News Broadcasting
Zee News Ltd misses regional GECs, Q4 net shrinks to Rs 28 mn
MUMBAI: Zee News Limited (ZNL) has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 28.2 million for the quarter ended 31 March, a 56.9 per cent fall from the year-ago period, as it has learnt to live without its six regional general entertainment channels since 1 January.
The channels – Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Talkies, Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada and Zee Cinemalu – have now been demerged from ZNL and merged into Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel). ZNL now operates Zee News, Zee Business, Zee Punjabi, Zee 24 Taas and Zee Tamil.
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ZNL’s total consolidated revenues for the three-month period stood at Rs 600.6 million compared to Rs 1.38 billion a year ago
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Meanwhile, expenses also came down to Rs 561.8 million from Rs 1.18 billion a year ago.
ZNL chairman Subhash Chandra said, “Zee News Ltd is all set to embark on a new and promising trajectory after the demerger of the company was formally concluded. Our aim is to consolidate our commanding position in the news genre and spread out our wings even further in the regional and national arena. The company is uniquely poised to accrue benefits from the synergies possible from such an arrangement. Resources from across the spectrum of channels will be pooled together and shared, giving us an edge over competition and also immense cost benefits.”
ZNL CEO Barun Das added, “The demerger will throw up some exciting opportunities as we go ahead. We had leveraged the low cost entry opportunity during the economic recession and are now well placed to grow from here.”
The company also announced that Zee Akaash News Private Limited – a subsidiary, where ZNL holds 60 per cent stake and operates Bengali news channel 24 Ghanta – has made an operating profit of Rs 50.11 million for the year ended 31 March 2010.
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.
