News Broadcasting
Viacom realigns music and ent ad sales for a new convergent structure
MUMBAI: Viacom recently announced a realignment of its Viacom Media Networks Music and Entertainment ad sales group to merge its television, digital and mobile teams into a single convergent sales organisation.
The convergent team will handle all sales and integrated marketing for linear and digital assets across CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Logo, Spike TV, TV Land and VH1.
“The lines among television, online and mobile aren’t just blurring – they’ve been erased in terms of how our audiences consume and experience content,” said Music and Entertainment head of sales Jeff Lucas. “For a client-centric organisation like ours, a convergent structure will keep us on the leading edge of marketing innovation and ensure that we continue to create value for advertisers and audiences alike.”
Under the new structure, the music and entertainment team’s former senior VPs of digital ad sales will take on new leadership roles. Melanie Dimemmo will serve as senior VP of digital video sales, focusing on video deals across the music and entertainment portfolio. She will report dually to Neil Holt and Sean Moran, executive VPs of Ad Sales.
Sarah Iooss will serve as senior VP of partnerships and client strategy, a role in which she’ll be responsible for identifying partnerships with content and platform technology companies. Sarah will report to Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, executive VP of ad sales strategy.
Sharon Silverstein will serve as senior VP of Multiplatform Studio ad sales leading the convergent team focused on the company’s studio clients out of Los Angeles. Silverstein will continue to report to Steve Agase, senior VP of ad sales, West Coast.
Additionally, under the new convergent structure, all sales team senior vice presidents and vice presidents will assume responsibility for linear and digital business. Both linear and digital account executives will report into the same convergent leadership.
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.
