News Broadcasting
CNN IBN’s & IBN7’s non-stop coverage of US President Obama’s visit to India
MUMBAI: In the lead up to President Obama’s historic second visit to India, CNN-IBN and IBN7 bring to their viewers an exhaustive programming Namaste Obama and Phir Wahi Dil Laya Hoon respectively. The channels will provide in-depth coverage of President Obama’s tour of India, covering every facet of his visit.
The channels’ formidable team of journalists will track President Obama’s talks with top leadership in New Delhi on ways to make progress on key issues like Defence and Civil Nuclear Agreement and his historic participation in the Republic Day celebrations as the Chief Guest. The special programming will also run updates on Modi-Obama talks on the entire gamut of bilateral ties.
Watch Namaste Obama on CNN-IBN and Phir Wahi Dil Laya Hu on IBN7 from 25 January to 27 January 2015.
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.
