News Broadcasting
Burson-Marsteller launches Africa-India Advisory Desk
Gurgaon, 31 July 2013 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, today announced the launch of its Africa-India Advisory Desk — an initiative to be spearheaded by Arcay Burson-Marsteller in South Africa and Genesis Burson-Marsteller in India. The Africa-India Advisory Desk’s mandate is to assist Indian and African companies to navigate the African continent and Indian sub-continent respectively.
It will offer a range of services from market-entry analysis and strategy to stakeholder mapping to delivering customized communication across diverse audience(s) viz. customers, government and financial institutions.
“The Africa-India Advisory Desk was prompted by our experience of working across multiple markets in Africa and across India, and understanding that companies/organisations may be challenged by the divergent cultures, business landscapes and unique legal and political environments,” commented Robyn de Villiers, Chairman and CEO for Africa of Johannesburg-based, Arcay Burson-Marsteller.“ We believe that our 20+ years’ experience of providing regionally appropriate, locally-driven communications services, seamlessly executed across the African continent, combined with Genesis Burson-Marsteller’s robust spectrum of communication offerings across the Indian sub-continent, will be a winning combination for our clients.”
“We believe cross border Africa – India business opportunities represent enormous potential for both African companies doing business in or with India, as well as, Indian companies looking at investing or expanding into Africa. For the benefit of our clients and prospects we are bringing together our premier networks in Africa and India in the Africa-India Advisory Desk – a single point of contact that draws on Burson-Marsteller’s global expertise and local knowledge to enable business opportunities across national frontiers — into the African continent or Indian sub-continent,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe Middle East & Africa (EMEA).
Enhanced economic, political, social and cultural cooperation between India and Africa has promise and potential is self-evident from the fact that India and Africa together account for a huge market of 2.2 billion people with a combined GDP of more than $3 trillion. According to a recent CII-WTO report on India-Africa: South-South Trade and Investment for Development, India-Africa bilateral trade has grown from $1 billion in 2001 to around $50 billion in 2011-12. At the same time, India’s investments in Africa are estimated to be over $50 billion now.
“Globally, interest and opportunity in Africa is unprecedented. However, doing business in Africa is complex and can be daunting. Doing business in India can be similarly challenging. The Africa-India Advisory Desk, building on the strengths of our African hub and our Indian hub, we believe, can help our clients achieve business success in both markets,” adds Prema Sagar, Principal and Founder of Genesis Burson-Marsteller.
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.
