News Broadcasting
TV Today’s net profit up 24 per cent
MUMBAI: TV Today Network, broadcaster of India most popular news channels in Hindi, Aaj Tak, and its English sibling Headlines Today, today reported that it’s net profit has increased by 24 per cent to Rs 320.8 million from Rs 259.2 million during financial year 2003-2004 ended 31 March.
The company has also proposed a maiden dividend of 15 per cent.
TV Today’s revenue for the year under review stood at Rs 1425.2 million based on the audited results, which shows an increase of 30 per cent over the previous year’s revenue of Rs 1093.8 million.
The network’s EPS (earnings per share- of face value of Rs 5 each) stands at 6.38, whereas the operating margin and net profit margin stand at 44 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.
The fourth quarter revenue (ended 31 March 2004) stood at Rs 446.4 million as against Rs 314 million, indicating an increase by 42 per cent as compared to the corresponding quarter of last year. Net profit for the quarter stood at Rs. 94 million, up by 45 per cent as compared to the corresponding quarter of last year.
Commenting on the results, an official statement from TV Today quoted CEO G Krishnan as saying, “Our performance clearly reinforces the faith investor and business associates have in the TV Today brand. This is also a result of growing confidence in our channels. The results reinforce our leadership position in the market.”
Aaj Tak, the flagship brand of the company, has also claimed that its reach is consistently growing and has reached 29.79 million viewers during the election (results) week. On the counting day, 13 May, Aaj Tak had a lead in viewership and the channel share of Aaj Tak was 37 per cent, almost double that of it’s nearest competitor.
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.
