News Broadcasting
Uday Nirgudkar joins News18 Lokmat as group editor
MUMBAI: Uday Nirgudkar has joined Network18 as the group editor regional (west) for its Marathi news channel News18 Lokmat. Nirgudkar joins from Zee Media where he was the channel head for Zee24 Taas and CEO and editor-in-chief of DNA, an English newspaper from the same group.
He has more than two decades of experience at leadership positions in various industries like infrastructure, BPO, education and has spent considerable time in media. Nirgudkar is a recipient of many awards for contribution and excellence in journalism. He has authored Marathi bestsellers such as Local-Global CEO and All about Winning Elections.
Nirgudkar is an MBA & PhD from University of Pune & a science graduate from Mumbai University. A prolific speaker and author, he has an excellent understanding of the socio-cultural-political fabric of Maharashtra.
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.
