News Broadcasting
Zee News storms into no 2 position in BARC week 50’25 ratings
NOIDA: Zee News has mounted its sharpest comeback in nearly six years, vaulting into the top ranks of Hindi news with a bruising performance in BARC Week 50’25, driven by rural strength and free-to-air heft.
According to BARC India data (HSM | all 15 plus | 06:00–24:00 hours), the channel emerged as the second most-watched Hindi news outlet nationally, clocking a reach of 50.8 million viewers and signalling renewed traction after years in the middle order.
The real story, however, lies beyond urban pay homes. In HSM rural markets, Zee News ranked no 1 among NCCS all 15 plus audiences, cornering a 12.2 per cent market share and reaching 17.6 million viewers. On the free platform, it extended its lead with a 12.7 per cent share and a reach of 15 million, underlining the enduring power of FTA news in mass India.
Regionally, the channel topped the charts in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, posting a 13.5 per cent share and consolidating its grip on the Hindi heartland, still the decisive battleground for television news.
The surge has also lifted Zee Media Corporation Limited’s overall news portfolio, strengthening cumulative reach and time spent amid an increasingly fragmented broadcast market.
Executives at the network frame the performance not as a one-week blip but as the payoff from a sustained editorial reset: sharper storytelling, heavier on-ground reporting and a renewed pitch for viewer trust. In a genre addicted to spikes and crashes, Zee News’ week 50 showing suggests momentum with muscle behind it.
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.
