News Broadcasting
Sun Network set to roll out first of a kind inter-district singing contest
Sun is getting into music mode with what it terms is the biggest statewide, inter-district singing competition in Tamil Nadu.
Held in association with New Age Entertainment, the contest will cover 29 districts of the state and Pondicherry. Over 100,000 singers are expected to take part in the auditions at an average of 3,000 per district.
New Age claims that the show’s USP will be its mascot, Subudu, a well known music critic in Tamil Nadu. He will appear masked during the promotions to help enhance the brand equity of the programme starting from ground level in much the same way that Apple Singh promoted the 1999 Cricket World Cup on ESPN Star Sports. Plans are being finalised to rope in a press partner which will devote coverage to the event in terms of advertisements, contests and flyers.
The auditions will air on Sun TV’s sister channel KTV on the prime band from Monday to Thursday. Three pre-finals conducted as mega events will take place in Madurai, Coimbatore and Pondicherry. Chennai will host the grand finale at the end of the 60th week.
Sun TV is also beefing up its programming with a family drama serial on the prime time band – Mughangal (Faces), a weekday series that premieres 24 June and airs between 10 and 10:30 pm. The show has been jointly produced with Sa Re Ga Ma, the Chennai based production house whose Soolam and Velan have already had a successful run on the channel. The serial, that marks the debut of Telugu film actress Ravali on the tube, revolves around a woman’s battle to recover the family prestige back from a vengeful man. The story is the brainchild of novelist Sivashankari and has been directed by K Rangaraj of Kudumbam fame.
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.
