Tag: Times Network

“Under Arnab’s guidance, ET Now will innovate & redefine biz news genre:” MK Anand

Launched on 17 June, 2009 Times Group’s business news channel ET Now, has now completed six years in the Indian television industry. ET Now is the youngest player in the English business news space and faces firm competition from CNBC TV 18, NDTV Profit and UTV Bloomberg.

On numerous occasions the channel has grabbed the pole position in terms of viewership. What’s more, as per the recent Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India ratings it is placed in second place with 136 (000s) sum, while CNBC TV 18 holds the pole position with 154 (000s) sum.

Times Network has been strongly promoting the business venture and in order to strengthen it further, the network has now given Arnab Goswami the additional responsibility of being its editor-in-chief. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com’s Anirban Roy Choudhury, Times Network CEO and managing director MK Anand shares the network’s plans and proposals for the future.

Excerpts:

How has ET Now’s journey been so far?

It has been a splendid journey. In just three and a half years, ET Now had established itself as the No.1 business news channel of India, beating a global giant competitor and creating history of sorts. Recently, the BARC measurement system has re-validated our position as India’s Number 1 business news channel. ET Now was launched on 17 June, 2009 in a challenging economic environment, and practically rewrote the script for the genre.

Over the years, the channel has not just gained its viewers’ trust but has also gone on to become the preferred choice of India Inc. and policy makers alike.

What’s your take on the business news market? Do you see it growing?

The business news market, like the Indian media market in general, is most definitely poised for strong growth. Despite recent volatility, we are in the middle of a structural bull run that could see a whole new set of viewers tuning into business channels like ET Now, for unbiased news coverage and analysis. We believe in re-imagining and creating new value with our products. If last year is any indication, our bet on the English audience and more specifically on the English news category will pay us handsomely. We see geometric growth in the medium term.

What will be your strategy to stay ahead of competitors?

ET Now has built its leadership on three key pillars – speed, integrity and expertise. We will continue to up the ante on all three pillars and further consolidate our leadership by reaching out to a wider catchment of viewers. Our distribution has already been scaled up substantially. We also have the best in class content team. The trick is to relentlessly be ahead on quality. We are confident to be able to do it.

Over the years, what has been advertisers’ reaction towards the channel?

Advertisers and brand owners have been extremely positive and encouraging; they have continuously reposed their confidence in us, for we cater to the audience that matters the most. ET Now continues to reach out to maximum viewers in the English business news category and we ensure our advertisers get the maximum ROI for their spends. Our ad growth is the best indicator of our advertiser confidence.

How aggressively will Times Network push to promote ET Now?

ET Now is an integral and important part of Times Network’s news portfolio. The recent clutter breaking consumer and trade engagements, never-seen-before budget campaign and the recent leadership drive, reinforces Times Network’s intent towards ET Now’s growth and success.

Can you throw some light on the channel’s distribution numbers? How do you plan to improve it further?

For ET Now, the focus earlier was only on metros. However, with digital addressable system (DAS) implementation in Phase II and the demand of the channel growing in markets beyond metros, ET Now’s penetration has increased to almost 100 per cent in all 1 Mn+ markets. We have also doubled the penetration in 0.1 to 1 Mn markets, in the last 10-12 months.

With the impending DAS III & IV phases, the focus on LC1 has also increased for all broadcasters and likewise for ET Now, where language is no longer a barrier considering the kind of content it provides.

With Arnab Goswami as the new editor-in-chief, will there be any change in programming?

Arnab has been a champion of innovation in the general news genre. Under his guidance, ET Now will continue to innovate and redefine the business news genre. We have a winning team and a champion leader.

What is the channel’s stand on the new rating body BARC? Do you see enough difference when compared to TAM?

We are happy with the new measurement system. BARC is technologically advanced and is larger than the erstwhile base of meters by almost two-and-a-half times. An extended viewer base has certainly helped bring in more consumers into the analysed set and helped us improve our services to them and thus generate more value. With BARC, we have retained the No.1 spot across channels, and we continue to lead the broadcast space in the respective genre with a clear margin. Times Network’s ‘Now or Nothing’ philosophy, helps us sustain our leadership across genres with differentiated and hard hitting content and stay on top of the audience pyramid as always.

As ET Now celebrates its sixth anniversary, will there be any special programming to celebrate the occasion?

This is ET Now’s anniversary week and we thought we must delight our loyal viewers. So we have launched a ‘Built on Six’ contest, where in six lucky viewers have the chance to win an iPhone.

On the programming front, we have a power packed line of shows and experts this week. Some of the most seasoned market experts like Vallabh Bhanshali and Ramesh Damani will be speaking exclusively to ET Now and sharing their insights on the market. We also have some exclusive interviews lined up with key ministers and govt officials. That’s not all, we also have a special show on 17 June (anniversary day) called Stocks and Stars, which will feature Bollywood superstar- Amitabh Bachchan.

June 17, 2015
Arnab Goswami elevated as president news and editor-in-chief Times Now, ET Now

MUMBAI: Arnab Goswami has added responsibilities as he now takes over as Times Now and ET Now president-news and editor-in-chief.

Bennett & Coleman managing director Vineet Jain in an official email said, “In order to reinforce our commitment to growth, we would like to prepare the future leadership of the Times Network with the elevation of Arnab Goswami as president – news & editor-in-chief Times Now and ET Now.”

This apart, the network has also elevated Jagdish Mulchandani as he takes charge as president – finance and distribution with immediate effect. In his new role, Mulchandani will continue to lead and drive all strategy and operations for finance and distribution besides traffic and administration across Times Network.

Praising Goswami and his work so far, Jain said, “Arnab has successfully achieved and maintained the leadership position for Times Now in English general news for the past several years. In addition to the Times Now editorial responsibility, he will now lead the ET Now editorial team with immediate effect.”

Jain also highlighted Mulchandani’s successful stint as Times Network CFO. “He has constructed a sharp and effective distribution infrastructure in the last year which has improved our penetration and business performance greatly,” added Jain.

“Times Network has maintained its leadership position over the last several years in the various niches that it operates in. The latest elevations are in line with our commitment to maintain our high growth rate and reinforce our leadership position in all endeavours,” said Times Network CEO & MD MK Anand.

June 11, 2015
ET Now ups Sandeep Gurumurthi as executive editor

MUMBAI: Times Network’s business news channel ET Now has elevated Sandeep Gurumurthi as executive editor. Besides heading the channel’s editorial operations, Gurumurthi also anchors the daily primetime show Business Tonight at 9 pm.

Concurrent to Gurumurthi’s elevation, Nikunj Dalmia has been promoted as chief editor- financial markets, responsible for market hours and morning band, whereas Supriya Shrinate has been elevated to the position of chief editor- news, with all bureaus reporting into her.

Times Network CEO & MD MK Anand said, “Gurumurthi has maturity and aggression in the right doses and will bring energy and dynamism to the news room. He has played a critical role in ET Now’s leadership so far and going forward his expertise will be invaluable in building ET Now into a power brand. In his new role as the executive editor, he will be responsible for all editorial and programming for the channel.”

Gurumurthi added, “I’m delighted to be taking charge of ET Now at this juncture. The channel has been built on key pillars of integrity, speed and accuracy and I am certain that we will continue to deliver value for all our viewers and stakeholders. ET Now has pioneered innovation in the business news genre and I look forward to working with the highly talented team here to raise the bar, yet again.”

May 19, 2015
MSM bags six Gold trophies at PromaxBDA India Awards 2015

MUMBAI: The second day of PromaxBDA ended with the PromaxBDA India Awards 2015 in Westin Garden City on 13 May, 2015. Shining bright was Multi-Screen Media (MSM), which managed to tot the maximum number of Gold awards for their creative showcase.

UTV Entertainment Television’s Disney Channel brand campaign won Gold in Most Outstanding Station Image Campaign category while MSM’s Max 2 Brand Campaign #JabDekhoTabNaya won the Silver in the category.

MSM’s Sony Entertainment Television also won Golds galore. The first one was for Encounter_Dhobi Ghat in the Best Drama Promo category, whereas Sony bagged the second Gold for Itna Na Karo Mujhse Pyar in the Best Drama Campaign category. KBC – Neighbours also picked up a Gold in the Best Reality Promo.

Times Network won a Gold for its Social Network campaign in the Best Movie Promo category. Star India also bagged a Gold for their 1st Champion – Indian Super League in the Best Sports Promo category. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited bagged a Gold for Saregama Pa Lill Champs launch in the Best Children’s Programme Category.

NGC Network India’s Brain Games – 9.02 Campaign won Gold in the Most Outstanding Programme Image Campaign. Viacom18 Media’s MTV bagged Gold for Indiepedia – Hipster in the Best Interstitial category.

Click here to view the detailed winners list

May 13, 2015
Industry reactions on BARC India’s first TV ratings data roll out

MUMBAI: The seeds for a new television measurement body were sown in 2008 and after a good seven years, on 29 April 2015, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, a joint industry body, rolled out its first set of data for week 16.

Post the release of the data, BARC India said in a statement, “It’s a momentous day in the history of Indian television that will change how content consumption will be monitored and measured. The wait for the industry is over as BARC India rolls out its first set of data.”

The body will be releasing data for 1lakh+ C&S markets, which corresponds to a sample size of 10,760 households. BARC India will actually monitor 12,000 sample households for this, using a stratified random sampling technique that is proven statistically. This will go up to 20,000 reporting homes, with addition of the less than 1 lakh urban markets and rural areas to represent “What India Watches” in line with the Government of India, January 2014 notification.

Speaking on the industry body’s new journey, BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta said, “I am thrilled to share the first set of Data and Highlights. Solving this puzzle has been an exciting experience and Team BARC India is proud to be creating history as the world’s largest and future ready television audience measurement service. Thanks to IBF, AAAI, ISA and all our partners for coming together and making this happen.”

Just a few minutes after the first data was rolled out, BARC India chairman and ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka tweeted, “The launch of BARC India’s world class television audience measurement system makes it a historic day for the entire industry! With the implementation of @BARCIndia , the ecosystem has certainly turned absolutely transparent! @BARCIndia will certainly be the best solution to report what the nation is actually watching! I would like to thank @parthodasgupta, @paritoshZero ,#ShashiSinha,#SmitaJha & the entire @BARCIndia team for their commitment and hardwork!”

According to Goenka, BARC India is committed to build a world class television audience measurement system. “With an aim to bring in utmost transparency within the ecosystem, BARC India will certainly be the best solution to report what the nation is actually watching,” added Goenka.

Dentsu Aegis Network chairman and CEO South Asia Ashish Bhasin said, “Well I think overall BARC is a great step for us as a television measurement system as for the first time we will have transparent, robust measurement. While a lot of excitement is being generated over the data but the only word of caution I would give is that this is one week data of household level. We should give it a few months time for the data to stabilize before the real trends start emerging. A trend is formed by several data points’ and this is just one. We will have to wait for a while for more trends to emerge.”

Times Network MD and CEO MK Anand is happy with the results as it shows the network’s strength. “We are happy that the new measurement system is finally in place. We look forward to reaping the benefits of this evolved system to the maximum. BARC is technologically advanced and is larger than the erstwhile base of meters by almost two-and-a-half times. An extended viewer base will certainly help bring in more consumers into the analysed set and improve our services to them and thus generate more value. With BARC, we have retained the No.1 spot across channels, and we continue to lead the broadcast space in the respective genres we are present in with a clear margin. Times Network’s ‘Now or Nothing’ philosophy, helps us sustain our leadership across genres with differentiated and hard hitting content and stay on top of the audience pyramid as always.”

Times Now editorial director and editor in chief Arnab Goswami added, “I am delighted with the BARC numbers. It shows us dominating half the market with the other half shared between the smaller English news channels. At 9 pm, we have 2/3rds of the audience with us, with the other one third shared between the smaller channels. Proves our theory that the viewer always chooses the number one news team. In English news now, there is no number 2.”

On the other hand, India Today group CEO Ashish Bagga believes that the ratings by BARC India only adds credibility to the leadership status of Aaj Tak and the trust it enjoys with the news viewers. “The channel’s superiority is backed with years of unwavering focus towards excellence in journalism. I would like to congratulate the entire team at Aaj Tak for crossing another milestone and likewise to BARC for putting together a robust measurement system,” he said.

Network 18 group CEO AP Parigi said, “The first week’s data shows CNBC TV18 as the #1 English business channel, CNBC Awaaz as the #1 Hindi business channel and CNN IBN as the #2 English news channel and IBN 7 as the #6 Hindi News Channel. Colors is #1 Hindi General Entertainment Channel in the prime time slot (7 pm to 11:30 pm). We should be patient and not jump to conclusions; a deeper understanding of how viewership numbers should be interpreted suggests that while one celebrates BARC’s roll out it would be prudent to wait till the system evolves.”

Times Network senior VP and head- English entertainment cluster Vivek Srivastava said, “The first week BARC numbers are in sync with our expectations. Both our brands Movies Now and Romedy Now have been consistent leaders in their respective genres on TAM and we continue to lead the pack on BARC as well.”

Contradicting the general reaction, Helios Media managing director Divya Radhakrishnan said, “These are initial knee jerk reactions. One will have to wait for individual level data as one cannot do media planning with household level data. Secondly, it does not cover all the markets. And thirdly in terms of upsets, it’s more or less the same pecking order except for one or two and there are real reasons why they are not featuring as well.”

Knee jerk reactions aside, over the coming few weeks it will nonetheless be interesting to analyze, evaluate and interpret data from a larger television audience base as recorded by BARC.

April 30, 2015
Media fraternity welcomes GST; few pose doubts over implementation

MUMBAI: Amidst strong controversy, Arun Jaitley led finance ministry of India tabled the Goods and Service Tax (GST) in the parliament for further debate. GST is often termed as India’s most ambitious indirect tax reform plan by economists, which aims to stitch together a common market by dismantling fiscal barriers between states. It is a single national uniform tax levied across the country on all goods and services.

The indirect tax system in India is currently mired in multi-layered taxes levied by the Central and State governments at different stages of the supply chain such as excise duty, central sales tax (CST), value added tax (VAT) and octroi tax, among others. In GST, all these will be subsumed under a single regime.

Even as the entire opposition party, led by Sonia Gandhi, posed a walk out from the Parliament in protest against the procedure and particulars of the amendment, Indiantelevision.com took the opportunity to seek reactions of the vanguards of the media, cable and Direct-to-Home (DTH) industries on GST. While industry stalwarts welcomed the thought behind GST unanimously, a few posed doubts over its successful implementation.

Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish says, “It will be good for the DTH sector. At present we are victims of multiple taxation system where we pay various taxes in entertainment tax, service tax etc. With GST, it will all get rolled under one. If the GST is approved and rolled out, we will have a tax reduction of three to 3.5 per cent and hence it will be a good move for the sector.”

Welcoming GST wholeheartedly, Videocon D2H CEO Anil Khera opines, “GST is a welcome move. It will help the DTH sector to prosper. DTH is the biggest victim of multiple taxation policy and GST will simplify that. The industry needs a uniform taxation system and the sooner it comes the better it is.”

Explaining why GST is good for the economy in the long run, Times Network CEO MK Anand says, “GST brings uniformity and transparency and therefore better administration. However, in the short term, there are expected to be issues. Broadcasting will move from CST, which we believe will be lower than GST as we expect and that is going to put pressure on our pricing. The broadcast ecosystem at the bottom end has elements like consultants or local operators, who may try to push for absorbing into prices. The other thing is the state wise registration and filing of GST as against the current centralised filing. This is also an additional activity that we will now have to account for and so it increases costs to some extent.”

GTPL Hathway COO Shaji Mathews supports the concept behind GST but has doubt on its successful implementation. He explains, “Taxation has been the biggest issue when it comes to digitisation. With digitisation, often only three stakeholders are associated namely: multi system operators (MSO), broadcasters and local cable operators (LCO). However in actuality, there are two more parties involved – the government and consumers. Government has been the major gainer so far from digitisation and they have been trying to shift the tax burden on to the consumer. However the consumer is not ready to take it and hence operators have been bearing the brunt of it all. With GST, the concern is over entertainment tax, which varies from state to state. No clear information is provided whether entertainment tax will be included in GST and if yes, then at what slab. So overall, while the thought behind GST is good, there are a lot of question that are still unanswered. Moreover, since the government hasn’t made any efforts to rationalise taxation, the implementation is something that remains to be observed closely. The problem is with the mechanism that the government follows, where they don’t consider the tax payers’ point of view while implementing an amendment.”

Another senior official from the cable fraternity asserts, “GST has the potential to emerge as a blessing in disguise. As we proceed with digitisation, uniformity in taxation is the least that we can expect. It has been very harsh on us, as we operate across different states and at times we end up paying tax for an already taxed item, which is not something that we should be facing. Overall, I welcome GST and see it as an encouraging move though only time will unfold the real story.”

NDTV executive vice chairperson KVL Narayan Rao adds, “Frankly, GST deals more with Goods and Service providers and doesn’t impact us directly but I consider it as a beneficial move. For example, if I have to set up a new studio at a new location, GST will help me as I won’t pay multiple taxes and hence it affects the pricing.”

Backing GST, entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala opines, “A business friendly environment had to be developed in India and taxation is a key element to that. With the Goods and Service Tax, service tax will come down to 16 per cent, which solves many problems. Hence GST is a firm step forward towards developing a business friendly scenario in India and it will surely help the country to ensure economic growth.”

As per information available, the government is expected to rollout GST by April 2016.With absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, it will not be a challenge for the government to pass it through in the lower house. However the bigger obstacle will come from the Rajya Sabha as Jaitley and company will have to penetrate through a larger opposition. The entire business fraternity will keenly observe the next few days of proceedings in both houses of the Parliament.

April 27, 2015
Times Network launches zoOm in SriLanka on Dialog TV

MUMBAI: Times Networks has launched its Bollywood entertainment channel ZoOm in Sri Lanka.

The channel will be available on Dialog Television on channel no. 47 on Gold, Emerald, Diamond and Thee packages.

Bollywood star hailing from Sri Lanka Jacqueline Fernandes, who was at the zoOm studios in Mumbai to be a part of a brief ceremony to celebrate the launch of zoOm in Sri Lanka, said, “I am excited that zoOm is launching in Sri Lanka. My father is a big fan of zoOm and watches it for many hours each day. I’m sure people in Sri Lanka will love zoOm. I wish it all the best.”

Dialog Television head of businessChirantha De Zoysa, said “Bollywood has a huge following in Sri Lanka, and zoOm will serve as an ideal outlet for the very latest in music, movies and information on the latest action. This is another example of Dialog Television adding significant value to its viewership across all segments via a pioneering partnership, and we look forward to growing this segment in time to come.”

Times Network international business head Naveen Chandra said, “With this launch Times Network is now present in 78 countries and we are happy to see the initial positive feedback from the market. We have recently launched in Seychelles and Mauritius. Dialog Television is the largest pay direct-to-home satellite service provider in Sri Lanka and with their help; we look forward to growing our audience and market in the time to come.”

At present, zoOm has a presence in international markets like the US, Canada, Malaysia and Mauritius.

April 27, 2015
Times Network backs ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’ premiere with heavy promotions

MUMBAI: Martin Scorsese directed Hollywood blockbuster The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio is set to make its debut on Indian television screens on 26 April, 2015.

Times Network’s Movies Now and Movies Now+ will showcase the movie at 1 pm with a repeat at 9 pm.

Times Network is backing the television premiere with a vigorous marketing campaign, which has been orchestrated by Famous Innovations.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Movies Now marketing head Anup Vishwanathan says, “The movie depicts life beyond limitation; the entire flare of the movie is the want of having more and not satisfied. With the campaign, we tried to connect to those people who want to live larger than life. As it is an English movie, the major geographic target was the English speaking audience in metros and Tier 1 cities.”

English entertainment has always garnered huge engagement on the social media platforms. When queried as to whether special attention was paid to promote the movie premiere on social media, Vishwanathan informs, “It was a 360 degree campaign and we paid equal attention to each and every platform and tried to extract the best of them. When it comes to social media, we tried to make it as interactive as possible with various contests and engagement exercises.”

Times Network has also seen a positive response from advertisers for The Wolf of Wall Street premiere. “Advertisers’ reaction so far has been highly positive. We have sold our inventory at a premium price because when you have content like this, advertisers don’t mind buying slots at a higher rate. When it comes to Hollywood movies, we are the leader and by premiering a movie of such magnitude we will go one step further,” adds Vishwanathan.

Movies Now has roped in Provogue Deos as presenting sponsor, while Binani and Skoda are the associate partners. Frooti and Microsoft Lumia 640 XL are the beverage and mobile partner respectively, while Arrow joined in as co-presenter for the movie premiere.

Times Network business head, English entertainment cluster Vivek Srivastava is of the opinion that The Wolf of Wall Street is one of those special new-age classics that carry on the lineage of cult movies. “It shocked audiences worldwide with its intensity and we are all set to re-create that magic on the television screen,” he adds.

The Wolf of Wall Street is based on the life of Jordan Belfort – a young stockbroker who makes a fortune with his intellect, guile and street-smartness. Belfort, played by DiCaprio, takes the shortcut up the corporate ladder and lives his life like a dream – a dream of flamboyance, oomph and lots of money, which actually becomes his sweet reality. The movie is one of the raciest gripping tales of today, with the suspense of the FBI chasing Belfort to take down his empire of excess.

April 24, 2015
YouTube to launch ad free subscription based model in India

MUMBAI: Google’s popular video hosting platform YouTube has been a boon to independent content makers as it enables them to exhibit their talent to a worldwide audience. Now, in order to enhance user experience, YouTube is all set to launch a subscription based ad free model in India. According to sources close to the development, YouTube is planning to launch the innovation around mid June for Indian consumers.

While viewers are offered a wide range of content on the platform, almost all content on YouTube starts with an advertisement wherein the option of skipping it is sometime available and sometimes not. Ads often pop up in the middle of the content too, which interrupts the flow of the viewers.

The new subscription based ad free platform will ignite the long sustaining debate of the whether a video on demand (VOD) platform should follow the advertising or subscription based revenue model. Advertising revenue mode is directly proportional to rating and when it comes to YouTube, its views. It is often very difficult to satisfy both consumer and advertiser at the same time and hence the content and root idea behind it gets compromised.

Subscription based model also has its own drawback, poor online payment infrastructure, lower number of credit or debit card holders are a few of them.

Times Network CEO and MD MK Anand is of the opinion that though subscription model has a lot of positives, India is not yet ready for it. “Consumer behaviour is the biggest challenge besides payment gateway and card penetration. A huge part of digital savvy young population refrains from using card transactions for various reasons and hence at this moment advertisement revenue model is the only option. Going forward, if the number of card holders increase and the consumers behaviour towards e- transactions becomes friendlier then we may see a new revenue model emerging.”

YouTube’s new offering will enable a consumer to either choose the ad free platform or stick to the available one. From content creators’ perspective, Ping Network co-founder Rajeshree Naik asserts, “The new innovation from YouTube will cater to the growing need of sophistication of a consumer. We can take example from the newly launched HD channels, the same content is available on the SD platform too but consumers are paying to get quality content. The innovation will help us satisfy more people with the content we are offering.”

When asked if Ping Network will create fresh content exclusively for the paid platform, Naik adds, “Not at the moment. For now the platform will only provide better and uninterrupted viewing experience to the consumers. But going forward if the platform makes a sustainable impact creating exclusive content can be an option.”

According to the 2014 KPMG report, 12 per cent of the digital ad spend mix is acquired by videos and the spend on digital video has increased by five per cent compared to 2013. When questioned whether the ad free platform from YouTube will impact advertising, Maxus South Asia head of digital Unny Radhakrishnan says, “There will not be any significant impact on advertising immediately. As per the news reports, YouTube has said that advertising will still be their core revenue. The share of consumers who will go for paid subscription will be very small initially. In the long run, this would perhaps lead to more investments and therefore increase in the quality of content and in turn paid subscription. An India roll-out of this is not expected in the near future.”

It remains to be seen if the new initiative from YouTube breaks the mould and creates a new sustainable revenue model, which will satisfy both producers and consumers.

April 18, 2015
Times Network restructures sales team; aims to accelerate growth

MUMBAI: Times Network has restructured its sales team, which reflects a new stronger growth-oriented operating model.

As part of the restructuring, Times Network head branded content Hemant Arora has been elevated as Times Now and ET Now sales head. Arora has more than 17 years of experience in media sales, including print, internet and television. He started his career at The Times of India in 1997.

Hersh Bhandari has been given the charge as Times Now national head of ad sales. “I expect Hersh to restore the true premium value that the lead English News platform deserves to the business,” said Times Network MD & CEO MK Anand.

Shilpa Shetty will take over as ET Now national head of ad sales. Since joining ET Now, Shetty has been instrumental in increasing the channel’s revenue. A tough taskmaster, she is also the first woman to rise to the position of head of sales from within the Times Network.

Gaurav Dhawan has been made the head of English Entertainment channels’ cluster. With 17 years of extensive experience in managing advertising revenue driven business across television, print and web, Dhawan has an advantage in meeting his challenging new assignment, where he is pitted against Star’s English Entertainment business.

ET Now north head Jogajyoti Pati has been elevated as Times Network national head of ad sales, whereas Rohit Tugnait will don the new role of zoOm national head of ad sales & brand solutions.

The initiative aims at providing significant growth opportunities and greater responsibilities to the existing leadership in the advertising and sales team, which will also inculcate the Network’s new brand philosophy of – ‘Now or Nothing.’

Anand added, “This refinement in our working model is designed to keep up with the momentum we had been sailing on through whole of the last year. While 2015 was one of hygiene improvements, 2016 will be a watershed year during which we will make an all-out effort to correct our price:value equation and build our revenue base.”

April 17, 2015