News Broadcasting
Turner India announces Deepa Sridhar as CNN’s marketing head for South Asia
MUMBAI: Turner India has appointed Deepa Sridhar as head of Turner Corporate Communications and CNN marketing for South Asia effective from today, April 11, 2016.
Prior to joining Turner India, Sridhar was director of Corporate Communications, South Asia, for J. Walter Thompson
Based out of Mumbai, Sridhar is responsible for overseeing corporate communications for Turner India and all communications for Turner India’s kids, entertainment and news brands in South Asia including Cartoon Network, POGO, Toonami, HBO, WB and CNNInternational. Sridhar will also oversee CNN affiliate and brand marketing in the region. She will support Turner India MD Siddharth Jain and his senior leadership team on all communications initiatives.
Sridhar would report to Turner Asia Pacific Corporate communications and marketing VP Gregory Ho. “Deepa is a seasoned communications professional with an impressive track record and in-depth understanding of the South Asia market. 2016 is a hugely important year for Turner given the high interest in the US Presidential elections, the Olympics in Rio and the European Championships in France on the news front, while we will also launch the new Powerpuff Girls and Ben 10 cartoon franchises globally, as well as a host of new initiatives for our entertainment brands. Deepa joins us at a very exciting time and will be a valuable addition to our team of communications professionals, building upon the strength of the Turner brands in the region,” said Gregory Ho.
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.
