ITV

Tag: BTVi

  • Shobit Arora rejoins Network 18

    Shobit Arora rejoins Network 18

    MUMBAI: A group sales head at CNBC TV18, CNN18 and CNBC Awaaz for the northern region for nearly two years in 2019. Now Shobit Arora has come back to his alma mater as national head connected TV for the same three channels -building them across streaming devices and platforms.

    Shobit who believes heavily in education earned his BA and MA in economics from Guru Nanak Dev university, and followed those up with his MBA in finance from IIPM. He then joined Bennett Coleman & Co where he worked for nine years rising up to become manager. 

    What followed was his transition to TV with stints BTVi as senior manager  north sales (2017-2019, CNBC TV18 (2019-Dec 2020) and India Today  (AGM- connected TV, April 2022-August 2023.

    Shobit then made a surprising move by joining Oracle as a senior enterprise account manager for a short period of six months. After that, he rejoined  India Today as DGM -connected TV (February 2024-December 2024), following which he got the call from Network18 to head the national connected TV business for the three channels.

    Shobit likes to keep himself updated on new tech and has done a smorgasbord of courses: Linkedin Learning’s CMO Foundations Measuring Marketing Effectiveness RoI, NIIT’s Google Adwords Certification, Digital marketing workshops and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 2023 AI certified Foundations Associate course.

    All these should come handy as he takes the three channels he has charge of into new frontiers.

  • Megha Tata moves on from Cosmos Maya

    Megha Tata moves on from Cosmos Maya

    Mumbai: Veteran media professional Megha Tata has moved on from Cosmos Maya where she was the CEO at the company. Sources close to the development have confirmed this according to a news report. She is currently serving her notice period until the end of February.

    Tata was appointed as the CEO in October 2022. Prior to this, she was serving as the managing director at Discovery Communications India for over three years.

    With over three decades of experience, Tata has worked with many leading companies serving leadership roles in Star India, Turner International India Pvt.Ltd, HBO India Pvt Ltd, BTVI.

  • BTVi abruptly suspends transmission on broadcast platforms

    BTVi abruptly suspends transmission on broadcast platforms

    MUMBAI: In what seems like a bolt from the blue, English business news channel BTVi on Saturday informed its employees of the company’s decision to abruptly ‘suspend transmission on broadcast platforms’ from midnight (31 August).

    “Over the next few days, we will communicate the future steps towards a smooth transition of our operations,” further read the HR’s communique.

    It now remains to be seen whether BTVi, owned by Anil Ambani’s Reliance ADAG, changes hands in terms of ownership or ceases to exist in all forms including digital.

    The news of BTVi shutting shop comes on the back of major financial troubles for its promoter as well as a churn in news media.

    In the last few months, several organisations have either suspended operations like Kapil Sibal-promoted Tiranga TV and India Today-owned opinion website DailyO or scaling down on resources like Scroll.

  • No job losses yet, Parle senior category head Mayank Shah clarifies

    No job losses yet, Parle senior category head Mayank Shah clarifies

    MUMBAI: Parle Products Pvt Ltd, a leading Indian biscuit maker was in controversy because of the news spread on the layoff of over 10,000 workers due to the slowing economic growth and falling demand in the rural heartland which could cause production cuts.

    Speaking with Muralidhar Swaminathan, the Channel Director of BTVI, on the job losses issue and the current scenario, Mayank Shah, Sr category Head at Parle Products shared that there’s a definite slowdown. He further highlighted that the issue of job losses has been blown out of proportion which is inappropriate. He said the consumption of a basic INR 5 packet has taken a hit due to a high GST rate which has affected the overall run. 

    Shah also mentioned that the sales have declined by 7-8 percent for biscuits below INR 100 per kg, which attracts 18 percent GST. He said low demand and high GST rate will eventually lead to the production slowdown and maybe job cuts. Shah said demand for the popular Parle biscuit brands such as Parle-G had been worsening since India rolled out a nationwide goods and services tax (GST) in 2017, which imposed a higher levy on biscuits costing as low as INR 5 but this shall have no impact on the employment.

  • BTVI adds new shows to programming as Elections 2019 captures audience

    BTVI adds new shows to programming as Elections 2019 captures audience

    MUMBAI: India’s fastest growing business news platform BTVI – Business Television India believes in bringing relevant content to its viewers. In tandem with the current political environment, the channel has expanded its content to ensure that its audience connects with all the latest political developments in the country.

    With an aim to bring in-depth information on politics, the channel has introduced interesting shows in different formats such as interviews, panel discussions, debates, on-ground coverage and analysis with renowned experts.

    “As part of our “business +” programming push, we have launched new shows including ‘Power Talks’ that features political heavyweights in conversation with BTVI,  ‘Rajniti On The Ground’ in travelogue, panel discussion format, ‘The Big Debate’ that showcases key debates of relevant topics, the ‘Campaign Trail’ where team BTVI is traveling across India, interacting with leaders and people, ‘Your Leader’ that features candidates from various political constituencies to help voters know their candidates better and  ‘Millennials Vote’ that puts out the views of first time voters to understand what they want from country’s politicians,” said Siddharth Zarabi, Executive Editor BTVI.

    “The new shows have been launched to help BTVI’s audience build a 360-degree perspective on India’s politics and political economy,” Zarabi added.

    BTVI is the only channel in the English Business News genre to have witnessed strong increase in viewer sampling levels. The share of viewing from BTVI has doubled, which brings BTVI to a co-terminus leadership of the genre.

  • Aditya Raj Kaul joins BTVI as editor – strategic affairs and internal security

    Aditya Raj Kaul joins BTVI as editor – strategic affairs and internal security

    MUMBAI: Former Republic World senior associate editor Aditya Raj Kaul has joined BTVI as editor, strategic affairs and internal security. In a tweet, Kaul mentioned that he will be working directly with BTVI executive editor of business television India Siddharth Zarabi.

    He commenced his career as founder member at United Students for almost two years. He then joined The Times of India in 2008 as a freelance features writer. After eight months of his stint, he joined The Indian as India Correspondent.

    In 2010, he joined The Indian, Australia as the Indian editor for more than two years. In 2012, Kaul moved on and went to Planman Media as the special correspondent. Before joining Republic World, he worked with Times Network for about three years as a principal correspondent.   

  • Megha Tata is Discovery’s pick for south Asia managing director

    Megha Tata is Discovery’s pick for south Asia managing director

    MUMBAI: This morning, we broke the news that Business Television India (BTVI) COO Megha Tata had put in her papers. Her last day at the business news channel would be 15 March 2019. We had an inkling that she would hop on to Discovery India as its India (more specifically south Asia) boss, filling a position that has been vacant since Karan Bajaj quit to set up his own venture. But pending confirmation, we did not put out the report.

    This morning the confirmation came in as Discovery Asia Pacific sent out a release stating that the broadcast veteran and affable professional is indeed taking over Discovery Communications India as it south Asia managing director.  She will be joining the firm effective 1 April 2019. A veteran of the media & entertainment industry, Megha has received multiple industry accolades in an illustrious career spanning more than 28 years. She has held leadership positions across eminent broadcasters such as BTVI, HBO, Turner International, and STAR TV. 

    Megha will be based in Mumbai and report to Discovery Asia Pacific managing director and Discovery International chief financial officer Simon Robinson.

    “Megha is a seasoned professional, with an extensive and proven track record of leading multiple broadcast businesses in India. We are incredibly excited to welcome Megha, and her vision, at this important juncture as we aim to actualize the potential of such a key market,” said Simon Robinson. “I look to her leadership to provide a differentiated strategic direction to Discovery India with twin objectives of – accelerating growth in the core business and strengthen the product portfolio with new offerings in line with the evolving expectations of the market.”

    Commenting on the development, Megha Tata, said, “Having been a passionate superfan of Discovery myself, I am really excited to lead Discovery’s mandate in the region. I look forward to working closely with the India management team to help build an aggressive growth path for the company in this rapidly changing media landscape.”

  • BTVI’s Megha Tata steps down as chief operating officer

    BTVI’s Megha Tata steps down as chief operating officer

    Mumbai: Megha Tata, chief operating officer of business news channel BTVI , has stepped down from her role, Indiantelevision.com has learnt. 15 March 2019 will be her last day at the organisation, Tata informed colleagues via an email last week.

    “Till such time the management decides on the way forward, my direct reports will report into Siddharth (Zarabi),” the veteran executive went on to add.

    The former HBO India MD – South Asia was roped in by BTVI in August 2016. Under her leadership, BTVI has made major gains in terms of viewership, especially on digital platforms.

    With over 25 years of media experience under her belt, Tata has worked for some of the most formidable brands in the media and entertainment business.

    Before joining HBO, Tata worked for Turner International India as general manager, Entertainment Networks, South Asia.

    Prior to her stint at Turner, Tata was the senior vice president -advertising sales, Star India.

    With another round of success behind her, all eyes will now be on Tata’s next move.

  • English biz news genre exhibits drop in TV viewership, growth on digital platforms

    English biz news genre exhibits drop in TV viewership, growth on digital platforms

    MUMBAI: Despite all the hullabaloo about digital cannibalising TV, the rapid rise of digital platforms hasn’t had a negative impact on traditional news viewing for now. In fact, the two consumption modes have complemented each other, enhancing the reach of content and news pieces to an ever wider audience. This trend, however, does not seem to hold true for English business news. While the viewership of the genre is increasing on digital, that on TV seems to have taken a hit in the recent past.

    Comparing viewership data for the top three channels in the past one year, it is not difficult to spot this difference. The leader in the genre, CNBC TV18, had 654 impressions ‘000 in week 4 in 2018 compared to 339 impressions ‘000 for the corresponding period in 2019. ET Now saw a dip from 608 impressions ‘000 to 155 impressions ‘000 in January 2019. BTVI too wasn't exempt from this trend, showcasing a viewership drop from 110 impressions ‘000 to 52 impressions ‘000. 

    According to BARC data, the core audience for the English business news channel is All India (U+R): NCCS AB: Males 22+ Individuals. CNBC TV18 has witnessed a drop of 39 per cent viewership among its core audience within a time frame of 15 weeks, starting week 40 2018 to week 2 2019. CNBC TV18 accounts for 65 per cent of the genre viewership. If we consider CNBC TV18 Prime HD, the viewership share goes up to 70 per cent.

    On the other hand, CNBC TV18 seems to be gaining quite a bit of traction on YouTube. The channel's total subscribers on YouTube are 285,867; it gained around 18,000 subscribers and was watched for 14.7 million minutes in December 2018.

    Commenting on the growth of business news on digital media, PwC MD risk assurance- media and entertainment Anand Punmiya said, “If we analyse TV English business news viewership data for past one year it appears that spike and downtrend are clearly event driven. However, on an average the TV viewership impressions were in the range of 500-600 and there was a marginal fall when news became available on digital platforms. It may not be apt to state that viewers have moved from TV to digital platform with respect to English business news, both platforms continue to have their own significance and convenience of use.”

    Urban India is ahead when it comes to consuming news on digital mediums but it is mainly headlines. However, for analysis, views or opinions, the preferred option is always a news channel or newspaper. Advertising on digital medium is growing rapidly, though not at the expense of TV revenues.

    BTVI claims to have doubled its viewership market share from 10 per cent in December 2018 to 19 per cent in January 2019.

    BTVI COO Megha Tata said, “In my opinion, core TG of the genre (22+ Males) is out of home (at their place of work) during the prime time of the genre (8 am to 4 pm). Hence, measuring at home does not give a true picture of genre viewership. Having said that, English business news is a very unstable genre and according to current measurement methods, genre viewership has seen a decline of 18 per cent in CY 2018 as compared to CY 2017. However, BTVI has grown by 19 per cent in the same time period.”

    BTVI has built a strong digital ecosystem, its content is available on OTT platforms such as Hotstar, JioTV, YouTube, Sony LIV, ZEE5, and YUPP TV. The channel is available on these platforms both as LIVE stream and VOD. 

    “Going by our experience, we have seen a huge uptake of business news content on OTT platforms as well as trading apps mentioned above. Clearly, there is a huge market for business content on digital ecosystem. However, we have grown our viewership on linear TV platform as well. Hence, it would be more accurate to say that viewers are getting added as genre consumers on digital platforms and not shifting from TV to digital,” Tata added. 

    Besides such OTT platforms, large proportion of business news genre viewers actively deal in stock market over various trading platforms. Such trading platforms have relevant set of viewers ready to consume business content on these platforms. Knowing this, BTVI became the only English business news channel to be present on trading apps such as Axis Direct, Kotak Securities, IIFL markets, HDFC Securities and Geojit. 

    With the general elections just around the corner, it remains to be seen what English business news channels have on offer to woo the audiences. With a tantalising political contest on offer, business news channels would like to seize upon the chance to regain some of the lost momentum with clever and engaging programming.

  • English business news genre sees no change in position in BARC week 1

    English business news genre sees no change in position in BARC week 1

    MUMBAI: The English business news genre saw no changes for the new week of the new year as compared to the last week of the previous year; everyone’s placed on the same positions as they ended the previous year. Aaj Tak continue to groove on the same tracks in the rural, urban and U+R genres as it did the previous year.

    English News

    Republic TV started week 1 in leading position in the English news genre with 731 impressions ‘000. Times Now came in at second place with 583 impressions ‘000. India Today Television stood in third position with 284 impressions ‘000 for the first week of 2019 after ending the last week of year 2018 on fourth position. CNN News18 took the fourth position with a tight 280 impressions ‘000 compared to India Today Television. NDTV 24X7 with mere 191 impressions ‘000 took the fifth position.

    English business news

    The English business news genre saw no changes for the new week of the New Year as compared to the last week of the previous year. CNBC TV18 started off in the first place with 442 impressions '000. ET Now and BTVI took second and third positions with 105 impressions '000 and 64 impressions '000. CNBC TV18 Prime HD took fourth position with 19 impressions '000.

    Hindi News (U+R)

    Aaj Tak continued a dominative start in the Hindi news (U+R) genre with 140,656 impressions ‘000. Zee News is placed in the second place with 119,908 impressions ‘000. News18 India takes the third position with 114,993 impressions ‘000. ABP News stands in fourth position with 109,341 impressions ‘000. India TV is placed in the fifth position with 101,902 impressions ‘000.

    Hindi news rural

    Aaj Tak is positioned first in the Hindi news rural genre with 63,672 impressions ‘000. ABP News and News18 India are at second and third positions with 53,357 impressions ‘000 and 50,674 impressions ‘000, respectively. Zee News with 47,496 impressions ‘000 is placed at the fourth place. India TV took the fifth spot with 37,983 impressions ’000.

    Hindi news urban

    Aaj Tak stood on top with 76,984 impressions ‘000 followed by Zee News with 72,412 impressions ‘000. News18 India took the third place with 64,319 impressions ‘000. India TV is placed on the fourth position with 63,918 impressions ‘000. ABP News took the fifth place with 55,983 impressions ‘000.