News Broadcasting
British actor Benedict Cumberbatch on CNN’s ‘Talk Asia’
MUMBAI: He’s Hollywood’s man of the moment. From starring in the Academy Award winning “The Imitation Game”, to the hugely successful TV adaption of Sherlock Holmes, Benedict Cumberbatch is captivating audiences around the world. CNN’s ‘Talk Asia’ catches up with the actor in Shanghai where he opens up about his legions of superfans as well as the British invasion of Hollywood.
Cumberbatch, who has been named “sexiest man alive” by numerous magazines, tells CNN’s Anna Coren about his childhood, his charity work, and his new films. The star also reveals what he really thinks about his female admirers called ‘Cumberbabes’ and meeting his Chinese fan base who describe him as ‘Juan Fu’ (Curly Sherlock).
Airtimes: Indian Standard Time
Thursday September 3 at 0200PM
Friday September 4 at 0900AM
Saturday September 5 at 1000AM and 0900PM
Saturday September 12 at 0500PM
Sunday September 13 at 1000AM
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.
