News Broadcasting
Three Amigos’ Aids prevention animation shorts screened at Cannes
CANNES: Former UTV international partner Firdaus Kharas and south African Brent Quinn’s brainchild- 20 animated safe-sex public service announcements (PSAs), which tickle the funny bone, were screened at the Palais in Cannes.
Armed with “spread humour and not the disease” message, the Three Amigos is a series of 20 animated comic ads that preach safe sex. Concieved to destigmatise the condom and encourage responsible sexual behaviour the animated condoms shorts features talking condom characters Shaft, Stretch and Dick.
A collective effort of talents from Canada, India and South Africa, the animation initiative is an entirely volunteer pro bono effort. Producers Quinn of South Africa, Kharas of Canada and associate producer Jay Zaveri of India, have worked together to create the series of 20 PSAs of 60, 30, 20 and 15 seconds.
An humorous and light-hearted approach to safe sex, the shorts will be available for distribution around the world free to broadcasters, NGOs, and community groups.
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.
