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Tag: Raghav Bahl

  • Raghav Bahl’s The Quint completes a successful one year

    Raghav Bahl’s The Quint completes a successful one year

    MUMBAI: Tracing its inception back in March 2015, The Quint, a leading digital content platform has completed one year in India. The platform narrates stories through a smooth blend of video, audio, graphics and text.

    Offering an edgy take on the world, the platform serves as a destination to the mobile-savvy ‘on-the-go’ audience. The platform provides information on various topics ranging from politics, entertainment, sports, business, food, issues faced by women, LGBTQ, etc.

    Announced first on Facebook in the month of January, the website went live from March.

    “In this exciting one year, we have experimented with content, formats, technology and different ways of engaging our readers meaningfully. Throughout this ride, we’ve broken news (and parameters) as well as our own expectations, but most importantly, we’ve broken the perception that only print or television can rule information,” asserted the overwhelmed The Quint CEO Ritu Kapur.

    The Quint has championed several impactful campaigns in its first year on its platform that have helped it cinch its popularity with Indian content consumers like the ‘Buri ladki’ poster which gave away its first taste of going viral while attempting to break gender stereotypes in India.

    Even during the Bihar elections, the portal covered the entire poll with a selfie stick and a smart-phone.  

    During the Jat reservation riots in Haryana, National chess champion Anuradha Beniwal posted a plea on the website. The video, messages against the violence in Haryana went viral.

    Besides hard news, the website also paved its way into the hearts of its consumers by doing fun and fearless. #MakeOutInIndia, omne of their earliest campaigns encouraged Indians to talk about sex, breaking perceptions and cleaning out the cobwebs of hypocrisy. T

    On 26 February 206, they started a #LetterToIndia campaign inviting everyone to throw bouquets and brickbats on their way. Everyone from Bollywood stars, politicians, social influencers, prominent voices from the film industry, theatre, educational institutions, LGBTQ rights activists, provided colour and dimension to a campaign that eventually took on a life of its own on social. The platform even got onto the #SayYesToWeed bandwagon.

    A compelling combo of content, tech and distribution, the website is high-value digital journalism, storytelling, and advertising at scale. Recently, the website also launched Quint Hindi which giving Hindi news coverage catering to its Hindi speaking target group.

     

  • Raghav Bahl resigns as director from Network18 & TV18

    Raghav Bahl resigns as director from Network18 & TV18

    MUMBAI: Network 18 Media & Investments and TV18 Broadcast founder Raghav Bahl has resigned as a director from both the companies with effect from 8 February, 2016 due to his “pre-occupation.”

    Bahl exited the TV news business after the sale of Network18 Media & Investments and all its subsidiary companies in 2014 to Independent Media Trust, which is part of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.

    It may be recalled that Bahl was recently in the news for his intentions to re-enter the news broadcast space with Bloomberg.

    Bahl’s new venture The Quintillion Media, which also runs the online portal The Quint, is said to be looking at a strategic partnership with Bloomberg in the wake of the latter exiting its licensing partnership with Reliance ADAG’s Business Broadcast News.

    According to media reports, Bahl and Bloomberg have invested in a joint venture, which will later look at broadcast news with Quintillion Media holding at least a 51 per cent stake.

    As per reports, the new online portal under the JV is expected to launch in the coming weeks, while the business news channel is expected to launch by the end of the current calendar year. The Quint, however will continue to exist as it is.

  • Raghav Bahl resigns as director from Network18 & TV18

    Raghav Bahl resigns as director from Network18 & TV18

    MUMBAI: Network 18 Media & Investments and TV18 Broadcast founder Raghav Bahl has resigned as a director from both the companies with effect from 8 February, 2016 due to his “pre-occupation.”

    Bahl exited the TV news business after the sale of Network18 Media & Investments and all its subsidiary companies in 2014 to Independent Media Trust, which is part of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.

    It may be recalled that Bahl was recently in the news for his intentions to re-enter the news broadcast space with Bloomberg.

    Bahl’s new venture The Quintillion Media, which also runs the online portal The Quint, is said to be looking at a strategic partnership with Bloomberg in the wake of the latter exiting its licensing partnership with Reliance ADAG’s Business Broadcast News.

    According to media reports, Bahl and Bloomberg have invested in a joint venture, which will later look at broadcast news with Quintillion Media holding at least a 51 per cent stake.

    As per reports, the new online portal under the JV is expected to launch in the coming weeks, while the business news channel is expected to launch by the end of the current calendar year. The Quint, however will continue to exist as it is.

  • Quintype to invest in digital media start-ups via SpeakWrite

    Quintype to invest in digital media start-ups via SpeakWrite

    MUMBAI: Touting it as a “new kind of startup accelerator,” the Raghav Bahl backed digital publishing company Quintype has launched SpeakWrite. 

     

    SpeakWrite is a program for promising startups in the digital media space. So far, the company has accepted three startups into the program, and will be announcing the details soon.

     

    The company is looking at investing in a total of five start-ups this year and plans to take that number of 15 next year.

     

    “SpeakWrite will cost no money. However, in exchange for investing SpeakWrite and Quintype resources in the selected start-ups, Quintype will take a percentage of equity stake in the respective startups,” said Quintype founder and CEO Amit Rathore.

     

    Quintype will take anywhere between four – nine per cent equity stake in respective startups. The exact amount will depend on factors like the stage of the startup, amount of funding raised, complexity of the initial site/apps and business plan amongst others.

     

    By partnering with selected startups, SpeakWrite will advise, mentor, design, develop, and help launch their sites and apps. The company will mentor startups for a period of 12-24 months.

     

    SpeakWrite is based both in the United States, as well as in Asia.

  • Raghav Bahl invests $3.25 million in Quintype

    Raghav Bahl invests $3.25 million in Quintype

    MUMBAI: Indian entrepreneur Raghav Bahl is invested $3.25 million in the California based data-driven publishing company Quintype.

     

    The company will use the capital raised to enhance product and business development. Specifically, the funding will be used to grow the product engineering, and sales teams, across locations in the US Bay Area, as well as in Bangalore, India.

     

    Bahl’s Quintillion Media runs a news site in India called The Quint, which was launched earlier this year on the Quintype platform.

     

    Quintype founder Amit Rathore said, “We are excited to have Mr. Bahl support our company as he has, and are looking forward to using the funds to grow the company even more, particularly from a business standpoint. At Quintype, our goal is to make it just as easy to start a non-trivial media operation, as it is to start a blog. So, if you want to start a new online magazine, or a news site or app, or any other high-velocity content property, you’ll be able to do it in minutes.”

     

    The Quintype platform is a seamless, end-to-end SaaS service that brings together all the functionality you need to run a modern media business, including everything needed to create and distribute content, understand and grow your audience, and also monetise that content. Because they’re all seamlessly integrated, these various functions work together extremely well, letting publishers focus on their content business, while the Quintype platform manages all the technology heavy lifting. It includes functionality like cardification, collaboration and team workflow tools, advanced semantic analytics, personalisation and recommendation systems, an advanced monetisation engine, and several other modules.

     

    This SaaS offering lets media organisations reduce technology costs, while at the same time, leveraging big data and predictive analytics to increase revenue and profits. In fact, Quintype’s business model is unique. The entire state-of-the-art platform is available to anyone, free of cost. Quintype partners with publishers by making money through a revenue-share model, effectively aligning their interests with that of the publisher. Quintype only makes money when the publisher does.

     

    Quintype also allows publishers to define more-nuanced audience segments, an attractive proposition for advertisers as well. Quintype takes this first-party data to the next level.

     

    Bahl, who launched his company Quintillion Media, after selling Network18 to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, has been investing in multiple ventures. Most recently he invested Rs 4 crore in the media platform Youth Ki Awaaz as well as in the women-oriented job portal Sheroes.

  • Raghav Bahl’s Quintillion Media invests Rs 4 crore in Youth Ki Awaaz

    Raghav Bahl’s Quintillion Media invests Rs 4 crore in Youth Ki Awaaz

    MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur led Quintillion Media, has invested Rs 4 crore in an angel round in Youth Ki Awaaz, a media platform for the youth to address some of the world’s most pressing issues – through thoughtful opinions and reportage.

     

    Kapur will join the board of the Youth Ki Awaaz parent – YKA Media Private Limited. BMR Advisors acted as transaction advisors to Quintillion Media and Novistra Capital acted as transaction advisors to Youth Ki Awaaz.

     

    Youth Ki Awaaz is a completely crowd-sourced digital media company, which aims to break the top-down, one-way approach of traditional media, making news creation and dissemination a collaborative/community led model. The platform’s approach to media is founded on the idea that public opinion is the new superpower, and that the media can do more to engage the current generation. From analysis and opinions on politics, to the latest on art and culture, Youth Ki Awaaz is a smorgasbord of personal stories, issue-centric writing and rights based interventions. The website receives over a million readers a month, and has contributions from over 30,000 writers from across India and the world.

     

    Youth Ki Awaaz founder Anshul Tewari said, “The last one year has seen a sudden rise in digital news and opinion platforms. With millions of dollars pouring into new startups, the growth is phenomenal. However, similar to traditional media, digital media too seems to be veering away from being people-focused. YKA on the other hand is a completely people driven digital media platform. With veterans like Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur on board as partners, we feel both privileged and excited to start a new and even more adventurous phase in pushing this generations opinions to the front. The capital will be invested in expanding our team, tech and business model.”

     

    The Quint co-founder Ritu Kapur added, “We were impressed by the idea conceived by Anshul and the team in creating Youth Ki Awaaz. In a short period of time, they have managed to carve a niche for themselves in the digital media space by creating a people driven digital media platform. We find their content to be high on both appeal as well as quality, which is a fine balance to strike. We are confident that they will continue to grow to greater heights in the coming future.”

  • Cyrus Oshidar launches youth centric digital venture 101India.com

    Cyrus Oshidar launches youth centric digital venture 101India.com

    MUMBAI: Digital ventures are mushrooming in the country nineteen to a dozen. With the big daddys of Indian media and entertainment like Raghav Bahl and Ronnie Screwvala leading from the front in the space with new ideas and bags full of investment, it doesn’t take much to figure that digital is where the future lies. And another such media personality, who is putting his money where the mouth is, is the former MTV man Cyrus Oshidar.

     

    When it comes to interacting with the youth in India, there’s no bigger name than Oshidar. Under his supervision at MTV India, iconic creative series targeted at the youth were launched, which successfully managed to garner the TG’s attention. Be it Roadies, or the musical voyage in Sound Trippin, uniqueness was forever visible in each and every concept.

     

    The man who played a pivotal role in establishing youth market in India with multiple innovations, is now set to connect with the youth yet again and this time with the digital portal 101India.com. The portal was launched a month ago with the aim of providing unique and differentiated content for young Indians. What’s more, his team’s unique skill sets were also used to create deeper and more relevant brand solutions. With 101India, Oshidar and his team aim to lead the digital content movement in India.

     

    Speaking exclusively to Indiantelevision.com, 101India.com MD and chief creative officer Oshidar says, “It was at the 2012 Cannes’ first branded content and entertainment contest that the concept of 101digital.com came into my mind. It’s time for the movement to begin. We need to talk to the youth in a creative manner, which they will acknowledge and then eventually interact with.”

     

    Combining adverts in a subtle manner with content on the platform is how the portal will look at making an impact on the youth’s mind. Oshidar says, “We are not a million hits platform and hence we are not going to go pitching to advertisers with promises to millions in return for their crores. We know how to speak to the youth of the country and that’s all we will do. Gone are the days of putting ads in between content. Now we have to fit the brand in the content itself and that’s what we will do in 101India.com.”

     

    The content publishing platform will target educated metro youth aged between 21 – 25 years and hence majority of the marketing and promotional activities to promote the venture will revolve around social media.

     

    Broadband speed in the country is poised to get a major fillip what with Airtel 4G already hitting the market and Reliance Jio impending launch by year end. Oshidar is of the opinion that these rollouts will enhance the infrastructure and bridge the gap between quality streaming and content.

     

    While internationally acclaimed over the top (OTT) venture Netflix is speculated to start its India operation in 2016, another player HOOQ has already launched its India ops. The space is getting cluttered by the day with the addition of Indian OTT players like Ditto TV, Hotstar and Eros Now amongst others. There’s cut-throat competition in the market and established ventures can often overpower startups. However, Oshidar believes that quality content will always sustain. “Game Of Thrones will remain Game Of Thrones and people will consume it irrespective of the platform. So we need to have premium content to sustain in the long run,” he asserts.

     

    101India.com will soon launch an app to reach out to more mobile customers. In terms of content, the venture has created a documentary on the issue of transgenders in association with Times of India’s online venture Indiatimes.com. Also in the pipeline are a series of fiction shows along with a few short movies.

     

    The entire production is taken care of by the in-house team at 101India.com. “We are blessed to have a group of creative talents, who have worked closely with me at MTV and we execute the production all among ourselves,” Oshidar concludes.

     

    More digital power to Oshidar we say!

  • NDTV rubbishes media report questioning ownership

    NDTV rubbishes media report questioning ownership

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) has not just been breaking news lately but has also been making headlines. The company has been asked to answer questions by the stock exchange regarding an article published by Moneylife on 9 June, 2015.

     

    The said article titled “Who Really Owns NDTV” has put the spotlight on the company with the matter even trending on Twitter after the news came out. So much so that it also caught the attention of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which sought clarification from the publicly listed company on the same.

     

    According to the report by Moneylife, a Mukesh Ambani group entity had taken control of NDTV on the pretext of a loan agreement, way back in 2009.

     

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, NDTV executive vice chairperson KVL Narayan Rao refuted all allegations saying, “The promoters, i.e. Dr. Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy and RRPR Private Limited (“RRPR”), continue to hold the majority shareholding of NDTV, which amounts to 61.45 per cent of the total shareholding of NDTV. There has been no change in the above shareholding since August 2008. Further, Dr. Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy continue to hold the entire shareholding of RRPR since its incorporation.”

     

    Rao also added that there has been no change in the exercise of voting rights by the promoters with respect to their shareholding in NDTV. According to the records of NDTV, the voting rights in connection with the shares have throughout been exercised by the promoters in the case of Dr. Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy and RRPR.

     

    “Therefore, NDTV would like to clarify that the allegations raised in the article with respect to a change in the control/ ownership of NDTV are entirely without any merit. NDTV is mindful of its obligations under Clause 36 of the Listing Agreement,” he said.

     

    It may be recalled that just last year Ambani’s Reliance Industries bought over Raghav Bahl’s Network 18 Media and Investments Ltd, which has under its belt TV news channels namely CNBC TV18, CNN-IBN and CNN Awaz amongst a host of other businesses. NDTV, on the other hand, competes with Network 18 with its own bouquet of news channels namely NDTV 24×7, NDTV India and NDTV Profit.

     

    A source from the channel further said, “If NDTV has to take any loan, we have to inform the BSE. We do not give importance to every news piece.”

  • Da Vinci Learning, Swadesh News get I&B clearance; total channels touch 832

    Da Vinci Learning, Swadesh News get I&B clearance; total channels touch 832

    NEW DELHI: During April and May this year, two new channels received permission to launch from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

     

    The first is Da Vinci Learning – a non-news channel owned by Da Vinci Media India Pvt. Ltd, which has got downlinking permission in English and in selected cases dubbed in local languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali. As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Raghav Bahl’s The Quint and Da Vinci Media are jointly launching the edutainment channel.

     

    The second channel is Swadesh News owned by Sri Sai Media Pvt Ltd, which has received uplinking permission in Hindi, English and all Indian scheduled language.

     

    With this, a total of six new channels have received permission in the first five months of 2015, taking the total number of television channels in the country to 832.

     

    The other four channels that received permission earlier this year were all non-news channels, which received uplinking permission.

     

    Thus, Da Vinci Learning is the only channel to get downlinking permission in 2015 until the end of May.

     

    By the end of December 2014, the number of permitted satellite television channels in the country was 826.

     

    Statistics show that 698 channels (including 382 news channels) are permitted to uplink and downlink from within the country, and 41 (including eight news channels) are uplinked from India for beaming overseas and not in the country. There is no change in channels uplinked from overseas and downlinked into India with the number remaining static at 93 (including 16 news channels). 

  • The Quint inks JV with Da Vinci Media to launch edutainment channel

    The Quint inks JV with Da Vinci Media to launch edutainment channel

    MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl’s digital news platform The Quint and Da Vinci Media have inked a 50:50 joint venture to launch the latter’s television channel Da Vinci Learning in India.

     

    Continuing with its commitment to provide the best in educational entertainment, Da Vinci Media’s association with The Quint will effectively amplify the channel’s presence across the country along with developing widespread and integrated relationships with media and advertisers.

     

    With this move, the company aims develop a foothold in the Indian television market prior to its launch and create awareness about the content it will offer to its Indian audience.

     

    The venture will target 6 -12 year olds and their parents.

     

    Da Vinci Media founder & CEO Ferdinand Habsburg said, “We are delighted to partner with Raghav Bahl and his organization The Quint, a company renowned for its strong media presence. We are confident that this engagement will definitely help us carve a strategic roadmap to increase visibility in the Indian market. We aim to provide innovative and engaging educational content to children helping them to think productively while simultaneously developing their thinking, reading and self -confidence skills througha meaningful and fun experience.”

     

    Bahl added, “While Da Vinci Media brings expertise in the programming content, this JV helps us to further expand, drive synergies  and diversify our media portfolio. The Quint will aid consumers in accessing Da Vinci Media’s Da Vinci Learning channel’s content through our distribution capacity.”