New Delhi, May 19 -- Television news emerged as a vital source of information with 507 million viewers watching news in the week ofOperation Sindoor, India's cross-border counterstrike following the Pahalgam terror attack, according to data from the television monitoring agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc). Further, the news genre peaked and accounted for 16% of TV viewership during the three critical days of 7, 8 and 9 May 2025 as against the usual 6%.

The Hindi news genre clocked GRPs (Gross Rating Point, a key metric that measures the total exposure of an advertisement to a target audience) of 254, as compared to 235 during the Lok Sabha elections last year, 211 during the multiple state elections of 2022, 185 during the...