News Broadcasting
Nidhi Vasandani quits TV9, pivots to podcasts
After two decades in television, Vasandani plans a podcast on faith, growth and life stories
NEW DELHI: Senior television journalist and news anchor Nidhi Vasandani has resigned from TV9 Network, ending a nearly three-and-a-half-year stint as deputy editor at TV9 Bharatvarsh. She is currently serving her notice period.
Confirming the development to Samachar4media, Vasandani said she is moving into digital media and long-form podcasts. The upcoming podcast series, she added, will centre on growth, faith and the life journeys of influential individuals.
Vasandani brings more than two decades of newsroom experience. Before TV9, she spent around three and a half years with Republic Bharat, where she was part of the founding team. Her earlier roles include a brief tenure at India News, followed by nearly four years at ABP News from 2014, where she produced and anchored political and ground-reporting shows, including election programming and demonetisation coverage.
From 2009 to 2014, she worked as producer and anchor at Zee Business, and also contributed to regional channels under Zee Media. Earlier stints include Sahara Samay, as well as brief roles at Raj News and Bhaskar TV in Bhopal.
Academically, Vasandani holds a BA (honours) in economics and postgraduate degrees in mass communication and political science. A trained kathak dancer, she has performed widely, taught children, and appeared multiple times on Doordarshan. She has been honoured by Shivraj Singh Chauhan as Bhopal’s best classical dancer and received the National Award for Sindhi Talent in 2004.
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:Â 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.
