MxMIndia

Category: NEWS

  • Culture Secretary Jawhar Sircar is back holding additional charge of I&B Secretary as Raghu Menon retired on Sept 30

    Sircar is back as stand-in I&B secretary

    By A Correspondent

    Mr Jawhar Sircar, Sectretary, Ministry of Culure has been asked to hold additional charge as Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The move was necessitated as Mr Raghu Menon retired as Secretary on September 30. The last time Sircar was asked to do the honours was when Ms Sushma Singh retired as I&B secretary in 2009.

    Mr Sircar’s appointment was announced by way of a circular of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions. Here’s what the announcement said: “The competent authority has approved the following additional charge arrangement with effect from 1.10.2011 for a period of three months or until further orders, whichever is earlier”.

    Some info on Mr Sircar, courtesy the Ministry of Culture website: Mr Sircar is a student of Presidency College, Calcutta University and did his Honours in Political Science and obtained two Masters’ Degrees in Sociology and History.

     

    He has been actively involved with many cultural and academic bodies, like the Asiatic Society, the Victoria Memorial, the Centre for Archaeological Studies and the Kolkata Museum of Modern Art. He has been associated with one of the largest and most successful Book Fairs of the world, that is, the Kolkata Book Fair, since its inception. From the late 1990s, he also took the lead in upgrading the annual Kolkata Film Festival to a remarkable and recognized event of international standards.

     

    Mr Sircar has been engaged in serious research in social anthropology and was the Director of a field research project that covered 78 sites of ‘popular religion’ in six districts of Western Bengal. The present focus areas of his research are ‘the construction of identities’, the ‘deconstruction of religious phenomena’, folk religion, as also in popular culture and its interface with the semi-classical and classical forms He has published several articles and research papers on history, culture and society. His monograph on “The Construction of the Hindu Identity in Medieval Western Bengal : The Role of Popular Cults”, was well received in India and abroad.

     

    Photograph: Ministry of Culture, Government of India

  • Intel Capital invests in Atul Phadnis’s What’s-On-India, along with Sequoia Capital and Nexus VP

    First on MxM: What’s-On-India gets Intel inside

    By A Correspondent

    What’s-On-India, the Indian TV industry’s popular EPG company, has raised funding from a group of investors, including Intel Capital. What’s-On-India’s existing investors – Sequoia Capital and Nexus Venture Partners – also participated in the latest funding round. The investment is aimed at expanding the technology vertical into new and emerging technologies as well as strengthening the company’s owned media portfolio.
    Atul Phadnis, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, What’s-On-India said, “Over the last 3 years, What’s-On-India has made tremendous advances both on the Technology front as well as the Media businesses. We are delighted to have Intel Capital as an investor in this journey given Intel’s focus on smart TV and other technology areas.“
    “Smart TVs, digital set-top boxes and other IPTV devices are transforming the living room and changing the way people consume content. As these new gadgets get embraced, Whats-on-India is well positioned, through their technology and content, to create compelling user experiences,” said Sudheer Kuppam, MD, Asia Pacific, Intel Capital.
    What’s-On-India is India’s premier (and perhaps only) TV guidance company working with all major TV Networks and Operators. The company’s vision is to enable TV content search, discovery and guidance across varied platforms and technologies. What’s-On-India’s Technology vertical runs India’s largest multi-platform, multi-lingual, multi-device Electronic Program Guide (EPG) system that covers more than 550 TV Channels on the source side and powers EPGs into more than 20 million set-top-boxes and devices on the destination end.
    The media vertical of the company runs the “What’s-On-India” channel, that is currently available via cable, satellite and DTH other than on web portals and via widgets and apps on Tablets, Mobile and Smart-TVs.

  • Mohit Sainani, who was head of marketing at Mid-Day, has called it a day. He has now joined Star India.

    Mohit Sainani quits Mid-Day, joins Star India

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    Mr Mohit Sainani who was working as the marketing head, Mid Day for the past four years, has quit and moved to Star India.

    Industry sources confirm that Mr Sainani’s designation at Star has not been decided yet but he will be working closely with Mr Neville Bastawalla, AVP marketing,Star India Pvt Ltd. It may be recalled that Mr Bastawala had joined Star India as Head of Marketing for Star World and Star Movies. He too was previously with Mid-Day as Head of Marketing for a little over three years from where he exited early in December 2010.

    Prior to Mid Day, Mr Sainani had a stint with Compass BPO as a Marketing Manager where he reported into the CEO. Before that he worked with Times of India as Assistant Manager and as Relationship Manager with Citibank NA.

    Star India, the leading media and Entertainment Company in India has the highest reach among the country’s broadcasters, beaming to over 140 million people every week across India and over 65 countries across the globe. Its portfolio includes 33 channels in eight languages spanning the household brands Star Plus, Star One, Star Gold, Channel [V], Star Jalsha, Star Pravah, Star World, Star Movies, Star Utsav; along with the joint venture channels Asianet, Asianet Plus, Star Vijay, Suvarna, Star News, ESPN and Star Sports.

    Star India also manages a portfolio of business ventures including DTH operator Tata Sky; cable system Hathway, channel distributor Star Den, news channel operator MCCS, the film production and distribution business Fox Star Studios India and Star CJ Home Shopping.

  • FirstRand Bank (FRB), South Africa has called for a creative, media and PR pitch. Industry sources close to the development have confirmed the news to MxM India.

    FirstRand Bank calls for creative, media and PR pitch

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    FirstRand Bank (FRB) has called for a creative, media and PR pitch. The overall account size is estimated to be around Rs 10 crore.

    FirstRand Bank India is a branch of FirstRand Banking Group South Africa. FirstRand Bank, a pre-eminent financial services group in Africa is the first bank from the African continent to be granted a full scale commercial banking license in India. FirstRand has commenced its banking operations in India since April 2009 and currently has one branch set up in Mumbai.

    With a history dating back to 1838, FirstRand is a fully integrated financial services group and one of the big four South African retail, commercial and investment banks. Through its ownerships of brands like First National Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Momentum and Wesbank, the group operates in almost every area of the financial services arena.

    The group has representation elsewhere in Africa, including Nigeria, as well as the United Kingdom, Dubai, Australia and China, and now more recently in India.As part of its international expansion strategy, FirstRand has identified India as a key market for future economic growth and set up its Representative Office in Mumbai, India in January 2008. A year later, it received its banking license, becoming the first South African bank to open a branch in India. FirstRand India currently has an office in Mumbai.

  • Santosh Menezes has joined Images Group as Associate Vice President Publications – West, at the Mumbai Regional office.

    Santosh Menezes joins Images Group as AVP

    By Akash Raha

    Santosh Menezes has recently joined Images Group as Associate Vice President Publications – West, at the Mumbai Regional office. Images Group has several leading and trade business media magazines such as Images Retail, Images Retail Middle East, Images Business of Fashion, Images Business of Beauty, Images Franchise, Food Service, Shoes and Accessories Shopping Centre News, Progressive Grocer, Food Service, Sportswear International etc. Mr Menezes’ role in Images will be to consolidate the titles in the respective category, increase revenue and activate opportunities through customized solutions.

    Earlier, he worked with The Times of India Group as Senior Manager and team head. He was a part of selling broadsheets, special features, activating events, and annual properties such as ET 500, Brand Equity Quiz Specials, launch of Best Wishes bridal special, Bombay Times and Westside Plus core teams.

    Thereon, he went on to join DNA to be a part of the core launch team, as Senior Chief Sales Manager. He worked there for two years being a part of ME Women weekend magazine and then heading the Andheri Office. Also, he was a brand custodian of weekly compact Sunday offering Ya Young Adults and retail weekly DNA Westcoast.

    He also had a stint in Dubai where he was Divisional Head (Sales and Alliances) at Concept
    Media for International magazines like Millionaire and Retail ME and as  Director (Sales and Marketing) with Spear Publishing, Dubai heading titles Emirates Parent Plus and Aailati ( My Family) in Arabic, consumer  Events like Family A’fair. Mr Menezes shared the information and details about his new work profile over an email interaction with MxM India.

  • Facebook has arrived in India, ranking highest in interaction. But are Indian brands ready to realize and value the impact of social media, or is it just a feel-good factor for them?

    In your Facebook, in your brand?

     

    By Ritu Midha

     

    Though there have been, and are other social networking sites, none match Facebook – whose growth has been phenomenal – in terms of usage and the buzz around it. Brands, keen to be where their target audience is, seek it out and in spite of issues like low internet penetration, power cuts and low literacy levels, social media and more specifically Facebook is seeing exponential growth in India.

    A study by Experian India released in September 2011 indicates that Facebook, YouTube and Orkut are the top three social networking websites in the country.

    As per the study, search engines continue to be number one in terms of visit share in the month of August 2011 with 17.25 percent visit share, while social networking and forums are at number two with 13.99 percent.

    The study also indicates that social networking sites are amongst the top three sources of traffic for these industry categories: Automotive, Community, Computers & Internet, Education, Entertainment, Food & Beverages, Health & Medical, Lifestyle, Music, News & Media, Shopping & Classifieds, Sports and Travel.

    When it comes to specific social media sites Facebook is at number one with a 52.47 percent visits share, while YouTube is a distant second with 20.34 percent share (July 2011). And when one looks at percentage change this August vis-a-vis August 2010, Facebook has seen a whopping 88.46 percent growth from 27.85 percent to 52.49 percent.

    And as per a global Cisco study, within certain countries, including India, updating Facebook was ranked as the highest priority, even more than hanging out with friends. Of all the countries surveyed in the study India ranked highest in the frequency of Facebook interaction, with 92 percent of students and 98 percent of employees checking it daily.

     

    Facebook, thus, has arrived in India, and if the growth rate is any indication it is not a storm in the frying pan. However, one wonders if Indian brands have really begun to value the impact of social media, or is being on social media just a feel-good factor for them? Says Mr Ashok Lalla, President – Digital, Euro RSCG, “There certainly is a lot of enthusiasm among Indian brands to get onto the social media bandwagon. Unfortunately, most get on thinking that a fan page, or an app or a Twitter handle is all that it takes to crack the social media code. However, we are also seeing some brands take a more mature view of social media, and these also better integrate social marketing with the rest of the marketing and communications mix.”

    Mr Alok Kejriwal, CEO and Co-Founder, Games2win, too agrees that brands are at different stages of evolution as far as social media goes. He remarked, “Some of them use social media well, some of them are learning and some of them are completely ignorant. The brands who get it are those who have young CEOs and managers rather than the ‘Silver Foxes’ who run the companies that run the brands who live on the dark side of the moon. Think Vodafone vs Air India.”

    Talking specifically of Facebook, where most of the consumer action is at the moment, while a few brands are working on specific Facebook strategies, others just want to fit it in. Mr Lalla said, “I’m not sure if brands have reworked their overall communication strategies, but they certainly have recast and extended them to include social media. Facebook clearly is the first and most popular part of most social media plans. That’s not surprising, since it’s got the largest number of social media-active people in India.”

    Interestingly, one notices that brands look at gaining as many ‘likes’ as possible – a ‘like’ on a page can get a fan Rs 1,000 off on a luxury cosmetics brand – while a few others believe that the ultimate is to make the customers win a contest, and give away an expensive handset. These mostly work as tactics for the moment. As soon as the contests and discounts are over – so is the people’s interest in that specific page.

    What, then, would be an ideal Facebook strategy for a brand? Kejriwal explains, “Listening and not marketing. Brands and their decision-makers need to listen to the whispers on social media – their ears should be on the railway tracks picking up tremors and the train before it arrives in their face. Facebook is a reactive and conversational media for brands rather than a pro-active and defensive media.”

    It effectively means that ‘likes’ are not a good enough benchmark for a brand page on Facebook. Mr Kejriwal declared, “No way! Likes are silly. It’s like saying that the number of units sold of a sachet is the sign of the success of a brand! Less Is More on Facebook for a brand. The quality of conversation – not the quantity – is important.”

    “The real impact comes when brands look at ‘Life beyond the Like’. And focus on identifying and nurturing the ‘fans’ that have real brand love, and the potential to turn into brand advocates,” added Mr Lalla.

    Social media, and more specifically Facebook, opens doors for two-way communication between the brand and its audiences – and it is that conversation that brings the biggest value to a brand. Mr Lalla elucidates, “Today a brand is no longer about what marketers tell consumers it is, but it is what consumers tell other consumers it is. In this context, it makes immense sense for a brand to be receptive and responsive to its audience. That’s where a two-way communication (conversation) helps.”
    It is largely youth brands looking at a presence of Facebook – an effect of the perception that it is largely young and happening who spend time of Facebook. However as per Mr Lalla, the fastest growing demographic on Facebook worldwide is the over-50s. So, used right, social marketing via Facebook can make a difference for more than just youth brands. Brands, perhaps, are waiting, to witness a few big success stories before taking Facebook more seriously. In times to come it will become even more intrinsic to marketing, and brands will gradually learn to appreciate the influence it can create on their audiences.

    ER = Engagement Rate, average number of total interactions to the pages posts divided by the number of fans in the last 30 days
    RR = Response Rate, the pages response rate to the user questions posted on the wall in the last 30 days
    PP = Page Posts, the number of the posts by the page in the last 30 days
    Score = The score of the Facebook page, a Socialbakers only metric that we create out of 30 different parameters

    Source:

    http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-pages/brands/india/
http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-pages/media/india/
  • With big faces reigning on reality and other shows, what is the scope for newcomers and can a new face create the same magic?

    Can telly newbies score with biggies around?

     

     

    By Dhara Salla

    Whenever one thinks of Antakshari on Zee TV there is only one face that comes to mind: Annu Kapoor. Or it’s Sonu Nigam for Sa Re Ga Ma. Fast forward to today, and the story is much the same – the big faces on television have always helped audiences to connect and reinforce the recall value. Today, all the channels have either celebrity hosts or celebrity contestants, be it the Big B Amitabh Bachchan in KBC, Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt in Big Boss, Akshay Kumar in Khatron Ke Khiladi, Mithun Chakraborty in Dance India Dance, Madhuri Dixit in Jhalak Dikhla Jaa… and the list goes on. In the reign of big faces, the question to ask is, what is the scope for newcomers and can a new face create the same magic?

    Ms Anita Mookerjee, GM, Mediacom, said, “It depends on the newcomer and the format of the show. However, a big name is most often successful. In most of the cases the celebrity, along with the mass appeal, also has the ability to engage and enthrall the audience. Amitabh Bachchan is an icon, a legend people can’t get enough of.” She further adds, “Salman Khan has a unique mass appeal, he was media elusive for a long time and it was the fact that the audiences were getting to see a more personal side of him which worked to the advantage of the show. Akshay Kumar took Khatron Ke Khiladi to a different level; the same show as Fear Factor didn’t really click.”

    Mr Jamnadas Majethia, MD, Hats Off Productions, says, “No, I don’t believe a newcomer can create the same magic as the big stars. The life of a reality show is limited to about three months or 12-14 episodes. So it would take time for a newcomer to get established. By the time they reach the third or fourth week the viewers would have already shifted their loyalties. The pull that a Hrithik or any celebrity like Madhuri can give, nobody else can give.”

    Industry pundits’ views seem to reflect that a newcomer cannot create the same magic that big names and faces can. An established celebrity with an X-Factor, hence, can add more to the flavour of the show than a newcomer can. Having said that, the success of reality shows depends on influences such as the celebrity quotient, programme promotions, the channel on which the programme is telecast, controversies and PR, and lastly the concept.

    We may remember that Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Genelia D’Souza and R Madhavan were also hosting shows which did not do well and were taken off air, so the success of reality shows depends not only on the celebrity but also on other things. There is more to it, as Rajendra Dwivedi, Vice President, Starcom Worldwide, Mumbai, explains. “Emotional stakes are more valuable than financial stakes. A real life credible drama or story of the participants works better than prize money. The format has to be engaging and good talent scouting should be undertaken. Then the celebrity host can build on these factors.”

    On Indian television, where there are celebrity hosts there are also celebrity participants on the other side. Examining the question of which one works better, Ms Mookerjee says, “Celebrity participants definitely work; we see spikes in episodes with celebrity participants.”

    On the contrary Mr Majethia says, “The shows with celebrity anchors or judges work better but not really the shows with celebrity participants. Celebrities should be there as they add a lot of value to the content. There is a lot of fresh talent, and because of these celebrity hosts they also get some mileage.”

    When almost all the reality shows currently on television include celebrities, then how does the TG differ? According to Mr Dwivedi, the TG of the reality show depends on the format of the show. Hence, for KBC it will be all individuals but for Emotional Atyachar it will be youth and for Khatron Ke Khiladi, it will be males.

    The big faces have been ruling the roost on the small screen for a long time in the reality show format. What is more interesting, however, is that the emotional storytelling and the HSM focus has added to the success of shows as it helps with audience connect. That’s something for media planners to note.

    Photograph: Fotocorp

  • Happy Dassera! * No Updates Today

    MxMIndia wishes all its readers a joyous Dassera and Shubho Bijoya. There will be no site updates today. We’ll be back with all our news, views and analyses in our edition tomorrow, Friday, October 7.

  • Market research and television ratings pioneer Arthur C. Nielsen, Jr. passed away on Wednesday

    AC Nielsen Jr, father of TV ratings, passes away

    By A Correspondent

     

    As someone pointed out on his Facebook status, had it been any other day, he would have got more obit notice. One could say significant notice. For, Mr Arthur C Nielsen, Jr, who passed away on October 5 is indeed the father of television ratings.

    Here’s a press statement taken from the Nielsen site:

    October 5, 2011 — It is with great sadness that Nielsen learned of the passing of Arthur C. Nielsen, Jr.  ‘Art’ Nielsen was an early pioneer of the global information services industry, dedicating his life to investing in innovative ideas to understand and measure consumer purchasing and viewing behavior.

    During his tenure as President and Chairman of Nielsen, Art’s passion and tireless commitment to helping industries better serve consumers led to the creation of many innovations we all rely on today, including consumer and performance surveys, market share, department and food index, and television ratings to name a few.

    Throughout his life, Art was a strong supporter of the Chicago Food Bank, the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, the Arthur C. Nielsen, Jr. Campus of the North Shore Senior Center in Northfield, Gertrude B. Nielsen Child Care and Learning Center in Northfield, the A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research at the University of Wisconsin, the Arthur C. Nielsen Jr. Research Professorship of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and the Nielsen USTA Pro Tennis Championship.

    Nielsen expresses its profound appreciation and gratitude for Art’s leadership and his legacy, which we proudly continue. The thoughts and prayers of our 34,000 associates in more than 100 global markets are with the Nielsen family at this time

     

    In India, other than its presence as The Nielsen Company, the television ratings research is conducted by TAM Media Research, a joint venture between Nielsen Company & Kantar Media Research.

     

    Picture: Nielsen.com

  • The world remembers Steve Jobs as a visionary, innovator and ace businessman. Facebook status links

    RIP, Steve Jobs

    It was indeed a sad way to start a Dassera morning. I was alerted of the news from my Facebook dashboard. Only to be confirmed on the Apple site with the image of the man with the line that said it all: 1955-2011. I didn’t shed a tear, but I cried out to my wife that Jobs had passed. As if it was someone in my family.

    I’ve not been a compulsive Apple user. I remember once hiring someone who said he would join me only if given a Macintosh to work on. However, when I bought a Galaxy Tab recently because of its compact size, I couldn’t get myself to the interface having used the cooler iPad for some months.

    Steven Jobs has been described variously. Modern-day Edison, innovator, visionary etc. He was all of it, and more. In the past, there have been many who’ve called him arrogant, cunning, shrewd and aggressive. Guess they weren’t incorrect: the only difference is that when applied to Jobs, they were considered positive attributes.

    -          Pradyuman Maheshwari

    PS: Although we had announced that there would be no updates it being holiday for Dassera, we changed our ‘Big Story’ at around 6.30am. We invited our readers to share their sentiments on Steve Jobs at editor@mxmindia.com. We received a few, but will carry all after compiling them all. As you move down this page, you will find a few Facebook status updates that came up on my page (apologies for reprinting without permission).

     

    Great links:

     

    New York Times readers with their Steve Jobs moments: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/10/05/technology/20111006_JOBS_READER.html

     

    Super visual tributes at Gizmodo

    http://gizmodo.com/5847415/the-best-visual-tributes-to-steve-jobs-around-the-web/gallery/1

     

    Obama, tech giants pay tribute

    http://holykaw.alltop.com/reactions-to-steve-jobs-death?tu2=1

     

    Wikipedia on Steve Jobs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

    Wikipedia on Apple Compuer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.

    48-minute Bloomberg video: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/66625228/

     

    Steve Ballmer laughs at the iPhone

     

    Steve Ballmer on the iPad

    Bill Gates on the iPad

    Bill Gates on the iPad on Larry King Live

    Interview with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

    The original Macintosh introduction in 1984

    @VenkatAnanth Insanely great. RT @dictionarycom Steve Jobs made this phrase so famous that it entered the dictionary a few years back: bit.ly/qSBgdJ #iSad (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/insanely+great?t)

    Some Facebook status messages:

    Lynn de Souza: The true greatness of Mr Jobs will be revealed if he also managed to create many more young Steve Jobs to take on the mantle of spectacular innovation among all those who were lucky enough to work with and learn from him.

    Sonal Dabral: Will be a good idea if all Apple lovers wore black polo neck and blue jeans tomorrow in memory of the great Steve Jobs.

    Subhash Kamath: R.I.P. Steve Jobs. As a tribute, should we rename heaven as ‘icloud’?

    Prathap Suthan: Without your Mac, my words wouldn’t have tumbled down. Thank you Steve for the gravity. RIP.

    Pushkar Sane: too many ppl busy doing iCry, iSad, iDown… My tribute to Steve Jobs is through iWork, iThink, iTry, iDare, iLive, iLove. RIP Steve Jobs.

    Rajawat K. Yatish: hail the rebels, the unconventional ones, who don’t imitate, hail to the genius who saw unfulfilled desires and filled them, here’s to man who never accepted the status quo, hail that man who lived better than anyone else during his times, hail the flow, which is no longer with us. Rest in Peace Jobs.

    Vishakha Singh: Many get to live life on their own terms, very few die on their own terms…Ur style made even God adjust to your tunes… In 2005, you said death is Life’s change agent… To me, you were not reachable in life or in death… U will continue to inspire, as always. I will try to stay hungry, stay foolish!

    Arcopol Chaudhuri: It’s only when I cried this morning on hearing the news of Steve Jobs’ death, that I realized how much this man has influenced me and my generation. They don’t make’em like him anymore. I doubt if they will. Rest in peace, you genius.

    Rahul Kishore: 1: Heaven just got a little more sleek, well designed and profitable.Steve Jobs RIP. 2: Financial sector shocked at passing of Steve Jobs — mosty, the idea of a guy who got rich from actually creating something.

  • Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs has passed away

    Steve Jobs. 1955-2011

    Steve JobsWe woke up to this rather sad news on a Dassera morning. Steve Jobs has passed away.

     

    Sad. Very, very sad.

    He has of course named Tim Cook as successor but  there will be questions on whether Apple will continue to produce such wonder products and services.

    On behalf of the vast number of Apple users and tech watchers from amongst India’s marketing and media fraternity, our Salaams.

     Tell us how Steve Jobs or his products and services have impacted your life. Email MxMIndia at editor@mxmindia.com

    Recommended reading:
    A look back at Steve’s life, in pictures wired.com/gadgetlab/2011…

    New York Times link to stories: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/steven_p_jobs/index.html?inline=nyt-per

    Bill Gates: http://www.thegatesnotes.com/Personal/Steve-Jobs

    Huffington Post obit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/steve-jobs-dead-apple-obituary_n_997256.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

    Time magazine’s Top 10 Apple Moments: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1873486_1873491_1873530,00.html

    Poynter: How he changed journalism. http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/media-lab/mobile-media/144051/how-steve-jobs-has-changed-but-not-saved-journalism/

     

     

    Picture: www.apple.com

  • He departs from TV Today Network after a long and productive stint of 16 years… what next for G Krishnan?

    G Krishnan moves on

    By A Correspondent

    A mail from Mr G Krishnan yesterday morning took his industry friends by surprise. It said he was moving on, but had no mention of his next destination.

    Mr Krishnan’s departure from TV Today Network happens after a long and productive stint of 16 years. At the time of putting in his papers, he was Executive Director and CEO of the media giant.

    In an internal communiqu, Mr Krishnan simply stated, I write to inform you that I have decided to move after 15+ years from my current role of Executive Director & CEO, TV Today Network Ltd., to pursue new opportunities. He further said, In view of the above, I would like to relinquish my position as Vice President and Board Director – IBF and also the Chairmanship of IBF-AAAI subcommittee. However I am always available for any industry-related issues. I would like to take this opportunity to wish IBF and the sub-committee all the best.

    Meanwhile, India Today Group Chairman & Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie stated in an internal communication, This is to inform you that G Krishnan (GK) has resigned from the services of the company with effect from September 1, 2011. All his direct reports will report to me until further notice. I would like to place on record my appreciation for his immense contribution in making TVTN a leading news broadcasting company of the country and AajTak, India’s foremost news channel in Hindi, right from its inception.

    Mr Krishnan’s stint with television began in the mid-1990s, with the introduction of the daily TV news bulletin Aaj Takon Doordarshan. Krishnan played a key role in launching Aaj Tak as a news channel. TV Today Network today runs news channels Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, Delhi Aaj Tak and Tej.

    Before the TV Today Network, Mr Krishnan worked with Bennett, Coleman & Company as the head of its marketing and sales departments. At BCCL too, he was credited with many firsts, among them Times FM.