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Tag: Hindustan Times

  • Devendra Nagle joins edtech platform RISE as VP of marketing

    Devendra Nagle joins edtech platform RISE as VP of marketing

    Mumbai: RISE, the edtech platform, has announced the appointment of Devendra Nagle as the company’s vice president of marketing, in a major boost to its leadership group. Incidentally, this is the first leadership hire outside of the founding team.

    Prior to joining RISE, Nagle was associate vice president at the Internet and Mobile Association of India, where he spearheaded digital advertising and venture capital committees.

    Earlier, he had conceptualised and created award-winning IPs in the startup space. He brings 10+ years of extensive experience in marketing across various sectors like media, education, and startups. Nagle had earlier worked at Google, India Today, and Hindustan Times, where he was responsible for leading various marketing initiatives. He holds a B.Tech degree in computer science and an MBA from IIM Bangalore.

    In his role at RISE, Devendra will be responsible for scaling the brand’s industry-led and localised programmes, alongside supporting RISE’s vision to help colleges and universities expand their offerings by focusing on creating new digital credentials and degree programmes with industry-led training. His mandate would be to lead all marketing initiatives for RISE.

    Commenting on the appointment, Nagle said, “With technology as an enabler, there is tremendous scope in the edtech sector across the world. RISE is leading the way in the ed-tech space through a tech-facing strategy that embraces innovation and is focusing on growing its operations rapidly. I am excited to be onboard this rocket ship and look forward to working with Gaurav Bhatia and the team.”

    RISE offers various postgraduate and professional certification courses. Each course is affordable and, crucially, is curated and taught by industry experts, thus increasing the chances of employability. The platform also aims to help colleges and universities expand and add digital content to their offerings, and benefit from the hybrid mode of imparting education.

    RISE CEO Gaurav Bhatia believes Devendra’s varied and vast experience will add to the company’s knowhow. He shared, “We at RISE are always looking to evolve and to introduce new paradigms to the edtech sector, keeping in mind how education overall has transformed since 2020. Getting Devendra on board is just another step in our plans to continue pushing the envelope and ensure that our students are as industry-ready as possible. And with his work experience across various domains, I believe Devendra will bring substance and value to RISE and add to our growth story.”

  • It’s Network18 ahoy for Palki Sharma as managing editor

    It’s Network18 ahoy for Palki Sharma as managing editor

    Mumbai : She built her name as a savvy on-air anchor on the programme Gravitas and as managing editor of Zee Media’s English news channel Wion. Now Palki Sharma has hopped on to Network18 Media as managing editor. She will be heading a new video project which is slated to be multi-platform. This will be her second stint at Network18, where she has previously worked in various capacities.

    “I am excited to join hands with Network18, India’s largest news network, to launch a futuristic project with a global footprint, that will transform the news experience and make India proud,” says Sharma. “It will be a content innovation lab that challenges traditional news formats and experiments with the latest technology and interactive tools to make news stories intelligent, interesting, and accessible for the global audience.”  

    Sharma will build and direct a video project that will cover all aspects of news reporting and presentation. The news product will aim to attract a new generation of viewers for the company.

    Adds Network18 group business news CEO Smriti Mehra: “Palki is a distinctive journalist and editor, thanks to her persona, voice, and audience connect.”  

    She further adds: “The news product she will lead will cater to audiences across platforms. It will help the network expand its footprint, along with imagining new formats of showcasing news content.”

    Sharma has over 21 years of experience in media, having worked for the ITV Network, Network18, Doordarshan News, and The Hindustan Times.

    Gravitas, a popular prime-time English news program, as well as the highly regarded digital program Gravitas Plus on Wion, were both hosted by her. She also created and oversaw the Wion Global Summit, an annual channel event held in Dubai.

    Palki has interviewed several national and international heads of state during her two-decade career. She has also covered major stories and events on the ground, such as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the Quad Summits in Tokyo and Washington, DC, and many more.

  • HT forays into web 3.0 with NFTs documenting 100 years of Indian history

    HT forays into web 3.0 with NFTs documenting 100 years of Indian history

    Mumbai: Hindustan Times has announced its foray into web 3.0 with the launch of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) under the banner of ‘HT Timeless Tokens,’ which will document India’s 100-year-old history as digital art.

    HT Timeless Tokens will include digitised versions of original historic creatives which were published in Hindustan Times through the decades.

    Some of the NFTs launched by HT include the iconic cover page of first republic day HT edition, and others inspired by events such as the success of the first missile launch, and India’s first historic win at the World Cup in 1983 against the West Indies.

    NFTs are a digital certificate of ownership of a piece of digital asset that can be bought and sold. The exclusive digital artworks launched by HT can be purchased with cryptocurrency and Fiat currency. They present an opportunity for collectors and enthusiasts to claim a piece of India’s glorious history filtered through the lens of Hindustan Times.

    To begin with, HT has launched NFTs celebrating India’s Republic Day on 26 January. They are available on Beyond Life, an NFT marketplace and platform that facilitates the creation, sale, and purchase of ownership rights to digital works of art via NFTs. Powered by GuardianLink.io – BeyondLife. Club is also responsible for launching two of the greatest NFT drops so far – Amitabh Bachchan’s rare exclusive NFT and Marvel creator Stan Lee’s exclusive NFT collection ‘Chakraverse.’

    “With industries like tech, finance, lifestyle, music and media advertising companies moving into the crypto/NFT ecosystem, new opportunities are set to be unlocked in the space of Web3,” said GuardianLink.io COO and founder Kamesh Elangovan. “The secondary marketplace for NFTs at GuardianLink.io will see more and more collectors investing with knowledge on the future monetisation of their NFTs. The partnership with Hindustan Times opens yet another avenue to explore the world of NFTs in the media and marketing industry.”

  • Hindustan Times to host online school quiz ‘The Class Act’ on 23 January

    Hindustan Times to host online school quiz ‘The Class Act’ on 23 January

    Mumbai: Hindustan Times will be hosting an online school quiz called “The Class Act”  on 23 January. The grand finale will be live broadcasted on the official HT School YouTube channel on Republic Day.

    “The quiz is open to all students of grades 1–12 across the country and a total of Rs 1.25 lakh Amazon vouchers are up for grabs. All participants will also be awarded a participation certificate from Hindustan Times,” said the statement.

    “The Class Act” will see renowned quizmasters Dr Navin Jayakumar and HT Labs co-founder and CEO Avinash Mudaliar test participants on various general topics. Dr Jayakumar is the founding member of The Quiz Foundation of India and is also the quizmaster for reputed national quizzes such as the ‘Landmark Quiz,’ the ‘Murugappa Madras Quotient School Quiz,’ and the ‘Rotary Galaxy Science and Technology Quiz.’ “Quizzing is a sport and not a test of IQ. It is a sport involving bits of information – facts that may or may not be of practical use but which are always interesting. And like all sports, practice makes perfect,” said Dr Navin Jayakumar.

    In his decades of quizzing experience, Avinash Mudaliar from HT Labs has hosted several national quizzes like ‘The EY Knowledge Quiz,’ ‘Microsoft Bhasha India,’ and ‘GIM Wizbiz.’ “A good quizzer is also good at lateral thinking and is seldom just a ‘rattu’ (one who mugs up information from some source prior to a quiz). Contrary to popular belief, you can seldom win a quiz these days with that strategy, as quizzing today requires you to immerse yourself in the knowledge that is at your fingertips and connect the dots between various points of information to arrive at a possibly right answer,” stated Mudaliar.

    In consideration of the pandemic and safety norms, ClassAct 2022 Quiz will be conducted online. It will unfold over two rounds: prelims and finale. The quiz will broadly be divided into two categories—the Junior category, comprising students of grades 1 to 5 and the Senior category, comprising students of grades 6 to 12.

    Taking place on 23 January at 11 a.m, Prelims will test students’ accuracy and speed. The quiz will be conducted on the Quizizz platform. Links sent to participants’ registered email ID by 10:45 a.m on 23 January will be active for a stipulated period of time from 11 a.m to 11:45 am.

    While the Finale is for the top performers in the Senior category, there are Amazon vouchers for the top 20 Juniors, based on their Prelims scores. The top 100 contestants of the Senior category will make it to the Finale. The Quizmasters’ decision will be final and binding on all matters.

    “Registration for the quiz is free. Participants will only have to fill an online registration form on HT School. Registered students will receive updates about the Quiz on their registered email ID/mobile number. The links to access the Prelims and Finale rounds will also be shared on the registered email IDs. Registrations will close on 23 January at 10 a.m,” said the statement.

  • Hindustan Times concludes Codeathon, one of India’s biggest coding olympiads

    Hindustan Times concludes Codeathon, one of India’s biggest coding olympiads

    NEW DELHI: Technology today has become a way of life, making coding an extremely important skill to possess in order to thrive in this competitive era. Hindustan Times Codeathon platform enables students to learn coding and showcase their talent thereby putting them on an accelerated path to success by enabling them to learn, participate and then win.

    While India has a lot of coders, coding for kids is novel and nascent. Institutional coding is not yet developed for kids while coding remains premium and aspirational for parents and cool for kids. Through HT Codeathon, there is an opportunity to build the next generation of coders.

    More than 10,000 schools participated with over 61,000 registrations, and students learnt programming languages such as HTML, CSS, Python.

    Samudra Bhattacharya, CEO-print, HT Media said, “This has been a long journey of over a year in developing the right platform which solves a need-gap in the education space for our partner schools as well as our sponsors. This is precisely the balance we wanted to achieve when we started this journey. I wish to thank our esteemed partners in Cuemath, IBM and Delhi government.”

    Rajan Bhalla, Group CMO, HT Media added, “This is a first-of-its kind initiative and solidifies our continued focus towards the millennial and GenZ audiences and the hugely positive response from our trusted readers and partner schools acts as the perfect endorsement. This is just the first step in creating a big movement around engaging the younger audiences with platforms that speak to them.”

    Hindustan Times Codeathon provided the perfect opportunity amidst the lockdown to enhance coding skills and make children ready for a tech-enabled future. A student just had to pay a one-time registration fee of Rs 499/- + GST to complete their registration process at www.htcodeathon.com.

    Eligibility: Students of Classes VI to IX

    Online preparation modules were provided to the student post-registration. Online qualifiers and the finale were conducted in December. HT Codeathon also provides various incentives to the students to participate by providing various gift hampers such as laptops and smart watches. Certificate of participation has also been provided to all the participating students.

  • HT Media attacks TV news in its new film

    HT Media attacks TV news in its new film

    The HT Media Group has relaunched its flagship brand Hindustan Times in an all-new digital-first avatar. The English daily, with a legacy of over 96 years and a total readership of eight million across India (TR, IRS Q4’19), has undergone a complete re-design that addresses the multi-platform shareable news consumption habits of today’s generation, particularly the millennials.

    The refreshed HT product portfolio, including HT City and Brunch, is replete with elements that offer seamless print to digital integrations. It further gives the readers more than what is available on just the print medium via QR Codes, video pointers, links to podcasts and photo galleries that direct the readers to HT’s digital platforms to experience, engage and express more.

    In terms of the new design elements, HT has launched its new logo that is classic yet contemporary, evoking the credible legacy that the brand brings to its modern-day readers. The thoughtfully crafted crest captures the journey of the brand from ‘quill to cursor’ and the values the brand has embodied since its inception in 1924 – ‘Clarity and Credibility’.

    HT has also unveiled its new positioning – First Voice, Last Word. It represents the ethos of the brand with its continued promise of credible journalism, especially in today’s information-addled world. While the First Voice alludes to its digital-first agile approach, which is always the first to raise issues faced by the citizens today, the Last Word captures the essence of journalistic excellence associated with a credible, trusted and respected news brand.

    Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India, has worked on the integrated campaign of the relaunch. The campaign maintains a sharp millennial focus in the messaging and design contours.

    The campaign film showcases a young woman addressing to the camera about how the audiences today are being fed with broken news that does not make anyone wiser. She attacks the format in which the news stories are broken, discussed and disintegrated on social media platforms, and debated further in evenings leaving anything but the truth aside. Towards the end, she brings to fore the HT’s positioning of ‘first word and last voice’.

    “The media landscape has undergone an immense transformation in the past decade and despite the testing times, Hindustan Times continues to make strides as a market leader to give the ‘news consumers’ what they are seeking and how they are seeking it. This refreshed product fits the fast-paced, knowledge-seeking needs of the millennials without alienating the older generation who are also fast adapting to the new ways of news consumption. We are extremely excited about this new offering and are certain that this raises the bar for the news industry in our country” said HT Media Ltd group CMO Rajan Bhalla.

    Dentsu Impact CCO Soumitra Karnik added, "Our focus was to make this campaign around the brand new format of HT; not just the design part of it but the core idea of becoming the most authentic news source available to its subscribers across all platforms. The new generation of news seekers are seeking absolute truth in the news they consume. They are tired of sensationalism; they are asking hard questions about the current state of journalism and they are expressing themselves freely and fearlessly across all platforms. And It is this relentless quest for the truth that we have tried to bring to life through a hard-hitting and thought-provoking narrative, voiced by the young and impactful social commentator, Aranya Johar – a representative for the responsible and aware millennial. The all-new HT is a fantastic product. The newspaper is interactive that impeccably integrates the print-to-screen reading experience.”

  • HT Media reports sluggish growth; Radio revenues impacted by soft ad environment

    HT Media reports sluggish growth; Radio revenues impacted by soft ad environment

    BENGALURU: Indian print, digital and radio media group HT Media reported 2 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in consolidated revenue for the quarter ended 30 September 2019 (Q2 2020, quarter or period under review) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter. The HT Media group revenue (includes HT Media Limited and another publicly listed subsidiary Hindustan Media Ventures Limited) increased by Rs 9 crore in Q2 2020 to Rs  580 crore from Rs 571 crore in Q2 2019.

    HT Media Group consolidated operating margin (EBITDA) more than doubled (grew 139 percent) y-o-y by Rs 47 crore during the quarter under review to Rs 81 crore from Rs 34 crore in Q2 2019. Consolidated loss halved (declined 51 percent) y-o-y to Rs 22 crore in Q2 2020 from Rs 22 crore in Q2 2019.

    Radio Business

    The HT Media Group had acquired a 51 percent stake in Next Mediaworks (NMW) in the last quarter of 2019. The HT Media Group reported 27 percent y-o-y growth in radio revenue in Q2 2020 due to NMW – radio revenue increased by Rs 13 crore to Rs 59 crore in the period under review from Rs 47 crore in Q2 2019. However, the company says that radio revenue ex NMW declined 7 percent y-o-y in Q2 2020. Operating EBITDA of the Group’s Radio Business declined by Rs 3 crore or 22 percent  y-o-y in Q2 2020 to Rs 12 crore from Rs 16 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

    Some of the radio brands of the HT Media Group include Fever 104 FM, 94.3 Radio One International and 102.7 FM Radio Nasha.

    Print Business

    HT Media Group’s overall Print Business revenue declined by Rs 14 crore or by 3 percent y-o-y in Q2 2020 to Rs 438 crore from Rs 452 crore. Print Business operating EBITDA increased 516 percent or by Rs 40 crore y-o-y during the period under review to Rs 48 crore from Rs 8 crore.

    HT Media Group’s overall Print ad revenue declined 6 percent or by Rs 21 crore y-o-y in Q2 2020 to Rs 342 crore from Rs 363 crore. Overall Print Business Circulation revenue reduced by Rs 5 crore or declined by 7 percent to Rs 66 crore in Q2 2020 from Rs 72 crore.

    Print – English Ad revenue declined 6 percent y-o-y to Rs 203 crore in Q2 2020 from Rs 217 crore. Print -English Circulation revenue declined 8 percent to Rs 17 crore in Q2 2020 from Rs 18 crore.

    Print – Hindi Ad revenue declined 6 percent y-o-y to Rs 139 crore in Q2 2020 from Rs 147 crore. Print Hindi Circulation revenue declined 7 percent y-o-y during the period under review to  Rs 50 crore in Q2 2020 from Rs 54 crore.

    Company speak

    HT Media and Hindustan Media Ventures chairperson and editorial director Shobhana Bhartia said, “Slowing economic growth has hit advertising spends in key categories, putting pressure on revenues across the media industry. As a result, our Print and Radio (on like to like basis) businesses saw revenues dip as compared to a year-ago. However, thanks to lower  commodity prices and a tight control on costs, we saw an improvement in our operating profit. On the digital front, Shine, our online recruitment portal has shown good progress and continues to grow. Our outlook for the coming quarter remains cautious, given overall economic sentiment and macroeconomic trends. Cost-control and falling commodity prices should help protect our margins.”

  • ZMCL COO Rajiv Singh steps down

    ZMCL COO Rajiv Singh steps down

    MUMBAI: Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) COO Rajiv Singh has stepped down from his role, with 28 February set to be his last working day, the company has notified the BSE. He will relinquish his duties as a board member on 31 January 2019.

    Singh joined Zee Media from Network18 where he was senior VP (business head) of News18 since August 2014. Prior to joining Network18, Singh was general manager, Middle East at Tribal Fusion, an online advertising network owned by Exponential Interactive.

    Singh has previously worked with Khaleej Times Online, Hindustan Times, Dainik Bhaskar and The Times of India, helping revitalize the media brands.

    Based on recommendations of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee, Vishwapati Trivedi, lAS (Retd.) has been appointed as additional director in the category of non-executive independent director with effect from January 24, 2019. 

    Punit Goenka has also been appointed as additional director in the category of non-executive non-independent director with effect from January 24, 2019.

  • Lux Golden Rose Awards’ 3rd edition supports #HeForShe campaign

    Lux Golden Rose Awards’ 3rd edition supports #HeForShe campaign

    MUMBAI: The third edition of the Lux Golden Rose Awards (LGRA) was recently concluded in Mumbai, congregating Bollywood stars to extend their support for UN’s #HeForShe campaign. Actors across eras attended the event and stood in solidarity for gender equality.

    The event was anchored in collaboration with Mindshare India and Star TV network. Star TV and Hotstar were responsible for content creation and broadcasting of the main award ceremony. Hindustan Times, Fever 104 FM, Pinkvilla, Facebook, and BeBeautiful were also roped in as partners for ancillary content creation.

    Mindshare India president – client leadership Amin Lakhani said, “With LGRA in its third consecutive year, we take immense pride in saying that with each passing year it has not only turned out to be a stronger but an even more successful association with brand Lux. In our three years of being associated with this project, we have only seen it grow in terms of grandeur and scale and what better than supporting the UN initiative HeForShe for an even more purposeful cause.”

    Hindustan Unilever Ltd GM – skin cleansing Harman Dhillion quoted, “For 90 years, Lux has been the beauty secret of iconic Bollywood superstars. This year, we used the grand stage of the Lux Golden Rose Awards to celebrate these women, and it was done in great style by the men of Bollywood paying an ode to their ladies. It was truly a pleasure to witness the Lux divas across generations being celebrated and a once in a lifetime experience.”

     Mindshare Fulcrum South Asia senior vice-president Premjeet Sodhi said, “LGRA has always been a project that we at Mindshare hold in high regard. We feel extremely honoured by the fact that over the past three years we have been able to bring Lux’s grand vision to life, with each edition being even more well-received than the last. This year, in particular, has been a matter of extreme pride, with a purpose-driven association in the form of HeForShe. The incredible success of this project would not have been possible without the tireless work and dedication of our Content+, Exchange, and Client Leadership teams, who performed extraordinarily, and delivered excellence."

  • Hindustan Times revs up love for Mumbai with #MumbaiMeriHai

    Hindustan Times revs up love for Mumbai with #MumbaiMeriHai

    MUMBAI: In the second installment of their popular campaign, Hindustan Times reignited every Mumbaikar's love for their city with #MumbaiMeriHai. While the first #MumbaiMeriHai campaign last year was a nostalgic collection of all things Mumbai, its follow up this year celebrates the feeling of belonging that binds all Mumbaikars to their city. The brand aimed to establish their market position as the mouthpiece for the city as well as its passionate citizens.

    The celebratory digital campaign, conceptualized by IdeateLabs, revered every Mumbaikar's affinity to the city by inviting citizens to share what makes them feel ‘Mumbai is not just where you live, but where you’ll always belong.’ #MumbaiMeriHai was initiated with an all-encompassing music video which captured the nuanced way of life in the city. It was accompanied by a contest which encouraged people to sing-along to the #MumbaiMeriHai theme song. Additionally, the campaign invited Mumbaikars to share their stories on what makes them belong to the city through pictures and videos. Both the contests received overwhelming support with Mumbaikars pouring their heart out for the city of their dreams. The best entries were showcased and awarded on Hindustan Time's print and digital platforms.

    #MumbaiMeriHai that celebrated the smallest of things which make Mumbai a city adored by millions earned the brand glory too. #MumbaiMeriHai's music video alone received over 3 million views as the catchy song struck a chord with Mumbaikars. Moreover, the campaign, with its interactive contests, received over 30 million impressions on social media and almost 500 contest entries.

    Prerna Jha, Senior Marketing Manager, Hindustan Times, says, “Amidst all the bustle of this fast-paced city, Mumbaikars make the city their own through different ways. Through this campaign, we are celebrating the little ties to this dream city that makes everyone say Mumbai Meri Hai. Our communication intent behind this campaign is to highlight how we have grown in this city, how our understanding of this city and its people has grown and as a result, we bring the city to our readers, unlike anybody else.”

    Mr. Ashish Rana, Business Head, IdeateLabs comments on the campaign's success,” Every Mumbaikar has a different story and perspective about the city. #MumbaiMeriHai gave them a chance to share what they love about Mumbai. The campaign resulted in a collective sharing of memories by the people who make the city their own. The idea that Mumbai embraces places and people and shapes them translated into social media and resonated with Mumbaikars, making the campaign a success."

    About IdeateLabs (http://ideatelabs.in/): IdeateLabs is a full-service digital marketing company with offices in Mumbai, Delhi, and Dubai and a team of more than 100 Digital Marketing Professionals. With the chaotic overload of information in the digital world, Team Ideate recognizes the importance of creating relevant and interesting digital solutions. Finally, it benefits from a client roster that exceeds 50 well-known Indian and international names such as Sterling & Wilson, AutoDesk, Hiranandani Communities, Brand Factory, Future Brands, Edelweiss Tokio, Hafele, Kalpataru, Elica, Franklin Templeton to name a few.