ITV

Tag: Network 18

  • Kush Kapoor joins Zee Media Digital as Vice President

    Kush Kapoor joins Zee Media Digital as Vice President

    Zee Media Corporation has appointed Kush Kapoor as the new Vice President-Zee Media Digital.

    He will be responsible for handling the business for Zee Media Digital where he will monetise products such as Zee News, Zee Business, India.com, DNA, WION, Bollywood Life, BGR, Healthsite.com and others.

    Kapoor has over 12 years of experience in digital sales and other marketing activities. Earlier, he was associated with Network 18 as National Lead-General News Cluster. In addition to this, he has also worked with Dainik Bhaskar and Dainik Jagran.

  • Network 18’s Pawan Kumar Sharma joins Josh Talks as business head

    Network 18’s Pawan Kumar Sharma joins Josh Talks as business head

    Mumbai: Regional content and upskilling platform Josh Talks has appointed Pawan Kumar Sharma as business head. Sharma will be expanding the brand solutions vertical at Josh Talks, while driving strategic partnerships for the platform’s regional languages and new content category channels.

    Sharma brings 16 years of experience in branded content, revenue management, and strategic business planning. Prior to joining Josh Talks, he was at Network18 as national head of revenue. He has worked at The Walt Disney Company for 11 years, leading its youth vertical – Bindass. Other media brands that Sharma has been associated with include UTV Action & Movies, Star India, and Reliance Big Entertainment.  

    “Organisations today are socially conscious and are interested in partnering with platforms that are impactful. At Josh Talks, we are creating content that is inspirational and actionable in 10 regional languages,” said Josh Talks CEO and co-founder Supriya Paul. “In the last few years, we have collaborated with some of the largest organisations namely Google, Meta, and Amazon amongst others on 100+ campaigns to engage with the next billion users. We are excited to bring a seasoned leader like Pawan on board to establish our brand solutions vertical and drive strategic partnerships with like-minded organisations that are leveraging storytelling to create change at the grassroots.”

    “Josh Talks’ content reaches an audience that is increasingly relevant for all organisations today – 70 million+ youth from tier 2 and 3 cities who are seeking information and opportunities to do well in life. I am confident that we will be able to find synergies with leading organisations across industries to foster partnerships and also create exclusive content that is relevant and meaningful for the Indian audience,” shared Sharma. “Our larger goal is to give reasons to the youth of our country to be inspired, chase their dreams and contribute to nation-building at large,” he added. 

  • India Today Group is India’s No.1 video news publisher as per latest Comscore reports

    India Today Group is India’s No.1 video news publisher as per latest Comscore reports

    KOLKATA: In the latest Comscore video metrix report, the India Today Group has consolidated its position and emerged as India’s No. 1 digital news media group, restating the profound trust of viewers in the brand. The group has now become No. 1 on Comscore Video Metrix score with over 883 million video views. The nearest competitor stands at 483 million video views.

    India Today is now the undisputed leader in all the three important metrics of reach, video views and total minutes watched. The month of March saw Covid wave 2 gripping the country and election campaigns kickstarting across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry. At this critical phase of the country, the India Today Group has emerged as the digital destination of trust for the citizens.

    With over 92 Million Unique video viewers, the group leads with a margin of around 25 Million Unique video viewers over the next news network. The group is double the video views of ABP Group and leaves behind many groups like Network 18, Times Internet, Zee Digital and NDTV.

    The group has also reported a growth of close to 70 Million video views over the previous month, highlighting the fact that when it comes to ‘News That Matters’, the choice of the Digital Consumer is clearly the India Today Group.   

  • Den Networks calls off merger with Hathway, TV18

    Den Networks calls off merger with Hathway, TV18

    KOLKATA: Multi-system operator Den networks has decided not to proceed with the scheme under which TV18 Broadcast, Hathway Cable & Datacom and Den Networks were to merge into Network18 Media & Investments.

    “Considering that more than a year has passed from the time the board considered the scheme, the board of the company has decided not to proceed with the arrangement envisaged in the scheme,” it said in a regulatory filing.

    In February 2020, Reliance Industries announced a consolidation of its media and distribution businesses spread across multiple entities into Network18. It was planned that the broadcasting business would be housed in Network18 and the cable and ISP businesses in two separate wholly owned subsidiaries of Network18. The restructuring would create value-chain integration, and render substantial economies of scale, Reliance said at that time.

    The shareholders are aware that the scheme was filed with both the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange for their no-objection letter, Den Networks stated in the latest filing.

    “The Company had also disclosed in its quarterly financial results for the quarters ended 30 June 2020 and 30 September 2020, that the stock exchanges had returned the scheme stating that the company may apply to the stock exchanges once the Scheme is in compliance with SEBI circulars/ SEBI regulations. This pertained to the compliance by the company and Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd of the minimum public shareholding requirement,” it said.

  • A+E Networks | TV18’s Avinash Kaul on branded content, investment & growth of infotainment genre

    A+E Networks | TV18’s Avinash Kaul on branded content, investment & growth of infotainment genre

    MUMBAI: Producing original shows on issues of contemporary local significance like surgical strikes, national elections, Ganesha festivals, marvels and mysteries of India; that’s how History TV 18 aims to stand out in the niche segment of infotainment channels in India.

    “Very consciously we are going towards the direction of original local content because that is what will make our brand stand out in India,” says A+E Networks | TV18 MD and Network18 CEO Avinash Kaul in an interaction with Indiantelevision.com. He also spoke on the need for creating original content in infotainment space, challenges faced by the genre, impact of NTO on niche genres, economic slowdown, channel’s growth trajectory and plans for 2020.

    Kaul believes that factual and lifestyle channels offer the best branded content options. “Factual entertainment is something which enables all kinds of genres to flow, and all kinds of brand stories to be told. So that's the proposition that we are trying to go with. It is a very robust platform because of its availability in multiple languages. The channel cannot compete with the ratings of GECs but it enables a brand environment where brand story can be beautifully curated. As a branded content it's the perfect way forward because the ratings are far higher than news but are much lower than GECs but the mass reach is still there.”

    Speaking on some of branded shows done by the channels, Kaul says, “Our programming and marketing team has over 250 years of experience and have pioneered some of the biggest, tailor-made sponsored initiatives that have set benchmarks across industries. This, combined with our digital presence, might have resulted in several clutter-breaking advertiser-funded projects.”

    To mention a few – Hamdard’s One for All a digital-first initiative- stories of people who have contributed towards the betterment of society; Renault presents Ride to Conquer is about four influencers from different walks of life who go on a drive for self-exploration; and Imagine your Korea- an initiative to get more Indians familiar with S Korea as a travel destination.

    He further says, “From a ratings standpoint, obviously we are doing very well. FYI TV18 is the number one lifestyle channel in India by a huge margin. It's roughly around 60-65 per cent of the market. It beats even channels like FoodFood and Living Food, TLC Fox Life, Good Times, all of them. So it's fairly strong in the ratings ecosystem. As far as History TV18 is concerned it usually comes in number two after Discovery in the factual entertainment genre, which given the fact that Discovery is in the country for more than 30 years, and beating the likes of NGC and others by itself is remarkable.”

    History TV18 has also released unseen differentiated programming in the Indian market. Kaul says that shows like Pawn Stars, Baggage Battle and Storage Wars from international houses resonated well, despite a lot of people having thoughts that it may or may not work as well in India.

    The channel also has a show called Forged In Fire which is about people making knives and people making swords, which is a reality show. “Now, that's not something that one would see on a normal channel or any other factual entertainment channel and that's one of the top-rated shows,” he opines.

    OMG! Yeh Mera India has two main sponsors Hyundai and Havells. “Even though History TV18 channel was a late entrant in the factual and entertainment genre, we were the early adopters of local content in India. We have OMG! Yeh Mera India Season 6. In three and a half years we have done six seasons. So which means in a year we do more than one season. So that gives you a sense of the amount of response that we get from this show, not only on TV, which is obviously top-rated but also on digital,” informed Kaul.

    Due to the current business environment due to NTO, Kaul feels there is certain softness in the market. Because of this, the channel has kept some originals on hold for FYI TV18.

    The biggest challenge faced by the genre is investment in original content. In India, the market share of infotainment is very low whereas, in the West, the genre holds the second position after sports. Kaul attributes this to investment in original content. Indian TV channels did not pick up the trend and the late entrants had to begin it, putting more pressure on them. He further says, “If it had been done at the right time, I think the genre would have leapfrogged to a totally different place.”

    With regards to content, Kaul said, “The only thing that is well exploited in India is Mythology but not History. So if history could be done, that could really change the entire complexion. Because even if you see the OTT platforms, by the time they come to factual entertainment, it is another three four years as they are first creating mass production, like Sacred Games and other things which are basically something which will smack and people will get used to it. After building those libraries they will invest in these other shows. So I think that journey will take time. Until that time, we are only custodians of making shows like that. We can do it only one show at a time or two shows at a time.”

    Revealing the plans for 2020 Kaul says, “The plan is to stay on course. I think this is the time to not get derailed from our plans but to continue building X amount of local content. My opinion is that if we stay on course and if we maintain our business, tightly we will deliver on our business. So that's what the key thing is that we're delivering on our business goals overall, I think we should be able to ride out this rough patch.”

  • Network18 subscription revenue sees 43% YoY growth in Q2 FY20

    Network18 subscription revenue sees 43% YoY growth in Q2 FY20

    MUMBAI: Network18 Media and Investment has posted 43 per cent YoY growth in subscription revenue in Q2 2020, continuing the 48 per cent growth YoY witnessed in Q1. The company’s digital revenues grew by 10 per cent YoY to Rs 46 crore. Sharp display advertising growth in News18.com (especially vernacular) boosted revenues even amidst a tepid environment.

    TV18’s Q2 viewership share in news increased further to 10.9 per cent, up from 10.1 per cent in Q1 consolidating its leadership. As election tailwinds witnessed in Q1 tapered off, Q2 operating revenue for News declined 2 per cent YoY. Weakness in financial markets, lack of government ad-spending and limited international advertising compared with last year dragged growth.

    The company also informed that the new tariff order (NTO) has created a transparent and non-discriminatory B2C regime and flux around the NTO has largely settled, though the cable segment continues to face some billing and reporting issues.

    It said, “Our domestic yields have improved, led by the strength of our bouquet as demonstrated by consumer choice for our channels and packs. Improved distribution tie-ups give our channel portfolio unparalleled reach across TV & digital. The advertising environment continued to remain tepid during much of the past quarter. Weak macro-economic trends has dragged down consumer spends and depressed broader corporate appetite for above-the-line marketing activity.”

    “However, certain categories of new-economy advertisers were bright spots, and tailwinds in regional and digital consumption continued to attract attention. Ad-spends began to rise led by the advent of the festive season late in the quarter, and big-ticket programmes and events planned around the same. We are hopeful that Government policies aimed at stimulating demand shall aid the recovery as we head into H2,” the company opined.

    Macro-weakness and shift of channels from DD Freedish to pay ecosystem continues to drag ad-revenues of GECs for the entire industry. Pushing of some high-end content vs last year for better monetization (i.e. planned delay in the launch of Bigg Boss, shifting of IIFA awards to Q3, etc) makes the base not fully comparable.

    The company’s strategy of sharp pullback in broadcast costs through optimisations raised EBITDA margins to 11.4 per cent vs 9.9 per cent in Q2FY19. “This is despite investments to the tune of Rs 13 crore in regional movie channels (Kannada and Q2FY20 Q2FY19 Growth H1FY20 H1FY19 Growth Gujarati Cinema) and paid-offerings (VOOT Kids & international). Excluding these, BAU margins improved to 12.9 per cent. BAU margins include the impact of initiatives launched more than a year ago but are still in gestation, including Voot and Colors Tamil.”

    With regards to its digital platform, the company informed, “We have witnessed robust uptake for the subscription product MoneyControl Pro launched in Q1. The product underscores the impact of a strong brand and superior features at a class-leading price-point. Voot, the primary OTT VOD platform for the group, shall soon be launching its freemium version with offerings like digital exclusive and digital-first broadcast content as well as original content behind a pay-wall. Kids edutainment product Voot Kids was soft-launched in Q1 with a niche and highly differentiated offering, and shall be progressing to commercial operations behind a pay-wall in this fiscal.”

    Network18 Chairman Adil Zainulbhai said, “Network18 successfully encapsulates news and entertainment content, across national and regional platforms, in both TV and digital mediums. We are fully geared for a digital world, with differentiated content available on integrated platforms on a pipe-agnostic basis. Impetus on seeding new business models and germinating fresh ideas are the hallmarks of our digital business, which is backed by a TV content backbone that we continue to invest in.”

    CNBC TV18 maintained #1 rank in the English Business News genre with 54 per cent market share in Q2 FY20. During market hours (Weekdays, 8 AM to 4 PM) CNBC TV18 maintained an even higher share of 59 per cent. CNBC Awaaz continued its clear leadership in the Hindi Business News genre with 64.8 per cent market share.

    News18 India garnered a 12.2 per cent market share in HSM. Its performance in mega-cities was even better, with a genre-share of 13.2 per cent, ranking #3. CNN News18 garnered 13.8 per cent market share & ranked #3 in Q2 FY20.

    Regional News cluster has the highest reach (434 million viewers in Q2) and viewership in the country amongst regional news peers. News18 Rajasthan maintained its clear leadership with 46 per cent share. News18 Bihar and UP/Uttarakhand continued their #2 rank in their respective regions, while News18 MP/Chattisgarh rose to #2 position.

    Flagship GEC Colors has a 15.1 per cent urban viewership share. Viewership share across all GECs in Urban+Rural was 12 per cent . The channel ranked #2 in weekend primetime. Season 13 of tentpole Bigg Boss was launched in late Sep-19, boosting the channel’s rank to #2 in pay-GECs in Week 40.

    Colors Cineplex launched on 1 Mar 2019 after shifting FTA channel Rishtey Cineplex from Freedish, as a full-fledged premium pay Hindi movie channel. The channel is under ramp-up and viewership share has risen to 4.1 per cent .

    Nick continues to reign as #1 in the Kids genre, with an increased 20 per cent share of genre viewership. Sonic also rose to #2, with an 11.1 per cent share. Between Nick, Sonic and Nick Jr, our Kids portfolio commanded a 34.5 per cent market- share, clearly much ahead of peers.

    In English entertainment genre, Viacom18 channels continue to occupy the top positions, with their combined viewership shares at 48.5 per cent. Comedy Central and VH1 rank #2 (22 per cent) and #1 (22 per cent) respectively; while Colors Infinity has a ~4 per cent share.

    Voot, Viacom18’s Over The Top (OTT) exclusive digital video destination has seen gross downloads rise to ~170 million. It has an average daily viewership of 45+ minutes that is the highest amongst broadcaster-OTT apps.

    The quarter also witnessed the launched of ‘Colors Telugu’ on Voot as a digital-first channel and released original show ‘Feet Up with the Stars Telugu’. Bigg Boss S13 garnered 78 million views in just 10 days on Voot.  Voot Kids, a multi-faceted watch-play-and-learn destination aimed at Kids, was soft-launched in June’19.

    Company’s Kannada GEC portfolio was #2 in the region with 32 per cent viewership share (Colors Kannada 23 per cent + Colors Super 9 per cent ). Colors Kannada Cinema was launched in late-Q2 and is #2 with 22 per cent share in Kannada movie genre.

    Colors Marathi maintained its strong #2 rank in the genre, with viewership share at 22 per cent. Bigg Boss Marathi S2 has garnered around 45 per cent higher viewership as compared to the previous season. Colors Tamil is ramping up programming during the year, as it steadily overcomes distribution challenges which have kept its viewership share <5 per cent.

  • Network 18 appoints Pankaj Mishra as Group Editor

    Network 18 appoints Pankaj Mishra as Group Editor

    MUMBAI: Network 18 has appointed Pankaj Mishra as the group editor for coverage of the new economy, technology and startups.

    Mishra will work across platforms, breaking big exclusives with his team on television and Moneycontrol. He will bring a startup investing dimension to Moneycontrol Pro and create world-class editorial events which will be hosted across platforms.

    Mishra is being joined in this new mission by Sunny Sen, a prolific writer of agenda-setting stories, and Anand Murali, whose understanding of startups is second to none. Sunny and Anand were fellow adventurers with Mishra at FactorDaily.

    Mishra joined Network 18 from FactorDaily, a new-age media startup he founded over three years ago.

    At FactorDaily, Mishra and his team became known for agenda-setting and deep technology and startup stories. Mishra brings all his entrepreneurial learning and inputs from inside India's startup ecosystem to help create impact for Network 18.   

    Earlier, in his assignments at The Economic Times and Mint, Mishra built and led technology and startup teams. He was also the India editor for TechCrunch. Mishra believes in combining unique stories and content with design, technology, community engagement and distribution for building valuable media products.  He loves traveling, mostly by train, and meeting people. Over past two years, Mishra has also been producing a weekly podcast called Outliers. He recorded the 100th episode last month with AR Rahman.

  • Network 18’s Joy Chakraborthy steps down

    Network 18’s Joy Chakraborthy steps down

    MUMBAI: Forbes CEO and  Network 18 President (Revenue) Joy Chakraborthy has stepped down from his role, according to media reports.

    Chakraborthy steps down from his role after spending almost two and half years at Network 18. Previously, Chakraborthy had worked as BCCL Director. Earlier, the media veteran also held the position of TV today CEO for a brief period of ten months. 

    Chakraborthy had completed his graduation from National Defence Academy, followed by a Masters from NMIMS in Marketing Management. After that he went on to pursue an advanced management programme from the Harvard Business School.

  • Praveen Swami, Gaurav Kalra join Network 18 at senior positions

    Praveen Swami, Gaurav Kalra join Network 18 at senior positions

    MUMBAI: Network 18 recently announced the appointment of Praveen Swami as a group consulting editor and Gaurav Kalra as a networksports editor. On his role, Swami will work across platforms, writing in digital and appearing as a resident commentator on TV and Kalra will look after the coverage across brands and platforms and also oversee the task of positioning and expanding CricketNext.com as the foremost hub for cricket enthusiasts.

    Prior to Network 18 Swami worked with Indian Express were he was the strategic affairs editor and produced both reportage and analytical commentary on a range of stories related to regional security and geo-strategies. Swami has also worked with The Hindu were he wasresident editor and strategic affairs editor. He is an acclaimed writer having authored two books – An Informal War: India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad in Jammu and Kashmir and The Kargil War.

    Kalra was at ESPNCricinfo as a senior editor. He was also the sports editor at CNN-IBN from 2005 and 2013. He started his career in 1997 with the UK based sports production company Trans World International.

    Commenting on his new role Kalra said, “I am looking forward to my second stint at Network18. CricketNext.com has already established a strong presence among the cricket audience and I look forward to leading the effort to expand the scale and scope of the coverage on the platform.”

    Kalra is a TV veteran and an accomplished writer. His columns have featured on various platforms including the Economic Times and Quint.

  • Network 18 PAT at Rs 114 million

    Network 18 PAT at Rs 114 million

    MUMBAI: Network18 Media & Investments (Network18) reported a marked improvement in its numbers for the quarter ended 31 December 2017. The consolidated revenue (net of revenue from joint ventures and associates) for the company declined marginally by 1.8 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to Rs 3660 million.

    With lower distribution and business promotion expenses, the company reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of Rs 77 million as against EBITDA loss of Rs 130 million in Q3FY18. Though other income grew significantly, the decline in EBITDA and higher tax outgo weighed down PAT. The company reported PAT of Rs 114 million against loss of Rs 778 million in the same quarter last year. 

    Network18 posted consolidated revenue of Rs 9690 million (including a proportionate share of JVs) in Q3 FY18, a 7 per cent yoy growth. The revival in growth in the broadcasting business was partially offset by a pullback in the TV shopping business.

    Media operations revenue (including a proportionate share of JVs) grew by 7.6 per cent yoy to Rs 9595 million. Revenue from film production segment declined by 18.0 per cent yoy to Rs 153 million.

    Led by cost control in TV shopping, margins of the broadcasting segment improved, thereby leading to a reduction in EBIT loss for the media operations segment to Rs317 million against EBIT loss of Rs778 million in Q3FY17. 

    Also Read:

    Network18 Digital hires Saregama’s Mudaliar as chief product officer

    GST ad deferrals hit Network 18 revenue in Q1-18

    Network18 emerges as the most viewed news network on youtube in india