News Broadcasting
Star Gold’s Sabse Favourite Kaun garners good viewership
MUMBAI: Hindi movie channel Star Gold has received a good response for the telecast of Savlon Sabsey Favourite Kaun International 2006.
India’s first international Bollywood opinion poll was aired on December 30, 2006 on Star Gold at 8 p.m. During the 3-hour telecast of star performances and presentation of awards, the channel garnered a 38 per cent share of eyeballs, taking a leadership position in the Saturday prime time viewing slot the channel has asserted, quoting TAM data. The show, now in its fourth round, claims to have reached out to over 7 Million viewers across Hindi speaking markets.
Speaking on the response to the show, Star Entertainment India CEO Sameer Nair said, “This is an overwhelming response to the Savlon Sabsey Favourite Kaun International. The impact of this event has grown over the years, which is evident by the response that we have received. It is also a proof of the fact that our audiences are responding to the only award show that is based on their votes and the popularity of their Sabsey Favourite Bollywood stars.”
The show was hosted by actress Ayesha Takia along with the comic trio of Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak and Suresh Menon. The show also saw performances by actors like Shreyas Talpade, Koena Mitra, Bipasha Basu , Shiney Ahuja and Akshay Kumar.
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.
