News Broadcasting
Times Now becomes ‘India’s election news HQ’
MUMBAI: It was at this year’s FICCI Frames where Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in his keynote speech said that from 1 April the channel will undergo a change.
Rightly so, as the new financial year began, the new shows on Times Now underwent change to suit the political mood of the country.
Calling itself ‘India’s Election News Headquarter’, the 15 new shows have been lined up for both weekdays and weekends. A few more are expected in the coming weeks. The new programming will be on from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm till 16 May and called as the ‘Super Prime Time’. The biggest of them all is the extension of ‘The Newshour’ on Sunday.
The weekday lineup includes:
-India 2014 – Live Report, a show that gets you the biggest election news story of the day from across the country at 6:00 pm
-India 2014 – Wide Angle is a one-stop destination for the viewer to catch all the political news in a quick and a succinct format, at 6.30 pm
-India 2014 – Politics, a pure political show features the buzz worthy stories of the day, at 7:00 pm
-India 2014 – Politics Central, a show that gets you all the political alliance of significance, the most noteworthy campaign of the day, the most controversial statement of a leader, at 7.30 pm
-India 2014 – Blueprint, a show that reveals all the drama, the buzz, the impact of the biggest political stories of the day at 8:00 pm
-News Deck, a short three to four minutes segment that provides additional information on the news of the day through accurate historical data on constituencies, percentage of votes, facts and statistics of electorate and candidates.
-The Flip, an interesting one minute format which focuses on the politician who has retracted from his earlier statement, by bringing out both versions of his statements, exposing the fact behind his u-turn
-Political Juice, to launch closure to the last phase of elections, this live show from Times Now will showcase the most important news of the day at 7:00 pm
The weekend lineup includes:
-Access, shooting the leaders in their natural environment as they campaign, this show aims to take the viewer closer to the leader, giving him a complete flavour of the elections frenzy, at 7.30 pm on weekends.
-India’s Watershed Elections, a six episode series tracking the electoral archives of the country, how governments were formed right from the first one by Nehru till today, weekends at 11:30 am
-Real Politik, the show looks at those politicians who are in the tumbles of tough politics, in an informal setting and gives an insight into the persona behind the politician, at Saturdays – 9:30 pm and Sundays – 5:30 pm
-Showdown, a two minutes segment on all seven days, that will brings out the news stories in a nut shell with key constituencies profiled with candidates and their stand on the issues
-Political Juice, the most talked about news of the day is featured in a two minutes segment, giving the viewer the highlight of the day in a concise format, all through the week
– Your Voice & Your Vote, the voice of the electorate, ‘Your Voice Your vote’ in a short 30 to 40 second vignette format, features people voicing their key issues and their expectations from the new government. These will play throughout the weeks
-Politics Now, are fast news wrap format bulletins which give news updates in a crisp two to three minutes
Says Times Now, ET Now and Zoom CEO Avinash Kaul, “Times Now has always led the elections news coverage whether the recently held 5 states election or others. This time around will be no exception as Times Now, with its most comprehensive line up of over 15 new shows and formats has virtually turned in to Election News Headquarters. In addition to this Times Now will continue with its endeavour to keep our viewers updated with all news during this crucial election period to make their voting decision easier.”
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: 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.
