News Broadcasting
Synergy to help Star find India’s ‘Child Genius’
MUMBAI: Star World is set to accommodate an indigenously produced show after a long time, to give the only desi produced programme Rendezvous with Simi Garewal currently on air, some company.
Siddhartha Basu’s Synergy Communications will be back on Star by this April or May with a child talent hunt. Star officials however said the time slot and the exact date of launch of Child Genius is yet to be finalised.
After the dud Neena Gupta anchored Kamzor Kadii Kaun that followed the blockbuster Kaun Banega Crorepati in early 2002, Basu and Star had stayed away from each other, although Basu did make University Challenge for BBC World mid 2003.
Now, Synergy has been roped in to produce India’s Child Genius, a 27 episode TV quiz contest to find India’s brainiest child. The hour long weekly will have contestants answer questions on verbal and non- verbal reasoning, maths, science, natural world, geography, history, mythology, literature, comprehension, spellings, arts, English language and general knowledge. Apart from the title, prizes worth Rs 50,00,000 are at stake.
Siddhartha Basu
Provisional test centres have already been set up according to zones and the written selection test will be conducted on 8 February. Star has thrown open its website indya.com for applicants to download forms and apply online, the last date for which is 21 January 2004.
Synergy founder and ace quizmaster Siddhartha Basu himself will anchor the proceedings.
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.
