News Broadcasting
CNN international bets high on ‘native’ digital ads
MUMBAI: CNN is rolling out industry-leading native advertising solutions to optimise the performance of digital campaigns from commercial partners and enhance the experience of audiences engaging with branded content and digital advertising on CNN platforms.
Through a new partnership with the industry’s leading native advertising platform Sharethrough, CNN International Commercial (CNNIC) is now offering dynamic native and branded content advertising formats in prominent positions across CNN Digital platforms – a move that takes advertising on CNN Digital even further beyond the traditional ad banner. Using Sharethrough, CNNIC developed and tailored exclusive new formats and templates so that native solutions on CNN’s international digital properties offer both a seamless user experience and tremendous value to CNN’s advertisers. The main benefits are in dwell time and engagement, as the Sharethrough/Nielsen Neuroscience Study shows that native ads receive double more visual attention than banner ads.
CNN Digital’s “Native 2.4” programme focuses on several key benefits:
DYNAMIC FORMATS: New ad formats on CNN Digital platforms include instant play native video, graphic text over video, infographics, long-form video, articles and galleries to increase engagement across all digital platforms, focused on mobile. All native content is labelled as “Sponsor content” and includes clear disclosures to ensure transparency with the user.
SMART PLACEMENT: Placement of native advertising fits in naturally across the international edition of CNN Digital properties including key verticals such as CNN Style, CNNMoney, CNN Sport and CNNTravel, and premium inventory such as the CNN homepage. Clearly labelled native content is now presented in the style of CNN editorial content, with the ability to be placed directly in editorial streams of content and alongside relevant CNN editorial videos and articles.
INTELLIGENT DATA INSIGHT: Building on CNNIC’s CNN AIM (Audience Insight Measurement) commercial data offering, the new native solutions are powered by data. This enables targeting of specific audience segments, A/B testing of creative executions, real-time optimisation of campaigns and detailed reporting metrics to deliver clients with true marketing insight.
CREATIVE EXCELLENCE: CNNIC’s award-winning brand content studio, CREATE, which has produced branded content for international advertisers for ten years, is the creative powerhouse behind the native content delivered through these solutions. Separate to CNN editorial, CREATE works with CNNIC’s commercial partners to deliver branded content that resonates with CNN audiences across linear, digital and social platforms
“We are bringing together the full suite of new formats, prominent and seamless placement, and the power of data and creative content for clients to truly engage with CNN audiences in a native environment,” said Rob Bradley, Director of Digital Revenue and Data, CNN International Commercial. “The result is an engaging brand storytelling experience created for peak performance and with the flexibility of dynamic optimisation. Clearly labelled to ensure transparency, this solution created with our partners at Sharethrough also ensures that our users are served high quality and engaging native content that’s relevant to them. In an age of overused buzzwords, this solution, which we’re calling Native 2.4, finally adds real substance to the term ‘native advertising’.”
“Like us at Sharethrough, CNN believes in a future where ads are built on a foundation of respect and quality — ads that fit in. The CNN team has enthusiastically embraced this new advertising model, and are using the Sharethrough platform in a unique and sophisticated way. When combined with the high quality content being created by CNN’s brand content studio, native ads have the power to engage and persuade unlike any traditional marketing strategy,” said Dan Greenberg, CEO and Co-Founder, Sharethrough.
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.








