News Broadcasting
Times Now, Aaj Tak retain positions even as ratings decline
MUMBAI: The channels in the English News space witnessed a decrease in ratings this week. Times Now with a further decrease in its ratings however continued to dominate the genre.
According to the week 52 ratings data of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, the players in the English Business News space witnessed mixed ratings.
Aaj Tak remained as the number one channel in the Hindi News space, both in rural and urban markets. Players in the Hindi News space witnessed mixed ratings this week.
Channels in the Hindi Business News genre saw mixed ratings this week.
English News
Times Now, with a further decrease in its ratings, continued to dominate the genre with 546 Impressions (000s) as compared to 576 Impressions (000s) in week 51. NDTV 24×7 sustained its second slot with 223 Impressions (000s) while India Today Television took the third position with 171 Impressions. CNN News18 with 171 Impressions (000s) and BBC World News with 61 Impressions (000s) took the fourth and fifth position, respectively.
English Business News
CNBC TV18 continued to lead with a decrease in ratings from 237 Impressions (000s) in week 51 to 227 Impressions (000s) this week. ET Now was at the second spot with 135 Impressions (000s). NDTV Profit and NDTV Prime continued to be at the third position with 44 Impressions (000s). BTVi was on the fourth spot with 20 Impressions (000s). CNBC TV 18 Prime HD sustained at the fifth place with 1 Impressions (000s).
Hindi News
Aaj Tak observed a decline in the ratings but stood at the first spot with 165306 Impressions (000s) as compared to 168964 Impressions (000s) in last week followed by India TV at the second position with 142318 Impressions (000s). ABP News took the third position with 131434 Impressions (000s) followed by Zee News at the fourth position with 108600 Impressions (000s). India News took the fifth position with 81387 Impressions (000s).
Hindi News Rural
Aaj Tak with a decrease in the ratings dominated the rural market with 75849 Impressions (000s). India TV was at the second slot with 67718 Impressions (000s) followed by ABP News at the third place with 60435 Impressions (000s). Zee News took the fourth place with 44674 Impressions (000s) followed by India News with 43765 Impressions (000s) at the fifth position.
Hindi News Urban
Aaj Tak stood at the number one position with 89457 Impressions (000s) followed by India TV at the second position with 89457 Impressions (000s). ABP News took the third position with 70999 Impressions (000s) followed by Zee News at the fourth position with 63926 Impressions (000s). India News took the fifth position with 42479 Impressions (000s).
Hindi Business News
CNBC Awaaz witnessed a decrease in ratings though it continued at the number one position with 1146 Impressions (000s) as compared to 1223 Impressions (000s) in week 51. The second spot was taken by Zee Business with 1089 Impressions (000s).
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.
