a youthful and vibrant channel targeting students and women, besides the hardcore news buffs, according to a statement issued yesterday.
The channel’s programming menu covers the entire spectrum of news with specific focus on lifestyle, fashion, food, shopping, health and fitness, sports, education, career and city issues, besides giving user-friendly information on traffic updates, city events, train and air timings.
Sahara Samay NCR Channel is the fifth regional news channel from Sahara India stable. The other channels are Sahara Samay Mumbai, Sahara Samay Bihar & Jharkhand, Sahara Samay Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh, and Sahara Samay Uttar Pradesh & Uttranchal. Sahara Samay has already managed to gain a loyal audience in India through a bouquet of National & Regional News Channels since its launch.
According to Sahara head – media operations Sudhir Kumar, “This is great news for our viewers who can now see the best of what is going around in Delhi and NCR region. It is all about developing more exciting content to meet the need of our diverse customer base and enhance their choices and values. We are please to be one of the first to announce to the launch of a unique channel for Delhi and NCR region.”
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.
