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Tag: Indian Express

  • Amitabh M. takes the sales reins at Punjab Kesari Delhi Group

    Amitabh M. takes the sales reins at Punjab Kesari Delhi Group

    MUMBAI: Punjab Kesari Delhi Group has roped in Amitabh M. as its new national sales manager — a move that signals serious intent in the ever-competitive media sales space. With nearly three decades of navigating the media maze, Amitabh steps in armed with a résumé packed with big names, bigger targets, and a reputation for delivering results.

    Before this, he was AVP – business development at Picta Solutionz, and has clocked stints at top-tier players like Times Internet, ABP Digital, Hindustan Times, Outlook Publishing, Indian Express, and more. From digital wizardry to old-school ad hustle, Amitabh has sold it all — display, programmatic, native, sponsorship IPs, and brand solutions.

    Known for his knack for building lean, mean revenue machines, he also brings deep expertise in team management, forecasting, and concept selling. For Punjab Kesari, it’s a clear signal: it’s not just about selling space — it’s about owning the marketplace.

  • Mathrubhumi to organise a one-day event on World News Day

    Mathrubhumi to organise a one-day event on World News Day

    Mumbai: Mathrubhumi on Monday announced plans to host an event on World News Day on 28 September at the Uday Palace Convention Centre, Kowdiar Gardens, Thiruvananthapuram.

    Speaking of the event, Mathrubhumi managing director M. V. Shreyams Kumar, who will deliver the presidential address, elaborated on why the centurion institution was associated with the international event, said, “World News Day is a global campaign to display support for journalists and their audiences organised by the Canadian Journalism Foundation and WAN-IFRA’s World Editors Forum. By associating with this event, organised as a part of Mathrubhumi’s centenary celebrations, we intend to reinforce our identity as the custodian of credible and fact-checked journalism.” 

    Media mavens, eminent journalists, and owners will deliberate on the way ahead for practitioners of credible journalism in our age of disruption. The subject is “Sacred Facts: Media in a Post-Truth World.”

    The Hindu former chief editor N. Ram, the doyen of Indian journalism, will deliver the inaugural address. The keynote speech of the first session on “Fact Punch: Curated Media and its Challenges” is by the Indian Express’s former editor Arun Shourie. The event will start at 10 a.m. with a welcome address by Mathrubhumi vice president of operations Devika Shreyams Kumar.

    The Times of India, Tamil Nadu resident editor Arun Ram; Outlook former editor Ruben Banerjee; senior journalist Seema Chisti; and Frontline editor Vaishna Roy are the discussants, with The Hindu, Delhi resident editor Varghese K. George moderating the session.

    The post-lunch session between 1.45 p.m. and 3.15 p.m. will be on “Counter Media: Narratives, Lapses in Reporting, and Self-Critique,” to be moderated by N. Open Magazine executive editor P. Ullekh. The keynote address will be given by India Today TV consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai.

    Senior journalist Hari S Kartha will be on the panel, as will Madhyamam editor V. M. Ibrahim, social media activist Kiran Thomas, Asianet News Group editorial advisor M. G. Radhakrishnan, and media critic advocate Sebastian Paul.

    The concluding session between 3.45 p.m. and 5.15 p.m. will be on “The way forward: Is fact-based journalism a winning proposition?” featuring ABP Network CEO Avinash Pandey; Kairali TV managing director John Brittas MP; The News Minute editor-in-chief Dhanya Rajendran; Boom Fact Check managing editor Jency Jacob and Ananda Vikatan managing director B. Srinivasan. While the keynote speech will be delivered by The Indian Express executive director Anant Goenka, the session will be moderated by Mathrubhumi director of digital business Mayura Shreyams Kumar.

    All three sessions will be followed by audience-discussant interaction.

  • MyGate delivers free e-newspapers to 1.6 million homes in lockdown

    MyGate delivers free e-newspapers to 1.6 million homes in lockdown

    NEW DELHI: With more than 425 million people reaching out to read a newspaper every morning, India is one of the top consumers of the print news industry globally. Despite the growing onslaught of the digital medium, print in India has held its own. It is still considered the most credible source of information by many. 

    However, the ongoing lockdown in the wake of a contagious COVID-19, the industry is facing massive roadblocks, including distributors denying delivering papers, and lower manpower in the logistics department. 

    But to make sure that the loyal patrons of many print dailies don’t miss out on their daily dose of information, MyGate, one of the topmost mobile-based visitor and community ecosystems in the country, is delivering free e-papers to them.

    MyGate COO and co-founder Abhishek Kumar told Indiantelevision.com: “The newspaper is a big part of the morning for most of our users. As they are not let into most of our gated communities during the lockdown, we wanted to figure out a way to deliver them their newspaper safely and provide access with minimum effort.”

    He added, “The pandemic has affected newspaper circulation across India. Although websites provide news, many readers still prefer reading the newspaper. Hence we have tied up with many leading publications.”

    MyGate is neither charging the publications or the users for these services and has tied up with several leading players including The Times of India, Indian Express, Deccan Herald, Deccan Chronicle, Financial Express, Loksatta, Prajavani, and Jansatta. 

    The service is benefitting 1.6 million homes that MyGate is present in across 17 cities in India.

    Kumar is elated at the splendid response the initiative has been getting and says that he will continue to deliver the services till the lockdown gets over. 

  • Economic Times’ Sanjay Sindhwani is new digital CEO of Indian Express

    Economic Times’ Sanjay Sindhwani is new digital CEO of Indian Express

    MUMBAI: Indian Express Online Media Services, the digital arm of The Indian Express Group, has appointed Sanjay Sindhwani as its CEO. Sindhwani comes from The Economic Times, where he was VP-digital products and business head. He will report to group CEO George Varghese.

    He replaces Durga Raghunath who had resigned last December.

    The Indian Express Group executive editor Anant Goenka welcomed Sindhwani saying that he has known Sindhwani for close to three years and has also learned from him. In an email to the employees, Goenka wrote, “Sanjay joins us at the beginning of a year when public trust in the news media has hit an all-time low and when recognized news media brands are often being baited and are getting caught picking political sides.”

    Sindhwani has spent 24 of his 25-year career in the Times Group, which he had joined after brief stints at Bradma of India and Usha India. He joined Bennett & Coleman as an investment analyst in 1994. In 1999 he became editor, product and brand head at Times Internet. Sindhwani is an electronics engineer from Nagpur University and did his MBA in finance from the Institute of Management Studies.

  • Sudhanshu Vats says content, platform and technology key to good storytelling

    Sudhanshu Vats says content, platform and technology key to good storytelling

    MUMBAI: On day 1 of FICCI Frames 2019 in a session titled ‘Looking back as we move ahead’, Viacom18 group CEO and MD Sudhanshu Vats was in conversation with Indian Express executive director Anant Goenka. The burning question that came out to dominate this conversation was ‘does the industry even realise how to and what to evolve to?’

    Vats began by stating that a lot has changed in the industry for the better. He went on to state, from the content space, the first thing that has changed, irrespective of the platforms, is that the industry has moved away from broadcast to micro-cast online. The industry has moved from beaming things to having more conversations making things more interactive.

    According to him, the second most important change led by technology is that it isn’t necessary to tell stories to everyone, rather tell it to a limited number of people and tell it successfully. 2018 has seen films target certain audience and these films performed exceedingly well in spite of not being blockbusters such as Andhadhun, Badhai Ho, etc. 

    The third and most interesting thing he pointed out to is the changes and differences between curator, creator and consumer. It used to be much simpler to differentiate between these three in the past but today the lines have completely blurred. And this is also followed by audiences across, where audiences have also become content curators.

    While reiterating the fact that the industry is experiencing many important changes, he states a welcoming change is the narration of diverse stories in a classical content sense.

    He stated that because the TV model is an ad-driven model, telling stories in an authentic manner has become a little difficult as compared to the past as it's driven by ratings. He noted that while playing with the original story, many times the industry is taking away from the story. He stressed that importance must be given here and that the focus must be on the ability to tell stories which will eventually sell rather than looking at only selling the stories.

    Speaking about ‘Formula’ as a safety net, Vats believes that formula works as a safety net at some level. With minds being patterned in a particular format, and sometimes from the commercial point of view, one must believe in intuition. With reference to the western world, he added that the media industry in the West follows a pattern format leading to success.

    Sudhanshu Vats believes that there will be a lot of custom use in the story and segmentation in the audience. According to him, there will be a set of audience that will love, and there will be one that doesn’t. But in the future, it won’t matter as every story can reach its audience and every audience their story.

    The session ended on the note that the future can be rafted only from lessons learnt in the past. The media industry is in interesting times today, as it witnesses a disruptive process of embracing change to redefine itself for the future.

  • 26/11- Stories of strength

    26/11- Stories of strength

    MUMBAI: TEN YEARS after the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, The Indian Express will host what promises to be one of the year's most widely covered media events. Presented by Facebook, the founding partner of the initiative, driven by Maruti Suzuki and powered by Viacom 18, 26/11 Stories of Strength will be telecast 6 pm onwards from the Gateway of India on November 26.

    The third in an annual series, The Indian Express 26/11 Stories of Strength gives a voice to the inspiring stories of over 70 survivors who have been interviewed by The Indian Express's Mumbai bureau over a span of three years. 

    The event produced by Wizcraft International is directed by the director of the musical Mughal-e-Azam, Feroz Abbas Khan, will feature a rare performance by actor Amitabh Bachchan, and speeches by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

    The event will be live streamed across the digital properties of The Indian Express — India's second largest digital news group — ABP News, Republic TV and big92.7fm, and broadcasted on COLORS, India’s ~no.1 premium Hindi Entertainment channel.

    Among those who will share their stories of overcoming anger and fear and inspiring courage at the Stories of Strength event would be Mumbai Police Constable Arun Jadhav, K. Unnikrishnan,  father of slain NSG commando Sandeep Unnikrishnan, and Anjali Kunte, a nurse at the Cama and Albless Hospital that was attacked on 26/11, as well as other survivors.

    At the event, The Indian Express and Penguin will also unveil a book titled 26/11 Stories of Strength, edited by The Indian Express Associate Editor Kavitha Iyer. The first copy of the book was presented to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who wrote in his note, "India's thousand-year-old tradition of tolerance and philosophy of ahimsa are very necessary in today's world. With my prayers."

    Underlining the intent behind 26/11 Stories of Strength, Anant Goenka, Executive Director of the Indian Express Group, said, "In our country, we tend not to take the time to remember. For India's millennials, 26/11 was one of the most horrific acts of violence that they have witnessed.

    We intend to use this day to remind ourselves what Amitabhji said last year: that we shouldn't define ourselves by what we are against, but by what we are for. And what we must be for, is each other."

    On their association with the project, Ankhi Das, the Director of Public Policy for Facebook in India, said, "It's important to remember those who lost their lives in such a horrific attack ten years ago today, today is about those who showed bravery, courage and strength at the hands of terror. I thank the Indian Express for making sure survivors and those families who lost loved ones share these stories of civic courage and resilience."

    Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO and Managing Director Designate, Viacom18 said, “We are proud to partner The Indian Express Group on this initiative. 26/11 is a landmark day in the history of this city and country – both because it marks one of the worst attacks on us as a people and also because it highlights the amazing stories of sacrifice and resilience that defines us as a people. As a network with a humane purpose, it is both our duty and privilege to amplify these ‘Stories of Strength’ and celebrate the spirit of our city and people.”

    Bhind's husband had died when a bomb planted in his taxi by two of the attackers had gone off. She continues to live in a place 30 km from Allahabad from where her husband had left for Mumbai shortly after they got married. Every month, he would send home a part of his earnings from driving the taxi. 

    Some of the key performers at this memorial include Amitabh Bachchan, Javed Akhtar, Kaushiki Chakravarty, Rakesh Chaurasia, Mayuri Upadhya, Merlin D'souza, Harshdeep Kaur, Neeti Mohan, Rahul Deshpande, Mahesh Kale, Javed Ali, Ani Choying Drolma, Shivam Mahadevan, Police Band and the Navy Band.

    The event is supported by Viacom Network led by Colors, ABP News, Republic TV, Vodafone, Centrum Foundation, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, LIC, Air India, Laqshya, Mumbai Port Trust, Mumbai Police, Prime Focus, Air India.

  • Vodafone, Idea pay Rs 72 bn to DoT for merger

    Vodafone, Idea pay Rs 72 bn to DoT for merger

    MUMBAI: Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have paid Department of Telecommunications (DoT) Rs 72 billion in cash that was the key condition for approving their merger. With the financial dues out of the way, the merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular is likely to be approved in the next few days.

    “Idea has submitted its compliance to the DoT’s conditional approval letter dated July 9 2018, for the merger of Vodafone India Ltd and Vodafone Mobile Services Ltd with Idea Cellular Ltd, including the payment of Rs 3,926.34 crore (in cash) and bank guarantee of Rs 3,322.44 crore. With this we hope to get final approval from DoT for the merger at the earliest,” said a spokesperson from Idea as quoted by Economic Times.

    To avoid any kind of delay the two companies- Idea and Vodafone decided to pay the full amount demanded by the government. The two companies have started joint training sessions.

    Vodafone Idea will be the country’s largest telecom operator, with a revenue market share of around 37.4 per cent and more than 438 million subscribers. Headquartered in UK, Vodafone had announced the merger of its India operations with Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Idea Cellular in March last year. The companies were hoping to complete the merger by the end of June but the process got delayed by a month.

    The Vodafone – Idea merger is expected to make the country a three player universe, one of the biggest being Reliance Jio, which has captured a revenue market share of around 20 per cent in just 18 months of commercial operations. Recently, Bharti Airtel (India) CEO Gopal Vittal had said that the telecom sector was set to have just three big players holding similar market share.

    If that’s the case, then Vodafone Idea could lose some market share as Airtel and Jio are expected to continue to exert pressure on margins.

    The companies have earlier announced that Kumar Mangalam Birla will be at the helm as non-executive chairman while the Vodafone insider and current chief operating officer (India) Balesh Sharma will be CEO of the merged entity.

  • BARC panel tampering: first arrests made

    BARC panel tampering: first arrests made

    The Cyber Crime Police in Bengaluru, acting on a complaint filed by the Broadcast Research Council of India (BARC), has arrested five people allegedly for trying to tamper with the television viewership data generated and reported by BARC every week.

    The five arrested include a TV serial producer Raju and four others – Suresh, Jemsy, Subhash and Madhu. The five men allegedly approached the people in whose houses the BARC’s bar-o-meters are installed and asked them to watch a particular show at a particular time in lieu of incentives. The five arrested are currently in judicial custody.

    This is the first time that the Cyber Crime Police have taken action against anyone for this reason.

    Raju allegedly used to approach the producers and offer them to increase the viewership numbers of their serials against a good amount of money.

    “An FIR was registered in this regard and during the course of investigation, it was found that a group of people were involved in illegally hiking the TRP by using multiple televisions and also by paying a small sum to those people in whose houses the TRP meter would be installed, and asking them to watch a particular channel at a particular time. On getting credible information, police arrested the five accused. Investigations revealed that Raju and his team were working for it. Also, this year, BARC had given a contract to a new firm to install the TRP meters. The role of staff in that firm is also being investigated,” the Bengaluru police told The New Indian Express.

    In September 2017, BARC had urged the TRAI and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to bring in legislations making TV viewership data tamper-proof and stipulate stringent penalties for offenders.

    Over the last 18 months, several instances have come to light where TV channels were found to be allegedly attempting to tamper and influence audience data and indulging in other malpractices to boost viewership or TV ratings points, as it’s popularly described in India. In some cases, BARC India undertook counter-measures resulting in alleged offenders taking legal recourse. In some other instances, the regulator had to issue warnings in an effort to do damage control.

    Also Read:

    BARC India to TRAI and MIB: Tweak legislation to make data tamper-proof

    Demystifying news television viewership in 2017

    BARC segments viewership data for South regional news from GECs

  • IAA’s new initiative seeks to end rigidity in office timings

    IAA’s new initiative seeks to end rigidity in office timings

    A new social initiative titled #WorkToLiveToWork has been undertaken by the International Advertising Association’s (IAA) India chapter with Nandini Dias, managing committee member of IAA and CEO of Lodestar India, at the helm. Dias lost two colleagues in separate accidents related to railways during rush hour in the last 18 months.

    Dias has conceptualised #WorkToLiveToWork to urge CEOs/HR heads to help Mumbai-based companies to implement flexible office timings for employees so that they don’t risk their lives to reach their workplaces.

    Ramesh Narayan, President, IAA India Chapter, said, “Every year IAA undertakes initiatives to show that communication can be an effective force for the good of society. This year Nandini Dias is spearheading this meaningful project.”

    The initiative intends to end the irrational rigidity in Mumbai’s office timings and save lives. Reports show that every day approximately nine people die on the suburban rail network, which is nearly 3,300 people in a year. Many of these people travel in the overcrowded transit system just to avoid a late mark as that leads to penalty on their salary.

    A campaign has also been designed around #WorkToLiveToWork.

    “Instead of waiting for the transport infrastructure to be fixed, which would obviously take a long time, Dias’ idea was as practical as it was simple. When asked, most CEOs and HR heads agree that flexi timing is a good idea. In fact many also say that in their office, they had implemented flexi timings since a couple of years. The fact is that while heads of offices are not against it, they have done very little to actually roll it out. There is no data to say how many people actually are on flexi timing. Also if it was real then the rush hour traffic would have eased out,” he added.

    Said Dias, “I am urging all companies to come forward and adopt this to save the lives of Mumbaikars. Let’s all agree that, besides expressing outrage we need to help the government in mitigating the crisis. So, whether you are an employer or an employee, think about it, talk about it, bring it up as often as you can to drive change and save lives. Even if we reduce the number of people losing life from nine to seven per day, we would have saved over 700 lives in a year.”

    To take this initiative forward, besides Lodestar UM, IAA has the support of Taproot Dentsu that created the communication. The Economic Times, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Laqshya Media and Radio City have come on board as media partners.

    Also Read:

    FabIndia sets aside 40% on digital advertising

    The year of hiccups for marketers

    People’s mindset determines workplace safety: Havas’ Anita Nayyar

  • OgilvyOne hires Shukla who feels like a kid on his first date!

    OgilvyOne hires Shukla who feels like a kid on his first date!

    MUMBAI: OgilvyOne Worldwide India has appointed Sidharth Shukla as its new vice president and head of office for OgilvyOne Worldwide Delhi.

    OgilvyOne Worldwide India president Vikram Menon said, “Sidharth with his many years of experience across digital, strategy, analytics, CRM and Direct Marketing has exactly what we’re looking for in someone to lead OgilvyOne Delhi forward.”

    Shukla excels in digital and social planning and led a large team of digital planners and social media professionals leading projects for high volume prestigious brands, responsible for developing the vision, strategy and execution of their campaigns. He was also responsible for the development and execution and of the overall digital and social strategy for Samsung’s Note 5 and S7.

    As the national head for digital and digital strategy at MRM / McCann for close to four years, he was additionally responsible for leading and driving P&L across a portfolio of priority accounts and spearheading projects in the space of CRM, Direct Marketing and B2B marketing. More recently he has spent the past few years driving larger organization agendas such as digital expertise, thought leadership, integration, new business acquisitions winning accounts such as Bata, Adidas, HCL Healthcare, Logitech, UC Browser.

    Ogilvy Group North president and branch head Kapil Arora, “OgilvyOne Delhi is a young, spunky and inspiring place to be at. And I’m glad we have a leader of Sidharth’s experience, talent and drive to harness that energy, toward creating class leading work that works, for our clients. Together with Sidharth and creative lead Abhishek Gupta’s partnership, expect a lot more action from this part of the country.”

    With 14 years work experience behind him at agencies such as McCann, Timesjobs, Indian Express, Cheil and Tyroo: Quasar, Shukla is well poised to enhance OgilvyOne’s already existing strengths in the Northern part of its India network.

    Shukla asserted, “Like a kid going on his first date! I am truly looking forward to working with OgilvyOne, given the credentials it holds but also the challenges it presents. Most agencies face the same issues for the most part, and while it has barely been a week at OgilvyOne, I have observed that the people, system and culture are primed to take these challenges head on – it will be loads of fun to lead that. My objective is to create a winning culture and get people to have fun. If that is in place, everything else takes care of itself.”