News Broadcasting
Times ropes in NDTV’s Nayel as executive producer (videography)
MUMBAI: And the poaching continues… As the launch date of their news channel gets closer, the Times of India Group is in top gear mode. The group has now roped in India’s top cameraman Shantish Nayel from NDTV as executive producer (videography).
Nayel, who has been a part of the launch of the three NDTV channels (NDTV 24×7, NDTV India and NDTV Profit), joined the Times Group yesterday (30 March).
Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com, Times’ vice president news and editor television division Arnab Goswami says, “We are very happy to have Shantish on board. He will be an integral part of the team and will be instrumental in conceptualising news programming for the channel. He will also be involved in planning the look and feel of the channel.”
With the appointment of Nayel, the Times news channel’s production team is now more or less in place. Earlier the Group had roped in Headlines Today’s Charu Thakur as executive producer (programming) and also CNBC TV 18’s Preeti Prasad.
As the launch date draws closer, many more key appointments are likely to take place. The Group is also looking at moving into its new office premises in the next one month or so.
As new news players come into the market; job shifts has become a common phenomenon. When NDTV launched Profit, CNBC saw some people leaving and joining the former. Now with the Times channel launching, NDTV has been seeing an outflow of people. While people movement continues, it will be the survival of the fittest in the news space.
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.
