News Broadcasting
Thriller fare continues in Zee News
In yet another series of investigative reporting specials, Zee News this weekend will showcase some investigative reports and nerve wrecking crime stories in the Inside Story, Special Correspondent, Pehal, Crime File and Zee Follow up.
The weekend opens on Saturday 10 April at 7:30 pm with Zee Follow Up which will take on the beauty of Rajasthan, on an ambitious project to convert the great desert of Rajasthan into an oasis. The project named Indira Gandhi Canal was aimed at bringing water from the rivers of North India to the dry areas of Rajasthan. However even after 50 years of its inception, the project is yet to reach its destination. Same day at 9:30 pm the channel explores and revisits the whole phenomenon of Buddhism and try to search the roots of Buddhism in India in its Special correspondent.
Pehal on its Sunday special, highlights the efforts of a Delhi based NGO called The Hope Project which is working to uplift the standard of life of Muslim people living in the Nizammuddin area of South Delhi. To be aired on April 11 at 3:45 pm, this episode will also feature details on how the organization is educating and putting efforts to make women of the community, independent.
Last in the bouquet is the latest episode of The Inside Story. The team this week reveals the miserable plight of jails in India and its populace who are inhibiting almost five times of their capacity, a problem which is even accepted and noticed by the ministers and officials. The team will also investigate the reasons behind the frequent cases of jailbreaks. The show will be on air this Sunday 11 April at 9:30 pm.
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.
