News Broadcasting
‘The Contender’ knocked out in the first round on NBC
MUMBAI: Even the most successful television and film producers have products that do not work. Reality TV guru Mark Burnett is no exception.
US broadcaster NBC has decided not to renew its boxing based reality show The Contender. The finale of the first season which aired on 25 May attracted six million viewers according to Nielsen estimates.
While the show did add family drama it failed to attract a healthy female audience. The final episode saw Sergio Mora triumphing over Peter Manfredo Jr. Manfredo lost a unanimous decision to Mora, who dominated from early on and who as late as the sixth round was dismissively shaking off Manfredo’s punches.
Still Manfredo can be happy over what he achieved. He was eliminated in the series’ first episode, only to be voted back in when boxer Jeff Fraza quit because of chicken pox.
NBC’s decision not to give the show a second chance was booed by a sold out crowd at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Fans in the audience heckled NBC president Jeff Zucker at the encouragement of an announcer. The finale saw celebrities like actress Cameron Diaz There’s Something About Mary and comedian Eddie Murphy Beverly Hills Cop in attendance.
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.
