News Broadcasting
Universal Music India signs top 11 contestants from ‘Indian Idol juniors’
MUMBAI: Leading label Universal Music India has signed the top eleven contestants from the popular `Idol’ television property Indian Idol Junior that just completed its debut season. Emerging as a powerhouse of explosive talent, the Top 11 Indian Idol Juniors were chosen from millions of aspirants across India. The nation was taken by storm by the young musical wonders, who continued to keep the audiences in awe week after week with their prodigious flair.
A well established brand already, it is the first year that the `Idol’ propertyintroduced a `junior’ season. The junior edition of the show proved to be a huge success as is evident from the impressive young talent that emerged out of which 11 proved to shine far brighter than the rest. Universal Music offers the contestants a 360 contract wherein the young artists’ assignments will be exclusively managed by the leading record label.
Speaking on the occasion, Devraj Sanyal, Managing Director, Universal Music India & South Asia, said, “Our association with `Idol’ both globally & here has been very successful as we saw with II6 where we were able to take the recorded music piece & the Live piece & make it into a sustainable business. The Indian Idol 6 kids performed some 60 shows in over ten countries over 11 months. Now our endeavor with the Indian Idol Junior kids will exactly be the same, only with the added advantage of having a wider audience to reach out to. Our partnership with future thinking companies like Fremantle will allow us to do just that. The talent has been outstanding and it’s my firm belief that the Indian Idol Juniors today are tomorrow’s stars.”
The talent on Indian Idol junior has been of an exceptional level. We are pleased to announce our association with Universal Music to build this talent into young legends.” added Anupama Mandloi, Managing Director, Fremantlemedia India.
Along with the winner Anjana Padmanabhan, the musical sensations who created waves are Nirvesh Dave, Debanjana Karmakar, Anmol Jaswal, Sugandha Date, Sonakshi Kar, Priyam Borpatragohain, Akash Sharma, Sankalp Yaduwanshi,Eman Chaudhary and Aryan Das along with the winner Anjana Padmanabhan, all of whom set the stage ablaze with their fiery talent
Universal Music has signed on these young superstars for a holistic 360 degree contract wherein all aspects including `live’ show, endorsements, music albums etc. will be solely managed by the label.
For more enquires on shows, contact smiran.bansal@umusic.com.
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.
