News Broadcasting
Vikram Thukral appointed as VP distribution for Times Now and Zoom
MUMBAI: Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd. (BCCL) has fused the distribution team of the two channels Zoom and Times Now to drive in penetration and bring in revenues. The distribution will be overseen by the newly appointed VP- distribution Vikram Thukral.
Thukral fills in the space vacated by Hitesh Sabharwal who was handling the distribution aspect of Zoom.
Vikram Thukral will be reporting to the Times Now CEO Sunil Lulla and Zoom CEO Suresh Bala respectively. At Star, Thukral has led each of the regions of east, north and west expanding Star’s household reach and earning significant revenues from distribution, informs an official release.
And the distribution teams of both the pay channels; the glamour and lifestyle channel Zoom and the English news channel Times Now will be reporting into Thukral.
In a joint statement issued, Bala and Lulla stated, “We welcome Vikram’s leadership and believe both channels will be served better with combined efforts, in growing each channel’s household reach.”
Over the next few weeks, both channel teams will be integrated for a common customer facing team. Time Now is owned by Times Global Broadcasting (A Times Group & Reuters Company) and Zoom is fully owned by Bennett Coleman & CO Ltd.
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.
