News Broadcasting
WorldSpace Noah Samara to deliver key note at International Radio Conference Dubai
MUMBAI: International Radio Conference (IRC) is scheduled to be held from 22 May to 24 May in Dubai. The key note will be delivered by WorldSpace Corporation chairman and CEO Noah A. Samara.
The conference is aimed at a global audience of radio professionals and contemporaries from associated industries, including advertising and media.
It will also examine the future of radio in the Middle East. The sessions are; Shifting Stands, Breakfast Confidential, Smarter Music Scheduling, Bumpers ‘n Stabs, Doughnuts ‘n Stings, They’re not all Mad, Only the Good Ones!, Print vs Radio, 10 Great Ways to Make People Listen Longer, News You Can Use, New Frontier, Kill or Cure? Can Radio Survive the Ipod Era? and Paying the Piper! to name a few.
Arabian Radio Network Join Abdullatif Al Sayegh will speak on Shifting Sands and other major players in the region as they give an upfront assessment of the future of radio in the Middle East.
Emap UK expert Mark Story and Capital 98.5 UK expert Keith Pringle will provide top tips and closely guarded secrets to building the best breakfast show.
European award winning Imager EMap UK Andy Roberts, Soniic Design Jean Michel Meschin, BBC World Service on air editor Steve Martin, Radio Advertising Bureaux UK Douglas McArthur, BBC World Service business development head Simon Kendall and Virgin Radio James Cridland will provide a low-down at the sessions.
The sessions organised will also cover the pertinent issues facing radio professionals today including programming, technology and production.
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.
