News Broadcasting
Sify promotes Sivaramakrishnan to president, portals
MUMBAI: Sify Limited has promoted V Sivaramakrishnan as the president of its portal business. Prior to this, he was vice president of iWay cyber café chain business.
A management graduate from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Sivaramakrishnan has worked in companies like Procter & Gamble and Ford, both in India and abroad. During his tenure with them, he led brand, sales and customer service teams, marketing and sales initiatives for brands such as Vicks, Pampers, Old Spice, Ford Fiesta, Ford Ikon and Ford Endeavour.
Sify Limited CEO and managing director Raju Vegesna said, “I am very pleased to announce Siva’s promotion as President, Sify Portals. In his earlier role as vice president of the iWay cyber café chain business, Siva brought a deep insight and understanding of consumers, and executed initiatives to grow business revenues through innovative services, products and promotions in synergy with our portal strategies.
“While we will see the result of these efforts going forwards, I believe that he will bring a fresh perspective to how we grow our portals and online advertising business both in India and overseas. With his rich experience in building brands, understanding of media, marketing and consumer behavior, I am confident he will play a key role in further strengthening and growing our portal business in tandem with our access strategies.”
Sivaramakrishnan said, “I am really excited about this opportunity as it will enable me to bring to bear all of my previous experience with consumers, brands, marketing, media and the Internet in building our portals business. The Net is the most exciting medium of our times, and it will be our intention to maximize the opportunities presented by this versatile medium for compelling and relevant online content for Indians, to add to the quality of their lives. This includes extending the leadership we have in broadband content with www.sifymax.in, our popular portal www.sify.com, our city-centric broadband portal strategies, and www.samachar.com, the most popular site for non-resident Indians.”
“I will also be involved in growing the online advertising business with marketers as they begin to understand the flexibility, focus and power that online advertising gives them for cost effective brand promotions, and overseeing Sify’s consumer brand marketing for both the portals and access businesses for greater synergies. I believe this will be the most exciting and challenging phase of my career, and I look forward to making a difference to Sify’s pioneering efforts for exciting India-centric online content in synergy with our access businesses,” he added.
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.
