MAM

Wireless -The New Smart Money Spinner

Published

22 years ago

July 14, 2004

Suddenly, the mobile phone has a different ring to it. Drawn to the tiny gadget like moths to a flame, broadcasters in India, much like their counterparts abroad, have realised the mind numbing potential of the mobile as an alternative medium to hook the viewer.

Wireless – the next Big Thing?

What started as a tentative trickle in 2002 initiated by music channels like MTV, etc, Aaj Tak, has suddenly turned into a flood in the last few months. With big brother on the block Star India threatening to let loose its own charged up version of wireless in the next few weeks, the wee mobile is now sending out signals of gigantic potential. And no one’s immune to the fever anymore.

From zany ringtones to budget snippets, from voting for your favourite pop star to finding out the best deal going in the neighbourhood music store, everything is now just an SMS away. And while most broadcasters are currently content to drive interactive viewership via mobile, Star has taken an aggressive stance, proclaiming that it is its content that is going to drive revenue from day one. That it is Star CEO Michelle Guthrie’s pet passion and has alrady reaped rich dividends in China adds to Star’s ambitious plans in India.

Corporates, Internet sites and service oriented companies have already jumped onto the bandwagon, but it is television that appears to be poised for the biggest leap in the mobile revolution in the country.

The players

While Star with its proposed wide array of wireless services may be the biggest in the fray, several channels have staked their claim to being the pioneers in the field. Music channel etc toyed with SMS as early as 2002, calling it ‘mobiletainment’ and inviting viewers to send in birthday messages to Bollywood stars. Aaj Tak claims to have taken the lead in the news genre in its first year of operations by getting viewers to participate in SMS voting contests. Ten Sports has dabbled with SMS during the Morocco Cup two years ago, and Sony tried it during the World Cup last year. Even Cartoon Network has its long term sights in place – SMS oriented contests have been part of its strategy for over one year.

With mobile phone penetration increasing by leaps and bounds and the entry of CDMA which triggered an even faster growth, other channels have entered the arena, with results far exceeding their expectations. Business news channel CNBC TV18 entered the fray last month, and was overwhelmed with 30,000 SMSes on the day of launch. Its budget day SMS offer got the channel over 50,000 messages in five hours, and today the channel has a unique user base of over 15,000 and growing. Says an excited vice president marketing, B Saikumar, “The response was at least eight to tenfold of our expectations.” The channel is now busy chalking up plans to introduce audio streaming, offering forex rates, bullion and international news on SMS, all targeted at developing the mobile as the ‘third medium of delivery’ after the channel’s primary two – home viewing and office (out of home) viewing.

Saikumar is not worried about losing viewers to the mobile. Usage will build loyalty and will subsequently bring revenue, he argues. “Revenue is not the prime concern, although it will become a substantial factor in the coming year,” he concedes. Sab TV president Kanta Advani agrees. “It is a very convenient form of connecting with the viewer and a good way of nurturing interactivity,” she maintains. In the four weeks that the channel’s Lucky Number 9 SMS initiative got off the ground, Sab’s reach and connectivity have improved considerably. Advani, who believes wireless can become a profit making proposition within two to five years, says its best used for trying new programming concepts.

Ten Sports’ programming and strategy head Peter Hutton has also gone on record saying that Ten will shortly leverage its wireless activity. MTV India has already spawned a separate cell to handle the mobile business to be handled by marketing head Vikram Raizada, and CNBC is putting the finishing touches on an advertising campaign to push its mobile initiatives, that will break over the weekend.

But the biggest plans seem to be in the Star kitty. A separate wireless business development division, under the stewardship of Sumantra Dutta, will be leveraged in the coming months to provide a range of services including exclusive content from the Star stable, mobile gaming (custom made Kyunki… games, to give an example) as well as help lines and info services. Star Wireless, as it is being termed, will work totally on and feed off television and radio, because the content and the ability to talk to the masses is available only through these media, which can keep reinforcing the message. There will be a large amount of non Star content that Star Wireless will provide, says Dutta. The other content offered could be linked to best deals, astrology, traffic, medical emergencies, logo downloads, wallpapers, mobile phone gaming… the list is endless.

Zeroing in on the target

Will India follow China’s lead in embracing wireless with enthusiasm?

So, who are the channels targeting? For Star, it could be the man on the street, for CNBC the keen business follower. There’s a mobile phone user to cater to each service provided. May 2004 statistics show that the number of mobile phones, including WLL (M), stood at over 36 million and their share in the total number of 79.4 million phones was more than 45 per cent. The number of mobile users in the country has exceeded the fixed subscribers in circles like Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Punjab and Chennai. The number of mobile subscribers is expected to total more than 100 million by 2005, thanks to some of the world’s lowest call rates. Mobile phones are thus expected to overshoot landlines by the end of 2004, a fact that augurs well for broadcasters’ wireless plans.

The number is the key

The SMS number or ‘short code’ is the key that links the broadcaster with its audience. Star has hammered its 7827 code deep into viewer psyche for the last two years, and is ready to unleash another promo blitz to create what it calls “consumer awareness” of the concept of wireless. Aaj Tak, too, recognised the power of the mobile early on and adopted short code 2424 (tallies with the tag line of being there, 24 hours) for its own. Sony, which earlier used the Indiatimes number 8888, has now developed its own, 2525, which is being used for Jassi as well as for its forthcoming Max Games, according to executive V-P and Max business head Rajat Jain.

CNBC uses the same short code as Sab, 3636, but Saikumar insists that not having a dedicated number is no handicap, once the viewer is clear about the information he has chosen to follow. Dutta however believes otherwise. 7827 is going to be drilled into the public mindset, as the ‘short code of choice’ for the masses, and the communication the channel will underline – 7827 has arrived.

Defining viewership

etc’s SMS show revamped recently, citing increasing popularity

While Dutta says he does not expect wireless to drive programming, although international experience shows that it does help some, others says the business does help define and and drive viewership. TV Today vice president, marketing, Rajesh Seshadri says the responses Aaj Tak gets often help identify viewer demographics, and that these mostly mirror TAM data. Concurs Saikumar, “Since much of our viewership is out-of-home, the peoplemeters don’t reflect actual figures. We hope to generate surrogate evidence of viewership through mobile.” Advani too says that SMS has helped the channel identify areas of programming that were popular, since its mobile foray with talk show Kuch Diiil Se last year, and improving the reach of the channel. The initiative has also helped Sab to surpass certain rival FTA channels, she maintains.

Seshadri, however, believes in being conservative with the use of SMS as a tool of driving viewership. “We can put up SMS polls ad nauseum to heighten interactivity, but it can lead to viewer fatigue,” he points out. Rajat Jain has another perspective, “We are not a sports channel that digs deep down into the definition of sport. We are into stretching the concept wider so that the sponsors, advertisers, the ICC get value. Sports channels which keep digging deeper and deeper into a sport are not expanding the viewership base,” he told indiantelevision.com recently.

Disney too, has big plans up its sleeve. Says a spokesperson, “The Indian marketplace is developing quickly and represents strong growth opportunities for all of our businesses. We are taking a comprehensive approach to a variety of Disney business initiatives in India regarding an overall strategy, including opportunities for new media initiatives (eg wireless/ Disney Mobile)…”

Money spinner

So, are channels cashing on SMS as a revenue spinner? Most are cautious in their replies when the revenue potential of wireless is probed. With a 45 million mobile user base in the country that is growing by the minute, channels are sitting on a goldmine. The potential of the medium is as big as the imagination of the broadcasters. Dutta says Star plans to target a large subset of the 200 million TV viewers who happen to be mobile phone owners. In the next six months, at least 30 per cent of the market will be cornered by 7827, and by the end of the July fiscal next year, 50 per

Will shows like Sab’s new SMS based show be the next revenue spinning gambit for channels?

cent of the market. Star has its plan drawn up. But for players like Aaj Tak, the strategy is different. Says Seshadri, “Our approach to SMS is different. Our strategy is to leverage the Aaj Tak and Headlines Today brands, rather than look at it as a major source of revenue.” Yet, it is reaping dividends, indirectly. Aaj Tak’s tie up with Air Tel for news updates already has a user base of 30,000 and a contest for the fledgling Headlines Today fetched one million responses in two days.

With an estimated 30 per cent revenue share accruing out of every SMS sent to the channel, channels are already making money. Already companies like TollfreeIndia have been offering value added services to Star, Rediff and Yahoo! at competitive rates. Channels are making use of airtime to effectively promote the wireless initiatives at minimum cost to themselves. Even the Star Wireless team will comprise just a dozen key executives handling the show, with most of the business done on alliances with multiple partners.

No one is still willing to talk about advertising that can be tied in with wireless services, but Saikumar admits that any such advertising, that can be taken up in the future, will have to be non-intrusive to be effective. Dutta says Star’s Wireless will move towards a monthly subscription parameter, but right now, Star is focusing on developing mass usage of services that are offered, to check which are feasible and then put the more used ones into a package. But that’s in the future.

Which could well be just a couple of months from now.

Brands

Netflix India names Rekha Rane director of films and series marketing

Streaming giant bets on a seasoned marketer who helped build Amazon and Netflix into household names

Published

1 month ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Netflix has put a proven brand builder at the helm of its films and series marketing in India, naming Rekha Rane as director in a move that signals sharper focus on audience growth and cultural cut-through in one of its most hotly contested markets.

Rane steps into the role after seven years at Netflix, where she has quietly shaped how the platform sells stories to India. Her latest promotion, effective February 2026, crowns a run that spans brand, slate and product marketing across originals, licensed content and new verticals such as games.

A strategic marketing and communications professional with roughly 15 years’ experience, Rane has spent much of her career building technology-led consumer businesses and new categories, notably e-commerce and subscription video on demand. She was part of the early push that introduced Amazon.in, Prime Video and Netflix to Indian homes, then helped turn them into everyday brands.

At Netflix, she most recently served as head of brand and slate marketing for India from March 2024 to February 2026, leading teams across media and marketing for global and local content portfolios. Before that, as manager for original films and series marketing, she led IP creation and go-to-market strategy for titles including Guns and Gulaabs, Kaala Paani, The Railway Men* and The Great Indian Kapil Show, spanning both binge and weekly-release formats.

Her earlier Netflix roles covered product discovery and promotion in India and integrated campaign strategy to drive conversations around the content slate, product awareness and brand-equity metrics.

Before Netflix, Rane logged more than three years at Amazon in brand marketing roles in Bengaluru. There she handled national and regional campaigns for Amazon.in, worked on customer assistance programmes in growth geographies and contributed to the go-to-market strategy for the launch of Prime Video India.

Her career began well away from streaming. At Reliance Brands in Mumbai, she worked on retail marketing for Diesel and Superdry. A stint at Leo Burnett saw her work on primary research for P&G Tide, mapping Indian shoppers’ paths to purchase. Earlier still, at Orange in the United Kingdom, she rose from sales assistant to store manager, running a team and owning monthly P&L for a retail outlet.

The arc is telling. As global streamers fight for attention in a crowded Indian market, executives who understand both mass retail behaviour and digital habit-building are prized. Rane’s career sits at that intersection.

For Netflix, the bet is simple: in a market spoilt for choice, sharp marketing can still tilt the screen. And with Rane now leading the charge, the streamer is signalling it wants not just viewers, but fandom.

Brands

Orient Beverages pops the fizz with steady Q3 gains and rising profits

Kolkata-based beverage maker reports stronger revenues and profits for December quarter.

Published

1 month ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: A fizzy quarter with a steady aftertaste that’s how Orient Beverages Limited, the company that manufactures and distributes packaged drinking water under the brand name Bisleri closed the December 2025 period, as the Kolkata-based drinks maker reported improved revenues and a healthy rise in profits, signalling operational stability in a competitive beverage market.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Orient Beverages posted standalone revenue from operations of Rs 39.98 crore, up from Rs 36.42 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 33.53 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 42.24 crore, reflecting consistent demand and stable pricing across its beverage portfolio.

Profit before tax for the quarter came in at Rs 3.47 crore, a sharp improvement from Rs 1.31 crore in the September quarter and Rs 0.39 crore a year ago. After accounting for tax expenses of Rs 0.79 crore, the company reported a net profit of Rs 2.68 crore, nearly three times the Rs 0.99 crore recorded in the preceding quarter.

On a nine-month basis, the momentum remained intact. Revenue from operations for the period ended December 31, 2025 rose to Rs 117.66 crore, compared with Rs 106.95 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the nine months climbed to Rs 5.51 crore, more than double the Rs 2.18 crore reported in the same period of the previous financial year.

The consolidated numbers told a similar story. For the December quarter, consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 45.06 crore, while profit after tax came in at Rs 2.06 crore. For the nine-month period, consolidated revenue touched Rs 133.57 crore, with net profit of Rs 4.49 crore, underscoring the group’s improving profitability trajectory.

Operating expenses remained largely controlled, with cost of materials, employee benefits and other expenses broadly aligned with revenue growth. The company continued to operate within a single reportable segment beverages simplifying its cost structure and reporting framework.

The unaudited financial results were reviewed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 7 February 2026. Statutory auditors carried out a limited review and reported no material misstatements in the results.

In a market where margins are often squeezed by input costs and competition, Orient Beverages’ latest numbers suggest the company has found a reliable rhythm not explosive, but steady enough to keep the fizz alive.

MAM

Washington Post CEO exits abruptly after newsroom cuts spark backlash

Leadership change follows layoffs, protests and a bruising battle over trust.

Published

1 month ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: When the presses are rolling but patience runs out, even the editor’s chair isn’t safe. The Washington Post announced on Saturday that its chief executive and publisher Will Lewis is stepping down with immediate effect, bringing a sudden end to a turbulent two-year tenure marked by financial strain, newsroom unrest and public backlash.

Lewis’s exit comes just days after the Bezos-owned newspaper announced sweeping job cuts that triggered protests outside its Washington headquarters and a wave of anger from readers and staff. While newspapers across the US are grappling with shrinking revenues and digital disruption, Lewis’s leadership had increasingly come under fire for how those pressures were handled.

The Post confirmed that Jeff D’Onofrio, a former Tumblr CEO who joined the organisation last year as chief financial officer, has taken over as CEO and publisher, effective immediately. In an email to staff, later shared by reporters on social media, Lewis said it was “the right time for me to step aside.”

The leadership change follows the announcement of large-scale redundancies earlier this week. While the Post did not officially confirm numbers, The New York Times reported that around 300 of the paper’s roughly 800 journalists were laid off. Entire teams were dismantled, including the Post’s Middle East bureau and its Kyiv-based correspondent covering the war in Ukraine.

Sports, graphics and local reporting were sharply reduced, and the paper’s daily podcast, Post Reports, was suspended. On Thursday, hundreds of journalists and supporters gathered outside the Post’s downtown office in protest, calling the cuts a blow to public-interest journalism.

Former executive editor Marty Baron described the moment as “among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organisations.”

Lewis defended his record in his farewell note, saying “difficult decisions” were taken to secure the paper’s long-term future and protect its ability to publish “high-quality nonpartisan news”. But his tenure coincided with growing scrutiny of editorial independence at the Post.

Owner Jeff Bezos faced criticism for reining in the paper’s traditionally liberal editorial page and blocking an endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 US election. The move was widely seen as breaking the long-standing firewall between ownership and editorial decision-making.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, around 250,000 digital subscribers cancelled their subscriptions after the paper declined to endorse Harris. The Post reportedly lost about $100 million in 2024 as advertising and subscription revenues slid.

While the wider newspaper industry continues to battle declining print advertising and the pull of social media, some national titles have stabilised. Rivals such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have managed to build sustainable digital businesses, a turnaround that has so far eluded the Post despite its billionaire backing.

As Jeff D’Onofrio steps into the role, the challenge is stark, restore confidence inside the newsroom, win back readers who walked away, and prove that one of America’s most storied newspapers can still find its footing in a brutally competitive media landscape.