News Broadcasting
Times Now gears up for Republic Day weekend
MUMBAI: Times Now, the 24 hr English news channel brings a whole host of special programming to celebrate Republic Day which will continue into the weekend.
The channel starts the celebrations with a special programme on the oldest regiment in the Indian army- personal troops of the Indian President-The President’s Men. Times Group had earlier launched an integrated campaign called India poised across all mediums. The India Poised campaign music video featuring Amitabh Bacchan and Gulzar will be interspersed with music by the trio Shankar, Ehsaan Loy.
A special interview series will have guests like Milind Deora, Rajeev Chandrashekhar and John Abraham as faces of emerging India. Half hour show like The Rising and I Play for India delves into the politics and sports arena of India.
The channel rounds up the day with its Newshour special which will focus on segments like cricket, citizen and Brand India. The weekend fare has interviews lined up with President APJ Abdul Kalam and a celebrity panel discussion with Shashi Tharoor, Prasoon Joshi, Mahesh Bhatt, Shobha De and Neville Tuli.
Speaking about the special programming on Republic Day,TIMES NOW editor in chief Arnab Goswami said, “TIMES NOW aims at providing viewers a complete picture of India. Special programming on the Republic Day and even the weekend will present views, opinions and suggestions of Indians who get affected and those who have significantly contributed in the emergence of the new nation.”
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.
