News Broadcasting
Suresh Selvaraj joins Asianet News Network as ED and CEO
MUMBAI: Asianet News Network (ANNPL) has appointed Suresh Selvaraj as executive director and CEO.
Selvaraj comes from Outlook Group, where he spent 13 years.
Selvaraj will be responsible for overall operations and management of various businesses of ANNPL, which consists of Malayalam news channel -Asianet News, Kannada news channel Suvarna News 24×7 and Kannada newspaper Kannada Prabha.
Selvaraj said, “I am quite excited with the opportunity provided to me in this role. I am getting familiarised with the people and the processes and am very confident of doing my bit to elevate this business to the next level.”
ANNPL chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar added, “I am happy to have Suresh Selvaraj on board. With his successful stints earlier and media experience spanning over three decades, we are confident of consolidating our existing media brands and growing them further. We have definite plans of expansion including making further investments and expansion to new markets and platforms. I am sure having a person with Suresh‘s background will help our endeavours.”
Selvaraj comes with over 30 years of experience in media in organisations like The Times of India Group, Deccan Herald Group, The Statesman, Outlook Group including Marie Claire, the Indian edition of the French fashion magazine.
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.
