News Broadcasting
Star introduces evening version of Aaj Ki Baat
Star Plus' popular twenty minute news capsule Aaj Ki Baat has started airing at 6:40 pm from Sunday. Targeted at corporate executives and members of the business community who have just returned home from work. The show's format will be similar to that of the Aaj Ki Baat capsule that airs on the channel at 11:30 pm.
According to a Star spokesperson, the aim was to bring the viewer up to date with the latest events quickly. The late night show is a wrap of the day's events. The new show, on the other hand, will allow more in depth coverage of events.
Currently, the channel has not found any sponsors for the show, hosted by Rajat Sharma.
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.
