News Broadcasting
Siddhartha Sharma shifts gear to executive editor – auto at NDTV
GURUGRAM: Siddhartha Sharma has taken the driver’s seat as executive editor – auto at NDTV, marking a return to the beat he has spent more than a decade shaping with a mix of editorial smarts and video-first innovation. The move comes after he led content, sales and technology-driven growth across India and North America.
Sharma has headed tech and auto verticals at CNN-News18, The Quint and Jagran New Media, spearheading India’s first digital tech and auto show and working with big-ticket brands from Apple to BMW. His recent stint in SaaS sales sharpened his growth playbook while delivering an average achievement of 110 per cent against targets.
With more than 14 years riding at the intersection of media, partnerships and tech, Sharma says he wants to keep pushing boundaries in automotive journalism. Engines fired, wheels spinning, and the road ahead looks thrilling.
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: 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.
