Noida: As part of its aggressive expansion plans, TV9 Digital has strengthened its digital sales team further and onboarded Munaf Merchant as vice president – sales. Merchant will be responsible for building and driving direct revenue streams that cater to the TV9 Digital platforms bouquet.
He will report to TV9 Digital president – revenue Azim Lalani.
TV9 Network chief growth officer (digital and broadcasting) Raktim Das said, “Just like the broadcasting space, most of our digital platforms are already leaders in their respective markets. Advertisers are showing immense confidence in our ever-growing digital footprint. We are aggressively pursuing ambitious growth objectives and Munaf’s appointment is another step in that direction.”
Merchant comes with an experience of over a decade and was earlier associated with the Network 18 working there as national sales head for Brand Solutions & Convergence.
“I am delighted to be entrusted with this responsibility. TV9 Digital is a perfect platform to channelise my abilities and at the same time showcase my creativity. As I take up this new opportunity, I will aim to deliver enhanced value to all our partners and clients,” said Merchant.
Mumbai: After the stupendous success of the ‘Leaders of Global Bharat’ series that aimed at empowering Indian SMEs hit hard by pandemic-induced lockdowns last year, TV9 Network and SAP India have again joined hands to forge two pioneering initiatives to help homegrown businesses rise and shine in enabling an Atmanirbhar Bharat.
With the objective to engage our business heroes from SMEs in more meaningful pursuits to inspire a whole new generation to take on the mantle of entrepreneurship and also acknowledge their contribution to India’s growth, SAP India and TV9 Network announced the launch of Mentors of Global Bharat series and Dare2Dream Awards 2021.
These two ambitious programmes were announced at Enabling Atmanirbhar Bharat forum, which saw participation from technology thought leaders, eminent policymakers, and business stalwarts.
Stating that TV9 Network is happy to be associated with SAP in this exciting journey, TV9 Network chief growth officer (television & digital), Raktim Das said, “SME sector is indeed the growth locomotive of Indian business & economy. They provide critical depth to the manufacturing and service sectors, foster entrepreneurship, and generate substantial employment. Enabling and empowering them to build an Atmanirbhar Bharat is an imperative.”
“While Mentors of Global Bharat will be a platform where aspiring entrepreneurs will meet business icons and get to learn from their success stories and business best practices; Dare2Dream Awards will look at recognizing business leaders who had the resilience to not only tide over the pandemic induced crisis but also come out stronger by resetting their business models,” added Das.
Commenting on the programme, SAP president of Asia Pacific – Japan Paul Marriott said, “We have seen the unprecedented adverse impact of the pandemic on business and economy – with supply chains being disrupted and demand drying up. There is no playbook or prescription that can guide businesses to emerge from such impact and resurrect themselves rapidly.”
“In the many interactions that we have had with our SME customers, we realised that many entrepreneurs felt the need to interact with mentors who have successfully traversed the same path before. Peer-to-peer learning and recognition of digital-led innovation are both very important in these times and any platform that facilitates these is a step in the right direction,” he added.
On SAP’s constant endeavour to empower homegrown businesses, SAP Indian subcontinent president and MD Kulmeet Bawa said, “Our Global Bharat program was introduced to support MSMEs last year. Taking this program forward, we are today launching these two pioneering initiatives.”
“While the Mentors of Global Bharat programme is designed to help SME entrepreneurs to learn and get inspired by industry leaders and peers who have successfully navigated the new normal, the Dare2Dream Awards series was established to recognize visionaries in the SME sector who have demonstrated innovation and digital mindset and create business impact in adverse times,” Bawa added.
Terming it one of the most required programmes aimed at helping entrepreneurs, SAP India midmarket vice president Subramanian Ananthapadmanabhan said, “Whether one is just starting out or looking to improve their SME’s quality and turnover, it can be hard to know what direction to go next and it’s completely normal. No business owner knows everything at the start. That’s part of the reason why being mentored as a business owner is such a brilliant idea.”
The series was launched in Enabling Atmanirbhar Bharat forum which saw participation from eminent policymakers 15th Finance Commission chairman NK Singh; Noted economist and former chief economic advisor Dr Arvind Virmani, and SIDBI chairman Sivasubramanian Ramann.
Speaking on the role of MSMEs in enabling an Atmanirbhar Bharat, Singh said, “It’s a force multiplier. India’s quest for becoming a $5 tn economy and more rests majorly on the SME sector. The quest for generating gainful employment is also primarily dependent on how we provide a fillip to the small and medium businesses. I regard our homegrown businesses central to India’s quest for increasing productivity and efficiency and also emerge as a leading global player.”
Dr Arvind Virmani said, “We must ensure that there is a level playing for our SMEs. The taxation reforms for new manufacturing enterprises is a welcome step. SMEs are critical to India’s inclusive growth and to ensure that as a country we sustain a growth momentum for the next 30 years. Corporations like SAP will drive productivity to make SMEs successful.”
Mentors of Global Bharat got a shot in the arm with Paramount Cables chairman and CEO Sanjay Aggarwal and Insecticides (India) Ltd managing director Rajesh Aggarwal, who joined as mentors for the initiative. They also lauded the objective behind the mentorship programme.
More industry leaders will be joining as Mentors of Global Bharat in the coming weeks.
NEW DELHI: Moving on from TV9 as AVP marketing & events, Nikhil Mathur has joined Rajat Sharma-led India TV as head of marketing. He took on the new role at the start of 2021.
Mathur worked with TV9 for a little over a year, overseeing marketing and events for the news network. He has an overall experience of more than 15 years in the industry. In the past, he has worked with PTC Punjabi Network, Focus News, and Zee News.
A news veteran of 33 years, Anjan Bandopadhyay has joined ZEE 24 Ghanta as its Editor. He will be presiding over the input and output of all content for the channel along with its digital properties and drive the growth of the channel. Anjan was also historically associated with ZEE 24 Ghanta from 2006 to 2015 as the editor input. Recently, he had joined TV9 from ABP digital, as the editor to help launch the channel in Bengal.
Speaking to Anjan on his comeback he said, “It’s always good to come back to the channel which you have spent many years in establishing. Now Zee 24 Ghanta by its own merit drives the viewership in the market. I will ensure all my experience and learning further strengthens its position in the Bengal news genre”.
Speaking on the channel getting a new Editor, the Cluster CEO, Mr. Purushottam Vaishnava said, “Anjan is an old hand in the industry and has been also previously associated with Zee 24 Ghanta. He is attuned to the values, the culture of the channel and shares the same vision as we do. We believe he will drive the channel towards a more robust future. The channel is already undergoing few changes in content and Anjan could not have joined at a better time. We wish him the best for this endeavor.”
ZEE 24 Ghanta has recently seen a flurry of activities, with Moupia Nandy helming the role of Deputy Editor and a slew of new programs. The channel is on a fresh route to rediscover the true essence of news in the increasing clutter. Dedicated to keeping the people of Bengal abreast with the latest happenings, factual reporting, and in-depth analysis, ZEE 24 Ghanta is one of the key news channels in the regional news space.
Manoj Jagyasi, Executive Cluster Head of Sales, said “West Bengal is a priority market for all the advertisers, so with the brand legacy of ZEE 24 Ghanta, we are set to engage their consumers in the upcoming state elections. We are glad to have Anjan with us as his experience in news genre will give boost to our planned line up for the state election which is spread across 150 days and has several integration opportunities for the advertisers.
NEW DELHI: With the aim to further reinforce its regional dominance and consolidate its position as the number one news network in the country, TV9 Network has embarked on a massive expansion plan for both its linear television as well as digital news businesses in West Bengal. The expansion plan will kick off with the launch of TV9 Bangla, a 24X7 news channel in the dynamic Bengal news market early next year.
Before the launch of TV9 Bangla, the network will unveil its digital offering, tv9bangla.com in December. As West Bengal prepares to go to the hustings, the grand entry of TV9 Bangla digital and TV platforms will be a game-changer for the robust Bangla news market.
TV9 Network CEO Barun Das said: “Gopal Krishna Gokhalre had famously said – ‘What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow’. But nearly a century later it would seem like that statement applies more to Bengal’s past than the present. An intellectually progressive state and exporter of the best talent to India and the world, we believe the state and its people still retain the wisdom and wares to make that its future as well. Bengalis are the typical argumentative Indians, they want to keep her ear to the ground and hence are naturally drawn to the news."
“More importantly, Bengalis are proud of their language and largely consume news in their language. The discerning Bengali viewer will always have room for a neutral perspective and a balanced opinion. That’s the place in the Bengali heart and mind that TV9 Bangla aspires to occupy. We are here to strike the right balance with neutrality and a fair perspective forming the core of our operations. Our unbiased coverage and world-class presentation will give teeth to the Fourth Estate in West Bengal,” added Das.
On the timing of the launch, Das said: “The state is already into election mode. Indirect canvassing has already started and the heat is building up. Given Bengal’s propensity for the free flow of information, news viewership is bound to peak. We believe this is a perfect opportunity for TV9 Bangla to establish its credentials and win the maximum share of viewership and voice.”
The network has onboarded veteran journalist Anjan Bandyopadhyay as the editor of TV9 Bangla news channel. A gold medallist from Calcutta University, Bandyopadhyay has 32 years of experience and has worked with almost all major media houses, including ABP, Zee, ETV and Sky Bangla. He was the Editor input of Zee 24 Ghanta and his last assignment was with ABP as its Editor-Digital.
Hiring for both the platforms is in full swing. Amritanshu Bhattacharya has also joined as the editor, TV9 Bengali Digital and will also serve as deputy managing editor, output, for the television channel. Bhattacharya comes with a rich experience of more than 25 years across print, audio visual and digital media, having worked with Jugantar, Aajkaal, ETV and Zee Media Corp. His last assignment was as an associate editor and head of digital of Zee 24 Ghanta.
NEW DELHI: TV9 has announced a pay hike for all employees who joined the organisation on or before 30 September 2019. The announcement was made in an internal email by TV9 Network CEO Barun Das a few days ago.
“We are announcing flat percentage increase , based on salary slabs, because we didn’t believe it was prudent to differentiate, given that all of us have worked as one: one network, one team,” Das wrote.
The increment will be in retrospective effect from April 2020. TV9 will also be conducting an annual appraisal in March 2021
“Through the pandemic, we have continued resolutely on our mission of keeping our viewers informed and armed with the best possible news and views to help them deal with this crisis–often at risk to our own well-being. So, please accept my deep appreciation of your hard work and commitment,” said Das, adding that arrears will also be released before Diwali.
The media network’s move comes close on the heels of other news groups rolling back pay cuts and releasing arrears on the back of gradual recovery and return of advertisement revenue. Top media companies had resorted to temporarily slashing salaries and laying off employees to survive the Covid2019 pandemic, but TV9 had refrained from doing so.
NEW DELHI: TV9 CEO Barun Das says he feels like an outcast. While he’s unsure whether BARC’s decision to hit the pause button on TRP for news channels will prove to be good or bad in the long run, he thinks singling out the news business in this way is cause for concern.
“When I find that only the news television ratings has been suspended, that makes me feel that I’m standing with a bunch of people who are possibly suspicious. I don’t think there’s something wrong with the industry per se, a few unscrupulous acts may happen here and there. But if it were my decision, I wouldn’t have cast the entire industry in the light of suspicion,” he said during a virtual foresight session with indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari at the News Television Awards Summit 2020.
He has complete confidence in the BARC and points out what he perceives to be the double standards in the industry: “BARC rating was flaunted by those who are now questioning it. It is uncanny… that people complain against the currency only when they are victimised, otherwise it’s all hunky-dory. You have got to have a standard that is consistent.”
At the same time, Das recommends strict action against any person or organisation who is found to be running afoul of the system. “Any malpractice or tampering from a news player should attract capital punishment. It should be zero tolerance,” he asserts.
The investigation into the TRP racket, be it by law enforcement agencies or BARC’s own internal probe, will not just affect the news industry but also have larger ramifications on the society as a whole, believes Das. “So when people speak of ‘intervention’ or ‘malpractice’, we need to be extra cautious because we have the responsibility of forming the country’s opinions.”
So what should BARC do to plug the gaps in its system? The TV9 CEO has some ideas.
“Why not have a technical cut-off? Instead of out-casting one genre, say that below a certain figure, the sample or statistical methods have larger margins of error so these other genres which fall below this number would also be suspended. Checks and balances need to be built in to make the system fool-proof.”
Das also admits that he has radical views when it comes to the advertising-driven business model that presently holds sway over most of the news industry. Without taking names, he highlights the hazards of aping content that seems to be doing well in terms of ratings, without analysing the long-term consequences of pandering to the masses.
He illustrates with an analogy: “Let’s say the currency that we have says that consumers are enjoying circus on a news channel during primetime. In a free society, whatever the consumer is expecting you tend to give that more in your content. By the end of the year, you’ll see almost all the channels are showing circus on primetime and viewers who didn’t like it have no choice but to watch circus too. And they would eventually start liking the circus. That’s the risk the country faces by going wrong in our ratings.”
Das is of the view that news channels should have a model that is fully subscription-based; an advertising-driven news operation is an oxymoron and there is something fundamentally wrong with that system. “If somebody is a large advertiser of mine, how much will I expose him if there’s something going wrong at his end?” he quips.
But the winds of change are slowly but surely coming. In the West, newer formats of news commentary and engagement are coming up where influencers and multi-channel digital networks are challenging the legacy players. And it's only a matter of time before this catches on in India too. Wanvari asks Das what he predicts will happen to the traditional broadcast industry in such a scenario.
“The convergence of news originator and consumer will be brought in by the digital world, I’ve said this before. The broadcast sector will give way to digital platforms. The latter lacks intervention at the moment but it’s on auto-correct mode. But organised players will always be there. They will seamlessly transform themselves from a traditional TV business to more digital news content business,” he said.
News First, Karnataka’s much awaited Kannada News Channel, didn’t disappoint on launch day.
The channel chose to live up to its tagline of Pratikshana Nimmondhege, Every Moment with You, with a sting operation that showed the
rampant spread of drug usage amongst children and youth alike, in government and private schools.
While most Kannada channels are going to town with an overdose of sandalwood linked drug stories, News First decided to go the societal benefit route.
The hard hitting story showed the modus operandi of drug peddlers luring and addicting vulnerable children between class 5 and 12.
The opposition too saw reason and made sure it was a talking point in the monsoon session of the Karnataka assembly, which started a day after the channel’s launch.
KPCC president DK Shivakumar applauded News First for starting off with a socially relevant story of dire importance. Senior Congress Leader Dr Parameshwar promised to make it a subject of discussion in the assembly.
JDS Leader Basavaraj Horatti lived up to his on air promise of raking up the children drug abuse story in the assembly.
Quoting News First, Horatti spoke at length about the story and need for the state government to act fast.
The government took cognisance off the issue and promised to initiate work in the direction in two days.
News First seems to be making all the right noises from the word go.
Trade too seems to be showing keen interest despite the trying times.
For a news channel launched in a crowded market place, day 1 showed sufficient promise with a tidy line up of commercials.
The men behind the venture, Ravikumar and Maruthi – formers execs of TV9 Kannada, and their team have contributed to increased interest in the News First.
Armed with an experienced team, sophisticated setup and quality focus, News First is keen to shake up the Kannada News TV market.
By the looks of it, the channel’s campaign “The Team that built Karnataka’s No. 1 News Channel, takes fresh aim” appears to have hit target.
Well begun, isn’t exactly a battle half won in this case.
But everybody loves a good start, at the cost of a wake up call !
NEW DELHI: After appointing Raktim Das as the COO of The Studio9, TV9 has now hired Prasanna Raghav as the VP of its TV and digital convergence specialist unit. Besides developing content products, The Studio9 will offer innovative business solutions to clients, design platform-agnostic content to weave brand stories, and sustain meaningful conversations with consumers.
TV9 Network CEO Barun Das said, “We are creating a symbiotic relationship between the incumbent linear TV and fledgling digital businesses through a robust Studio approach that will drive convergence. The Network is aggressively pursuing its ambitious digital business goals and is currently identifying the right talent for the same. Raktim joined us recently to lead the convergence business and we are happy to have Prasanna on board to reinforce the team.”
Das added, “We are bringing together some of the finest professionals in the industry with the proven expertise of having created pioneering, benchmark-setting initiatives. Prasanna’s appointment is a step in this direction. He has straddled both content and revenue and is best suited to bring in his unique experience to the table.”
Before joining TV9 Network, Raghav was VP, innovation studio, and custom content, at Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow and Asian College of Journalism, Raghav in his earlier stint as a journalist has worked with leading publications like The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express besides taking up a brief assignment in the Middle East.
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MUMBAI: With the huge audience shift from television to digital, staying relevant in the broadcast industry is challenging. With that goal, TV9 is all set to venture into the digital medium for its English news. In a fireside chat with Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari, TV9 Network CEO Barun Das said that the company will shut down its English channel News9 to focus on expanding its digital platform.
He said, “Traditional format of television would go and it will get more into the digital space. People below the age of 18 years are not watching news channels. If you see English news channels have shrunk to an extent that they will not sustain. We had News9, a Bangalore-based channel, but I believe city-based English news offerings in the Indian market are not ready yet. We had to take a business call, so we are coming up with a national version of that but on a digital platform. We are coming up with digital web TV.”
He further explained that the television news genre is overly crowded and even the regional channels are exploding. According to Das, news channels have more than “pure business reasons” to launch channels. So, that is the reason why fringe channels come in and the market gets crowded.
He added, “But I think viewers and advertisers filter them out. In the regional market, there are not more than four big channels. In Hindi it is a larger market, 45 per cent of our population speaks Hindi. Advertisers look at the top nine channels so every leading new channel gets the share of the pie.”
As per Das, in the past 10 years Hindi and regional news channels have moved in the same way print has moved in 10 years.
He pointed out that the channel will continue to grow in double digits leaving out exceptions like Covid2019 period and slowly it will taper into single-digit. Das also clarifies that the content on news will not disappear but the way it is being packaged and distributed will change.
“In India, digital revenue will overtake the traditional medium by 2025. This scenario will happen to Hindi and regional channels by 2028. We still have good seven to eight years to go. Hence we are currently focusing on the digital front. As TV9 group was not digital-savvy, our focus has turned to embark on a major expansion on the digital side,” he said.
Das highlighted that the channel has already set up an infrastructure for Studio9 where the team will look to work with clients to develop creative solutions. Studio9 will look at the convergence of television and digital revenue with a solution-driven approach. As a major expansion in the digital medium, TV9 Network has set up a new office of 20,000 square feet where it is briefing teams across the country. The company has recruited close to 400 employees.
He quipped, “Digital is a big game for us going forward. Raktim Das will be looking at the convergence side. Slowly you will see we will be moving with digital but also keeping a stronghold on TV side revenue. I am also planning to do anchoring in the coming future. I am working on a concept that will see the light of the day, but it will be on the English side.”
