News Broadcasting
Gulf Oil presents ‘LEADER TALK’ with Baichung Bhutia and Michael Perschke
NEW DELHI : At a time when India is looking for young and dynamic leadership in all spheres, CNN-IBN, in association with Gulf Oil, brings you LEADER TALK, a unique new talk show that will explore the ever-evolving aspects of leadership, be it in a corporate boardroom or in a sports arena.
This week, IBN Network Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai talks to former Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia and Michael Perschke, Head of Audi India. On the show, Bhutia talks about how sports has brought men and women from the north-east into the mainstream and what it means for him to be a sports leader. Perschke narrates his experience of being an expat corporate leader working in India and how one needs to adjust to the ambiguities that the Indian system and work culture pose.
The show will be aired on Sat, Aug 31 at 12:30 PM, followed by a repeat telecast on the same day at 10:30 PM and on Sun, Sept 1 at 10:00 AM and 7:30 PM only on CNN-IBN.
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.
