MxMIndia

Tag: Arnab Goswami

  • A freewheeling chat Pradyuman Maheshwari had with the founder and chief promoter of Republic TV

    Up, close with Arnab Goswami

     [updated, some typos removed and edited for clarity- Ed]

    It’s not easy to do a soft interview with Arnab Goswami. And the problem is that if you do a hard interview, ask him some probing questions including a few on others in the media, it’s possible you’lol be served a legal notice. Which is also fine… if you’re in the kitchen, you must be ready to face the heat. So after some back-and-forth, this interview was fixed for Monday, April 24. It was 10am, we reached a few minutes late, and were called to the editorial conference room. There was much action in the newsroom, some screaming and shouting and laughing and, no, no howling, but it was nice to see a busy newsroom on a Monday morning. Arnab came in within a few minutes, we apologised for the delay and he did the same, and said he’ll come back as his laptop was missing.

    There were some five people in his office who checked his bag, and we thought we had a nice story on our hands: Arnab’s laptop lost. Now could it be that someone from a competitor may have done that. After all its not unusual for confidential data and info leaking out. The first para of a news report was already in our heads. So were the words for a 120-character tweet. The laptop had all his plans, the Excel sheets, the numbers, the projections… everything. After five minutes, Arnab walked in. Smiling. The laptop was found. It was in a bag inside a big. A few minutes later, the laptop came. Steel grey Macbook Air.

    Arnab in person is dramatically different from what you see him on television. Very gentle, very softspoken. And, most importantly, he listens to you. All ears. He doesn’t interject. He doesn’t shake his head while you are taking. Body language isn’t combative. He is like the Raymond’s man. Complete. Well, so are some big-name anchors, but it’s always a delight to meet Arnab, even if you disagree with his brand of journalism. Though there is no questioning his love for the country. And his commitment to credible journalism. He is one of the few journalists in the country who doesn’t mind asking the tough questions, on camera.

    This is one of the reasons why it will be interesting to see if he can do it all over again with Republic TV. What’s also going to be worth tracking is how his channel fares vis-à-vis competition. And whether competition allows him to prosper. But more about that in another story, on another day.

    Excerpts from a freewheeling 35-minute conversation MxMIndia editor-in-chief Pradyuman Maheshwari had with Republic TV founder and chief promoter Arnab Goswami. Enjoy.

     

    Arnab Goswami: First of all, thanks for doing this.

    Pradyuman Maheshwari: I’m very worried about this interview because one shouldn’t be taken to court. For, even though your answers in some interviews have been politically correct, the questions did name organisations and individuals…

    If it carries on like this then all journalists of India will be marching to court all day instead of newsrooms(laughs).

    So the question which, let me ask with a non-trademarked statement: India wants to know when is the launch?

    Very soon, it’s a matter of days now. You’ve seen my newsroom, it’s buzzing with energy, I’m trying to get the product as close to being perfect as possible. There’s nothing like an absolutely perfect launch though. But having said that, we’re trying to sort of stitch things together… bring all parts of the piece together, get the team to integrate, believe in themselves, believe in the product, believe in the news they putout… get very, very familiar with the technology they are using because some of the technology you’re using here is…

    Different?

    Completely, completely new age. And so I want that familiarisation process to carry on so I’m not setting a hard date for launch yet, though if you ask me can I launch? I can launch right now.

    So no Akshay Trittiya launch, April 28th?

    No, no-no.

    May 1, Maharashtra Day, Gujarat Day…

    No, I don’t believe in these any commemorative events or dates. I believe every day is good for news… we should just have a good run, go with the flow.

    But surely you need to inform the distribution folks?

    The distribution guys are more or less informed. I think most of the people are aware of our channel being launched. In fact, we’re getting a push from the distribution guys to launch early. Some places have already started putting up promos on air in anticipation of our launch; our media campaign should be starting soon. So we are almost there.

    The question is that, the last mile, 4-5 days here or there should be a discretion of the producers of the channel. So whenever the producer of the channel says we’re okay to go, I’ll go.

    So, plus or minus the 4-5 days, May 10, May 1?

    Yes. I would say, yes, pretty much around that.

    May 1 and 10 are too far apart?

    Yes that’s what, I don’t know, I frankly don’t know because that’s not a decision I have. I have a very delegated organisation. So when the editor and the editors and the producers come together and say we’re good to go I’ll go. That’s what we’ve told them. That you keep practising till you’re good to go but I’ve also told that  there’s nothing like getting things perfect.

    Right.

    No, you don’t get things perfect even after running a channel for 10 years and I would come back to my previous channel and find things completely messed up every morning… it was like starting every day as if you’re launching a new channel. So it’s not as if 10 years of familiarisation of running a workfloor makes it perfect, because eventually people are people. But we’ll try and get it as good as possible. I’m very confident of our product and I’m supremely confident about our look-and-feel, our stories, our journalism…

    You mentioned that you’re a well-delegated organisation but surely it’s an Arnab Goswami operation.

    Well, I mean, it, it is not, because  we have delegated responsibility to the youngest and most empowered bunch of editors in any channel. We have empowered our production team to a point where the president of the content of the channel is our Chief Executive Producer. They take decisions completely independently, graphics producers, non-linear editing producers, even news editors don’t ask me. My interaction is with the journalists on the stories. That’s my limited interaction. I can’t stop doing that because that’s my bread-and-butter but beyond that I feel that we have created a system where everybody fits in very well into each other like a jigsaw puzzle which comes together every morning and that’s actually what I enjoy doing. The reason I launched Republic is to make sure that people who are 10 to 15 years younger than me are able to do the news faster than I would have. And it’s a joy to see them working together. What I have done is put together my digital output, input, production, graphics and elite teams, all together in one gigantic newsroom which you are seeing here. You wouldn’t see a newsroom like this where everybody is working together and talking and familiarising and there’s no email conversation, generally people are sort of shouting instructions at each other, so its very well-delegated in that sense…

    And what about you?

    They don’t need me to come in.

    You are now more than just a journalist, you are an entrepreneur. You need to look at how the channel will make the monies. How will you ensure that the great work you are doing on Day 1 also happens on Day 365?

    Yes, yes

    How much of that do you think is going to influence your journalism?

    I think you set the basics right and then you say that these are the five things that we’ve got to do. I bring things down to basics, so I say let’s get the basics right. Let’s do these five things right today and then let’s find a way that these five things will be right regardless of who is sitting on the hot seat, so it’s fine. As far as making money is concerned, see, if you’re popular and you’re watched, and you have impact, people advertise on news channels. And then,  I don’t run an extra-lavish operation, neither is it a barebones operation. But if you are watched and have impact, and you have popularity and you have credibility most of all, then people advertise on English news channels. And I’m 100% confident that with the kind of response I’ve already got from the market, before launch, people believe in our product. I mean the best of the advertisers have lined up and are advertising with us from Day 1.

    And the reason they are doing this is because they believe in the product that people put out, eventually it’s about the content. Eventually it is not about anything that you may do, eventually you may have all the money in the world tomorrow, to hire the most expensive lawyers and threaten to sue every competitor, but you will still lose if your content is not up to the mark… that’s it!

    Distribution is also critical, right? You may have the best of content, but if you don’t spend the money on carriage fees and ensure that various DTH operators carry it, you lose viewership. And that’s a lot of money, it’s a guzzler.

    Ah, well, I’m not negative about it.The fact is that we are already quite disruptive in that model. We are India’s first non-encrypted free-to-air English news channel. There’s no other channel in that space. People love us. Wherever I have gone and travelled across the country from Chennai to Kolkata, people have opened their arms.

    You’ll hence not earn revenues from subscription.

    Doesn’t matter. This is a labour of love. I want to make sure that this channel is watched everywhere in India.

    And let me share something very personal with you. I’ve been to people, I’ve met distributors who come and say that one nervous competitor comes and tells them here is six months of money, extra upfront, can you block ‘Republic’ for two weeks? And yet those people say no. Because they know that when ‘Republic’ launches, everybody will want to watch it. People will want to watch my debate. Those attempts have now become what I call antediluvian.

    Hmmm.

    Right, it’s as antediluvian as a crocodile’s skin. You cannot go ahead anymore and say that I will pay you extra money, almost like ransom money, to try and ensure that another competitor doesn’t enter the market.

    But dirty tricks is a common thing in many businesses. A ’90s cola ad screamed “ye cola hai ya gulab jamun’ when a competing brand launched. It happens with various domains… they ensure shopshelves don’t stock the new product.

    Media is different. In media who is the original, who is the copy, is well-known to people, Also,  you’re actually bringing down whatever is left of the quality of your brand by resorting to  desperate dirty tricks measures… because the moment you do it, behind your back people are laughing at you. Behind the backs of people who are trying to pay six months extra upfront money and say don’t meet Arnab, don’t put out ‘Republic’ for two weeks. They’re even desperately saying if you can block ‘Republic’ for 10 days at the launch, we’ll be happy. Behind the backs of these people everybody laughs at them, so they become the laughing stock of the industry. What am I doing? I’m saying to people, I’m a free non-encrypted channel, I will promise you good journalism, I have good reporters, I have good producers, I’ll present a good product. And the entire distribution fraternity has welcomed me with love and open arms.

    You’ve got someone like Sameer Manchanda of Den on your board, you’ve got Asianet which is a huge plus because we do know that English channels are very widely watched in the South. So you have all the big brains backing you…

    Sameer is actually not on the Board, that’s mistaken, Sameer has invested in my holding company along with 13-14 other people. I never mortgage my personal friendships for business convenience.  I have a very professional equation with Den, and will continue to have a professional equation with Den, having Sameer as one of my investors does not influence at all my relationships with them.

    Two charges have raised against you by an industry which is fairly positive towards you. One is about Rajeev Chandrasekhar being one of your primary investors…

    Yes

    That he has strong links to the NDA… That that given Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s association, will ‘Republic’ really be independent as Arnab claims it will be?

    I’m very proud of the investment from Asianet Online Private Limited and why shouldn’t I be? It is the oldest media entity in India. As Asianet was started way back before any news channel including NDTV started. So there’s a history to the organisation, it has another couple of channels with it and I’m very happy to be associated with Asianet. And I hope that I will also be able to contribute to Asianet in my personal and professional capacity in the future, to its growth. And as far as Rajeev is concerned, he has been a media investor for over a decade now, and he’s invested in several other organisations as well and I am very glad that he through Asianet Online Private Limited has an investment here. I’m very proud of the association. Eventually, everyone who is an investor in this company is also a believer in my journalism.

    Hypothetically, and given the way you do your journalism, if you get belligerent on something that could impact Rajeev’s investments.

    It’s a completely hypothetical and ridiculous question. I’ll tell you why. You should check out: Asianet is the most critical of the BJP in Kerala as well. So when all of us who are in the media business, we work on the news that we carry, I don’t need lectures in balance from the Lutyens’ media, who have sold their souls for the longest time; these are the people who left me to dry when I did CWG, when I did Lalit Gate, these same Lutyens’ media was quiet about it, nervously sitting in one corner, not sure how to respond to it when I was taking on the BJP. I was boycotted by the BJP for a month-and-a-half. People who therefore are invested in me know my journalism. I’ll take on everyone and anyone. I’m only going to be on the side of the people.

    Ah!

    So, these are little straws in the wind. These arguments didn’t even fly.

    The other charge…

    And, and, and, and the point is, who is making these charges. Some person, some individual, who after remaining in India, working in India as a journalist for the longest time, still clings on to his American passport and then questions why people like me are nationalistic? I’m very clear about one thing: each one of the investors in ‘Republic’ believes in nationalism.

    And it is time for people in India to come together and put their straight thoughts on how this country can be made great once again. That’s our common belief. That’s not a right wing belief, it’s a nationalistic belief.

    The reason for my question was what we’ve seen in the case of Raghav Bahl and Network18. The channels were doing well but he had to sell out as went through a bad patch. In politics too we’ve had cases parties puling out of backing a minority government because of a fall-out. Is that a possible worry… just in case something goes wrong?

    I don’t worry about anything because I’m so sure of my product. I don’t worry about anything, I’m a content creator. The only thing I worry about is my TV channel. How is the TV channel going to look? What kind of stories am I going to do? What pictures will run? What the graphics will be? I have never looked ahead at all or looked behind. I look at the next thing to do. The next thing to do at this stage of my professional career is to launch an English news channel called ‘Republic’. Then the next thing to do is to expand my digital presence, through Republic World. I will have a next thing to do after that within three or four months. You know me, I’ll keep shifting my goalpost in terms of my next target, every three to six months, but I’ll move wherever the news can go. See I have respect for Raghav, for Prannoy [Roy], for Karan Thapar, for Rajdeep Sardesai, all these people who are much older to me, they have a right to do things their way, they’ve done things their way, why should I comment on them? But this is 2017. I’m doing things my way.

    It’s interesting that you say you have respect for Rajdeep, I thought you’ll were at loggerheads…

    No, I, why should I be at loggerheads? See, Rajdeep comes from a generation of seniors who have done their bit at that particular point of time and it’s good for him. I wish him luck in whatever he does.

    Tell me, how is Republic going to be different from what you did before, is there going to be…

    I don’t even feel the need for it to be different. I was away from TV for a while and I’m back, and what I do now will be watched for what people like it for. I don’t want to try and do anything in life with this forced pressure on me to be different. I don’t want to be different. I just want to be myself and I think that’s good enough if I can break the news that I like in the way that I want to, good shows that I like and integrate good technology. But one thing is there: that if in the process of doing so, I can marry technology with the intellectual prowess of people who are in their 20s and early 30sand  really understand how to funnel TV and digital together, that’ll be some, small contribution I can make…

    This is also the most fickle generation. As in the loyalty doesn’t exist to any specific show… is that a worry?

    No I’m not worried because while it’s a fickle generation I think today you can create new brands very quickly.

    True.

    With good content. I am actually very happy about the fact that today the media is fragmentable and fragmented. It keeps us on our toes. We are not here to build organisations that say that nobody will compete with us and we will try and build moats around ourselves to ensure that our dominance is forever. I can’t do it. Tomorrow somebody can launch another organisation and challenge me. I would be very willing and open to that challenge. It’s fine. No problem.

    In the past, we seen ratings drop whenever you would go on leave.

    Yes

    And, there there was no second line. A few people who could have been second in line moved out. Now that you are doing a business and you are responsible for people’s jobs and people’s livelihood. Will there be a second line?

    Yes, there is a second line

    On Day 1?

    There is going to be a second line on Day 1. Both in terms of anchors and editorial talent, so what I’ve done is that along with our executive editors and editors, there are about seven people in the second line editorially. And there are at least about six people in the second line in terms of anchoring talent. Besides which I have a very very strong and independent production team, which is now being made completely independent, which runs the entire organisation. I have bequeathed the responsibility of running the organisation on editorial on a day-to-day basis to this group, and they are able to manage it.

    You have done that?

    Yes, I have already done that…

    Seriously?

    While I’m managing it of course, I’ve got to be looking at everything in terms of quality control. But if you ask me in terms of day-to-day, minute-to-minute operations, I intend to create a system where the wheels of the organisation run even without me for a few days.

    And this is very important for me to do because then I can strategically look at other ways in which I can improve the quality of the news, improve the quality of the shows which I do. It will give me more time to think and plan. Having said that, even in my previous organisation, I’d already done it. Now what has happened that after I’ve gone, I’m not responsible for, but while I was there, I had run that kind of a system.

    But…

    Since I’m anchoring a critical slot which is doing well, it gives a perception that everything centres around this individual. The viewer associates the organisation with me. But as an organisation, I’ll take you around our studios and our PCR  and you’ll feel it’s not really [a one-person show].

    But you deserve a holiday, you may get busy with other things. So on those days, ratings shouldn’t fall, right?

    No ratings will not fall, don’t worry. We’re going to be up there on the ratings charts.

    Yes, but there should be a clear second line.

    There is a very strong second line. We have Sheetal Rajput who is India’s original war correspondent, she’s is with us as a senior news editor and anchor. Parikshit Luthra, who would do 9pm on CNN-IBN, has joined us. He’s the news editor in Delhi. We have Hariharan who is a very famous anchor from Tamil Nadu, from Thanthi TV. He has also joined us, he’s a fantastic anchor. Niranjan Narayanswamy, who used to be anchoring on Times Now, is also editor and is anchoring on the channel… I have a very, very strong base of anchors on the channel.

    So just in case you’re not on air on a day, who’ll be the anchor?

    We’ll be firing all cylinders, don’t worry. It’s unlikely that I won’t be there because I have this habit of anchoring from all remote locations at any point of time, I carry a camera with me and nowadays, technology is so brilliant, I can anchor with a phone. I have got a software which if I put it on my Samsung phone or any phone, I mic myself up, and I can broadcast from any place in the world. So I’ve got that technology and I’m working a lot on mobile devices for uplinking, and have been experimenting with stuff that is not been done before for uplinking.

    Two other charges… one of which has been also used by other channels that your brand of journalism is more noise and less of news.

    Yes.

    Are you going to be the same and are happy with that charge?

    I mean I’m thankful to all those people who have carried these campaigns.They can keep carrying the campaigns and I am grateful to them. In fact I would request all of them to carry a few more negative campaigns. They help me. In the year before last, India Today did an entire campaign around this ‘more news, more noise’ kind of thing. Even now NDTV did this whole campaign on more news… why don’t they care about what’s going on in their own organisations rather than talk about me? Let them all fend for themselves, I’ll fend for myself. I have a clear philosophy: in this country, you have to shout to be heard. When we say shout, we mean it in a metaphorical way. You have to assert yourself. You have to raise the right issue. And also sometimes raise it to the right amplitude for it to get attention. You cannot be coy about things and expect the world to change.

    What about the charge that in the latter half of your stint in your previous channel, the orientation was more towards the right. Nationalism got translated often to you being pro-BJP, pro the philosophy of BJP and the philosophy of RSS.You were soft towards Narendra Modi…

    It’s a ridiculous charge. We did LalitGate, was it pro-BJP? For a month-and-a-half we did LalitGate…  We got boycotted by the BJP, was it because we were pro-BJP? We got boycotted by the Aam Aadmi Party, was it because we were pro-AAP? We got boycotted by the Congress, was it because we were pro-Congress? Name one organisation which was boycotted by all three major political parties for stories it did. It was us, and I’m so proud about it! See, some people are touchy for long, some people are touchy for shorter period of time. It doesn’t really matter. As far as my views on the country are concerned, they’ve been consistent even during the Congress government. Tou would remember that after 26/11, I hammered the foreign policy of the Congress government. I questioned it. Anand Sharma and Pranab Mukherjee were incharge at that point of time in South Block, I took on both of them. I questioned them, so my stance on issues of corruption and nationalism has been consistent through the Congress period and the BJP.

    Just because the BJP is in power right now and my position on issues of the nation and nationalism seems to be closer to their perspective, doesn’t make me pro-BJP at all. I disagreed with the Aman ki Asha… why should I agree with the Aman ki Asha approach? This candyfloss daffodil diplomacy that is being encouraged by some media groups is their business. They should introspect. If you see me, while I was in The Times of India, I didn’t ever follow the Aman ki Asha approach. I refused to because I don’t agree with it. Editorially, conceptually, as an Indian, I don’t agree with it and I will not do.

    So suppose…

    So, so the Congress was in power at that time, was I tuning what I did on air to suit a Salman Khurshid’s line on foreign policy? I didn’t. My line is my line and it comes from the heart and my team believes in it and even if they don’t.

    Supposing someone from your team does an Arnab Goswami to you… that he or she may have his own line of thinking which may not agree with yours. What happens then?

    It’s good, it’s okay. We won’t send them a legal notice.

    But you or your associates sent a legal notice to the Wire?

    Who?

    The Wire was sent a legal notice.

    I don’t want to comment on insignificant groups like the Wire. They should really introspect on what journalism they do. If they need me to sell their digital site, I’m sorry for them. It seems to me that they are obsessed with me because there’s no other way they are going to get a few hits. I hope they got a few hits as a result of whatever they put. I spoke to that reporter only because I know him for a long time in NDTV. And I told him when I was speaking to him that I know you are going to do a hit job on me but I’m still speaking to you out of our old association. And he he was laughing away and he knew that I had seen through his game. Sometimes I respect old friendships, so I spoke to him. As far as the Wire is concerned I really hope that they get a few hits because from what I’m seeing from the statistics, nobody seems to be following them.

    You would have Siddharth Varadarajan on your panel, in fact after the Rahul Gandhi interview, you had review the interview.

    Siddharth should introspect on what he’s doing. He is another older generation person. I don’t quarrel with people who are older to me, he should generally introspect now. Think about whether it is time for him to do some journalism rather than commentary.

    Let’s move on…

    No, no, no, let me tell you that.

    Yes?

    It’s very important for people who are doing these digital sites to stop pontificating about others in the media all the time and start doing some stories of their own. It would be really nice. Let them actually roll up their sleeves, go out there, do a few interviews, meet a few people, get out of their Lutyens’ zones, transport themselves outside the ephemeral reality of their air-conditioned chambers in Lutyens’ Delhi, see the real country, watch what’s happening out there, and stop becoming preachy. People in this country are tired of preachers in journalism.

    Hmmm.

    So, therefore, not just to Siddharth, but to a lot of people I would say: start doing some news rather than commenting on the people who are doing news. But I really hope that the Wire gets a few hits because I think they need a few. (Laughs)

    You’ve spoken about Lutyens’ Delhi etc in the past and you’ve been in Mumbai for a while. Didn’t you think of having your headquarters elsewhere…  say, in Bengaluru?

    No, headquarters can be anywhere. It can be in Bengaluru, it can be in Kerala, it can be in Guwahati, it can be in Kolkata, it can be in Srinagar also, but it should not be in Delhi.

    You’re not worried about the film stars who lobby stuff in Mumbai?

    Doesn’t matter so much.

    Or the business guys.

    Film stars and business guys never influence me, I’ve taken on a lot of them whenever I did 2G, CWG, Aircel, Maxus, I’ve seen them through and through at that point of time. As far as film stars are concerned I’m not running award shows where I need film stars to jump around.  So I don’t need to oblige them.

    You will never ever do award shows as part of Republic?

    I’m running a news channel, I don’t have time to organise award shows.

    Person of the Year etc?

    I don’t know, right now I’m only focused on the news.

    So tell me once again

    No, you asked me about film stars, award shows, my answer to you was I don’t need film stars to jump around in award shows that I’m doing. So I’m not necessarily in a position where any film director or film stars need to be on good terms with me and even if they don’t choose to be, it’s fine with me. Some people may need that. Some people might need film stars to oblige them to be photographed with them.

    I’m going to get a legal notice now (laughs).

    No, no, I’m making a general observation that there may be some people who constantly need to be photographed with film stars, directors, to dance around, be photographed with, to feel good about. I don’t need that kind of gratification because I’m a journalist.

    Tell me something: we are 10 days away from launch. In fact, we at MxM wrote that some people feel that you are overdoing your promotion. Your ‘love letters’ and the way you reacted to the legal notice which was a standard statutory notice… Do you think you’re overdoing it?

    I didn’t respond to the legal notice, in fact I’ll tell you one thing, I’ve under-responded to the legal notice. Let them take me on. Let them take me on. I would request the group that has sent me a legal notice to publish in the front page of their newspaper whether they have a right to claim that they crafted the words ‘nation wants to know’ and the sole right to use it. I want the results of that poll to be published, across eight column on the front page of the same newspaper…

    So why did you want to trademark it?

    I’m doing a show. If I’m doing a show called ‘Nation wants to know’ I’ll put out a trademark application but have I said that I will arrest everybody who uses the name? I don’t. I walked down Palladium and I see T-shirts being sold with ‘Nation wants to know’. Now, am I going to arrest the person who sells the T-shirts with ‘Nation wants to know’.  And I think every Indian has a right to use that name, every Indian should use that name. And it is more an assertion, of the questioning spirit of the average Indian citizen. Nobody can appropriate it for themselves and, by the way, I also said in my letter that way. I said quite clearly. And this I’m making a general observation: if any media group makes it its central mission to harass journalists who quit, then it should reassess its own style of operations. If any media group says that if you quit, I will deny you our provident fund, your gratuity… I will hound you, I will send letters to you saying you’ll face untoward action, which are like open threats, right? It is certainly not the kind of practice which should be allowed in the media fraternity. I genuinely believe today if somebody quits my organisation, I’m not going to hound them. I’m not going to make life terrible for them. But I have also seen some young people in my organisation who have been hounded, who have been followed, who have been harassed, who have been denied their dues, denied their monthly payments, right? All of us have stood together for each other. This group of people you see working here (pointing to the newsroom) are people who’ve stood for each other and said we will not be cowed down.

    Are you….

    And therefore, as a general observation, I’m repeating once again my advice is to all media groups to stop using these tactics of legal intimidation versus each other because it doesn’t fetch any returns in the long term.

    But you were part of large organisations too…

    I’m making a general observation. My general, unsolicited gratuitous advice to people who are doing that is they shouldn’t…

    Moving on, tell me, will you do paid content to earn revenues?

    I never sell news.

    AFPs etc.?

    I never sell news. Advertorials are different, but I never sell news and I would not allow it on Republic. It’s my clear and straightforward statement to you.

    Last question: To the person who’s not too much into the news business and not bothered about the battles in the media, what is Republic going to offer?

    Republic is independent, straightforward, hits at everybody equally. It covers the news life from all places, is far more funneled between digital and television, far more technologically savvy. And truly an organisation in which all reporters have the free spirit to go out and report on what they want. In that sense, it’s a revolution. It’s also classically a generational shift in the Indian media. It’s an assertion by content professionals that they can run large mainstream news organisations on their own. It is also a breakaway from unfortunate systems of dynasty which have pervaded in Indian media, where people have only inherited organisations and not built them. This organisation is built brick by brick. It is an assertion to all legacy media groups as a warning to those individuals that do not believe today, that you can, in today’s day of digital and television which continue to have monopolies. Monopolies are about to fall. All these actions that you are seeing, the nervous capers, the dirty tricks of all these people who are trying to  thwart the launch of Republic, are actually an acknowledgement that when Republic launches, their countdown will start from that moment. It is therefore a conflict between new media and legacy media. Republic is new media. I know I’m up against legacy media, I know I’m up against Lutyens’ media, I want legacy media and Lutyens’ media to come together and try and outthink me. Because I said it very clearly, this is a David versus Goliath fight. You’re a journalist, at the end of the day you do know, you will watch a channel, if you believe in the story.

    They have the marketing muscle… they will take away all the hoardings and all the space in the newspapers

    Let them take… let anybody take away all the hoardings, all the space in the newspapers, everything. Let them strip all their physical assets away and say we will deny Arnab all of it, it doesn’t matter.

    So, May 10?

    Somewhere around. It seems you also can’t wait (Laughs). Pradyuman, I have a question for you.

    Yes, ask.

    At the end of the day, will you watch Republic on air?

    Of course I will.

    That’s my straight question.

    Of course I will watch.

    I’m very happy for you.

     

  • Republic has taken the media group on board for its nationwide OOH media requirements

    Republic set to take 750 outdoor spots in 100 cities, inks deal with Laqshya Media as OOH AOR

    By A Correspondent

     

    Even as news watchers eagerly await the launch of Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV, the outdoor promotional activity for the channel has started in right earnest. On April 18, the first display came up. This follows Republic signing up Laqshya Media Group as its OOH Agency on Record (AOR). With this announcement, the media group will handle the nationwide outdoor media mandate for Goswami’s media venture for leveraging out-of-home assets for a period of three years starting April 2017.  To start with the high decibel campaign will go live across 80 cities including all metros and Tier 1 cities in India.

     

    Said Alok Jalan, MD, Laqshya Media: “We are thrilled to have signed the exclusive AOR with Republic for the next three years. The first leg of the campaign which launched in Chennai last week has garnered an overwhelming response and we are looking forward to having a successful partnership with the channel.’’

     

    Added Vikas Khanchandani, CEO, Republic TV: “The Laqshya team understands our objectives and has devised a high impact out of home campaign for Republic. The team’s expertise and domain knowledge coupled with innovative solutions has been well appreciated. They are an integral partner and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership”

     

    Said Goswami in a statement: “We are excited to be partnering with such a dedicated team that believes in our ideologies. With this association, we are looking to maximize Republic ‘s pan India outreach and effectively reach our audiences.”

     

    Satyabrata Das – Head Corporate Alliances & Communications at Laqshya feels, “The game has just begun for us in the media space and with Arnab & Republic, we will create disruptive communication.  So just wait and watch.” Talking to MxM, Das said: “Since they are a media start-up we advised Republic TV to trust our decisions on planning.  With our buying might we helped aggregate options that worked out best for them and dipped into our best OOH assets base to provide visual solutions.”

     

  • Each video, PR article or promotional tweet about the channel has an unmistakable Arnab Goswami element to it, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Republic TV: A One-Man Movement?

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    It’s a new English news channel. It has a strange name, and is in the middle of an active, and rather peculiar, launch campaign. The launch date is not out yet, but ArnabGoswami’sRepublic TV is coming soon.

     

    But the campaign would rather say #ArnabWithYouSoon. Each video, PR article or promotional tweet about the channel has an unmistakable ArnabGoswami element to it. In many cases, that’s the only element.

     

    Three years ago, making a face synonymous with an organisation worked wonders. The face was NarendraModi and the organisation the Bhartiya Janata Party. TV channels can be slightly different though. Much as one person can pull in the audiences initially, you need to offer a strong second line to keep the 24-hour ship running.

     

    It could be argued that Republic TV will have a strong second line, and the one-man approach is only for the launch campaign. Goswami’s well-cultivated and well-marketed disgust towards other senior members of his community is well-known. Hence, one expects to see only younger faces on the channel, and it may take a while for the channel to go beyond that one show which Goswami will helm.

     

    But Goswami has shown in the past that he can be like the fearlessheroes of those awfully titled South dubs on Hindi Movie Channels – One Man Army, Yodha: Man On A Mission et al.He may not need much support by the way of his second line, at least initially. He could be on-air for 4-5 hours a day, if that’s what makes his channel topple his ex-employer and now his targeted rival.

     

    Oddly though, the channel’s website says prominently: “Republic is your movement”.It’s this dichotomy – of a one-man channel at one end and a people’s movement on the other – that requires some demystification. What exactly, except Goswami firing questions, which ordinary Indians want to ask but cannot, at the rich and the famous, will constitute a people’s movement? If it’s only this one thing, it’s called Newshour and we have seen it before.

     

    Newshour had not lost its relevance when Goswami went off air. Far from it. It was his debate show, and when it’s back, with a new name on a new channel, it will find the Newshour audiences in good measure. Is that differentiated? Yes, but only because the leading man is differentiated. Everything else about the channel seems like scenery, waiting to be chewed up by him eventually, even if the marketing campaign makes a big deal of it using phrases like “independent” and “people’s movement”.

     

    The other potential concern with the campaign is an overkill before the actual launch. There was certain intrigue about waiting for Goswami to come back on-air. Over the last two weeks, with all the promos, the press statements and the public appearances, that intrigue has started to dilute. It will be a fine marketing balance to achieve, where one needs to build awareness and yet keep the intrigue factor going.

     

    The next few weeks will tell us how things unfold. Nothing but the most outstanding results would be expected from Republic TV, given the hype, a lot of which they have consciously created. If Republic TV is not the # 1 English News Channel about 2-3 months after its launch, the ArnabGoswami brand will come under the scanner. But if it knocks the competition out in the same period, you can be sure the man will let you know the minutest detail, down to the second decimal place.

     

    Let the fun begin!

     

  • It's a war out there between Times Now and Republic TV, and the real battle hasn't even begun yet

    Arnab Goswami ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai?

     

    By A Correspondent

    There’s tension in the air in news media vice-capital Lower Parel (assuming Delhi and Delhi NCR constitute the Capital). As you read this, the battleground is being charted at Times Now headquarters in Central Mumbai. Ever since editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami quit Times Now in November and announced his intent to start his own news channel, it’s been a war.

    At first, Goswami wasn’t allowed to say a formal goodbye to viewers, though his farewells at work has been well-youtubed. Which is fair as unless its pre-recorded and vetted, a channel wouldn’t want to be embarrassed on air by an outgoing captain, and so what if he was its face all these years.

    And then as it emerged Goswami was serious about his venture, there was a fear of the unknown. The channel may still be #1 in overall data, but the numbers started falling and advertisers were beginning to question the premium on ‘super primetime’.

    An all-out damage-control exercise started. Staff was motivated to stay back. A new chief editor was identified and hired, there was a clear second-in-command appointed and the content direction was further sharpened. The shrill quotient was upped.

    Except that it lacked the gravitas and finesse of an Arnab Goswami.

    There were rumours of another well-known editor being pulled in to join, but that didn’t happen.

    Meanwhile, along with attempts to fortify the house, a counter-offensive started. The Newshour was trademarked, and Times Now even went to file for trademarking Nation Wants to Know – the slogan and the logo. The following month Republic TV also filed for trademarking these. All the applications have been objected to.

    Meanwhile, both sides have been posturing to take on each other.

    At FICCI-Frames in March, Goswami spoke of it being a David v/s Goliath battle. And he did that without naming Times Now, but it was all very clear.

    Goswami has been on overdrive with his PR. He has hired Piyush Pandey’s Ogilvy & Mather for his advertising and Genesis Burson-Marsteller. His interviews are all over the media, to mainline newspapers, specialised magazines and even some YouTube shows. Some publications which carried offensive outbursts by Goswami have even been served legal notice.

    Perhaps rattled with the following that appears to have increased ever since he left Times Now, the channel was quick to send a legal notice on the ‘Nation Wants to Know Usage’. This may be standard practice, but not being the first notice he received from Times Network, Goswami viralled an audio response to the notice.

    At first Times Network sent us a statement even ahead of us asking for a comment. Here it was:

    “ARG Outliers had filed for trademark for these and similar phrases which were already filed for and extensively used for years by TIMES NOW. We have responded with a standard caution notice. He is just trying to gain soundbytes from it”

    We then asked Times Network on why it filed for a trademark when ‘Nation wants to know’ is, in a sense, a generic statement.

    And this is the response:

    “‘Nation Wants to Know’ is not a generic statement. It’s a phrase coined by the creative team of Times Now and made popular by repeated usage on our channel and is in essence a descriptor of the uncompromising tone of questioning that Times Now has been known for. The phrase like other similar unique phrases and words such as NewsHour, Action Begins Here etc., together create the News environment and experience that is embodied in the Brand Times Now. Protecting IPs and Brands is essential for the existence and survival of Businesses. Times Network is an upright and diligent corporate citizen and takes copyright issues very seriously. We are cautious not to wilfully violate and we are also alert in defending our IP. We filed for Trademark as we were expecting attempts to steal our IP.]

    And then we asked why was Arnab Goswami threatened with imprisonment as part of a “standard caution notice”?

    The response we received was this:

    “Standard Caution notices quote from the law of the land and remind addressees about penal provisions on infringement – in this case The Trademarks Act 1999 and IPC 1860, which could attract Fines and/ or imprisonment.”

    According to an Outlier insider, the filing of trademark for ‘Nation wants to know’ was for the name of a show. Perhaps. But not everyone believes that Arnab Goswami should go to town with his angst against Times Network.

    These are standard tactics deployed by all marketers, especially those leaders whose status could be checked thanks to the launch of a new brand. In fact, a senior mediaperson said if Goswami were to overdo it, he could earn negative goodwill. “The Arnab Goswami brand of television journalism has its takers, and no one has been able to match him months after his exit, so there is no need of paranoia.”

    And what about Times Now and the Times Network? Media observers believe that there is an urgent need to reinvent and rehaul. While the channel continues to top the ratings roster, its equity has reportedly dipped and consequently the revenues may be hit too.

    While media might and distribution muscle can help it continue to be top-of-mind, it won’t be too long before competition catches up if the content is not n place.

     

  • Meanwhile, Times Now scraps Magicbricks Now, unveils Mirror Now

    NewsWar2017 Round#1: ‘David’ Arnab Goswami takes on ‘Goliath’ Times Now, Newshour-ishtyle!

     

    By A Correspondent

    It was mixed set of emotions for the folks at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Ballroom 1 and 2 at the venue of the 18th edition of FICCI-Frames was packed to the aisles. There was some place to stand, but just about. As almost everyone gravitated towards this hall, the other venues weren’t as packed at sessions being held simultaneously or immediately after this one.

    Around four months after having exited primetime news on television in the country, ArnabGoswami is still a star. And as much of a crowdpuller as a Bollywood or sports biggie.

    And on Wednesday noon, Goswami thundered. Like he’s known for. Theatrics that the nation loves him for. Except this time around, he appeared to have a lot more people rooting for him. For, Goswami has turned entrepreneur.

    In a country which loves to champion the underdog, see a chaiwallah turn into Prime Minister, a modest investor outpace some of the biggest, the media and entertainment fraternity in attendance were happy to see Goswami evangelising his craft.

    Interestingly, it was also the day, when Goswami’s former employer, fired its first salvo in its #AttackArnab offensive. The hashtagging is our doing, in Newshour-ishtyle. So Magicbricks Now which seemed to be going nowhere in revenues and ratings, has been dumped and rechristened Metro Now. For a while, the real estate channel has been been airing metro-centric news, and talking heads-led nightly debates.

    So let’s get back to what Goswami said, around a month before unveiling his all-new news channel-led platform: Republic. By hiring former armyman Major Gaurav Arya, he has clearly indicated that he will continue his ‘My heart bleeds for India’ offensive every evening.

    Speaking at the FICCI-Frames 2017, Arnab thundered: “Those who will understand the hidden script – because I don’t mince my words- will understand what I am saying today: This is a David Vs Goliath fight,” he said. And then paused and smiled at the audience before continuing.

    “And I stand here before you proudly to say Goliath has tried to crush me and already failed. Because you can’t crush a thought. David thought on his feet, Goliath did not. David had the speed and David out-thought Goliath. I want to tell Goliath today: Come, out-think me, if you can,” he added.

    “I have with me a bunch of Davids. Davids have emerged on their own. And they want to shackle the Davids. Because a bunch of Davids free is a threat to the Goliath. Our bunch of Davids will make old monopolies fall once again, as they have in the past,” he declared.

    “Republic will ensure that new ones will come and these new ones – these new guys will be the ones that show the world from right here in India that Content is King, not Money. Money will fail and people will watch the screens that they believe in and not the screens that sell to them,” he pledged and promised that “putting the focus back on each one of you is my only determination.”

    And then he asked: “Which side would you be on? With David or with Goliath?”

    It may be argued that the editor-anchor-and-now-entrepreneur could well be talking about Goliaths like the AroonPuriemanaged-owned India Today and MukeshAmbani/Reliance Industry-run CNN-IBN, but it’s evident that his angst is against Times Network. The Times of India group-owned television network is of course known to be fierce in the battlefield especially when it thinks a newbie could be an aggressor. It did that when the Ambanis launched a business paper to take on The Economic Times in 1990. In 2005, when Hindustan Times and DNA were getting set to enter its bastion Mumbai, it launched Mumbai Mirror and got very aggressive in its offers to advertisers. And now as stiff competition comes in from the man who built it, Times Network under the leadership of an old Times group warhorse MK Anand, has unveiled a manifold offensive.

    First, ensure that the attrition is under check. Some elevations have happened. Some more have been motivated to stay back.

    Second, get the content plan in order. Anand is reportedly active on the editorial front too, and is marked on key newsroom decisions and stories, a move that upset some

    Third, launching a ‘flanking product’. Hence Mirror Now

    Fourth, Times Now to also go into HD (which is to be announced soon)

    And fifth: fight Republic on the street… Revenues, Ratings, Regulators, MIB, ASCI… wherever necessary.

    When Goswami popped the ‘David v/s Goliath’ question, there was applause. Taaliyaan! He also took on the Delhi-centric channels saying that the national media is “content in Lutyens Delhi that you stop fighting for the people of the country”.

    Citing the example of the Kansas City killing of 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibotla, he said: “The satiated Lutyens media was content in labelling it as quote unquote ‘hate crime’. And I ask you today: isn’t there a dent needed in the Indian media to shake it up…to fight for families like that of Kuchibotla. How can you be so satiated in Lutyens Delhi?”

    After taking on his seniors (and the mighty) in the capital, he moved on to talks about his style of journalism. “The focus is on India and the focus is on English but English done the Indian way. When I started off as a journalist…they said i should take pauses at the right places…..I won’t speak in the polished way..I will speak English the Indian way…I want to speak in the language that the 25-year-old in the Indian newsroom relates to”, he said. Regular watchers of his shows recall how he would often break into an ‘Arre Baba’ while speaking to guests. Defending his brand of journalism, which is in every possible way is being pursued by the existing dispensation at Times Now, he said: “..They’ll tell you facts are sacred and opinion is free. I say facts are available and opinion is sacred. Opinion in the media is especially sacred because it is a differentiator between a journalism that is confrontational and a journalism that is happy to be docile and subdued. Opinion in the media is especially sacred because it is a differentiator between a journalism that choses to takes the right side of the truth and one that prefers to be falsely neutral in order to perpetuate the status-quo… opinionated media that has the potential to be activist. It is opinionated media that has the potential to be a change agent to being merely a supplier of information. I refuse to be simply a supplier of information,” Arnab said, throwing the gauntlet again down- this time at the old traditional definition of journalism.

    We haven’t heard the last from Arnab Goswami’s Republic and Times Network’s MK Anand. Both are known to fight hard, and both are known to be happy losers. But who is?

     

  • Major (Retired) Gaurav Arya served with the Kumaon Regiment of the Indian Army

    Gaurav Arya joins Arnab Goswami’s Republic

    By A Correspondent

     

    Army Veteran Major Gaurav Arya has joined Republic as Advisor Defence and Strategy. In this role, Major Arya will offer national security and political analysis.

     

    Major (Retired) Gaurav Arya served with the Kumaon regiment of the Indian Army. He will focus on the Indian defence forces, national security, Pakistan, Kashmir, radical Islam and terrorism and he is a passionate advocate of the soldier’s point of view, notes a communique.

     

    “Major Gaurav Arya is a true soldier and an old friend and I welcome him to Republic TV. It is our time to shape a new media and I am looking forward to doing it together,” said Arnab Goswami, Founder of Republic TV.

     

  • He was CFO for the Times Network between 2005 and 2012

    Former Times Now CFO joins Republic

    By A Correspondent

     

    S Sundaram

    S Sundaram has joined Republic, Arnab Goswami’s media entity, as Group CFO for the TV and Digital venture.In a career spanning three decades, Sundaram has served as CFO for 15 years in different organizations – his footprint running across Finance, Legal Compliance & Business Development functions. He was CFO for the Times Network between 2005 and 2012. Sundaram now takes charge of the financial leadership at Republic.

     

    Commenting on S Sundaram joining his team, Arnab Goswami, Founder, Republic said “I have known Sundaram closely for 12 years now. We at Republic are privileged to have a professional of his caliber onboard. He’s easily one of the best CFOs in the business today. We are excited to have him with us”.

     

    Republic CEO Vikas Khanchandani added, “Mr Sundaram’s range of experience in financial leadership is unparalleled in the broadcast business. His successful stint in the Broadcast industry and three decades of experience will help Republic scale new financial benchmarks.”

     

    On joining Team Republic, Sundaram said “Having known Arnab as a colleague and friend for so long and seeing him rewrite the rules of television, I am excited to be with him at Republic and see him become India’s voice for the world.”

     

    Sundaram has been a part of a large bouquet of businesses: Consultancy (A.F.Ferguson& Co),  FMCG (PepsiCo India), Luxury Consumer Products & Services (Bausch & Lomb India & INOX Leisure), Internet (india.com),Television News Media (Times Global Broadcasting).

     

    Apart from being hands-on with Financial & compliance management, the depth of his start-up exposure has equipped Sundaram to be an active business participant -essential to build a robust business process within an efficient value chain from scratch.

     

  • Prior to joining Republic, Jay was CIO at NDTV Worldwide where he built two healthcare startups

    Jay Chauhan to head digital venture at Republic

    By A Correspondent

     

    Jay Chauhan

    Jay Chauhan has joined Republic, Arnab Goswami’s media entity as COO for the digital venture and CTO for broadcast news.

     

    With 20 years of experience spanning television, digital and healthcare, Jay will be responsible for setting up and establishing market leadership for Republic’s global digital properties. Additionally, as CTO for broadcast news, he will be introducing innovation into news gathering as well as mobility solutions into technical operations for broadcast.

     

    According to a communique, a key focus area within Republic’s digital strategy will be the setting up of its global innovation centre in Bengaluru to house its team of data scientists, machine learning experts, developers and UX architects to build Republic’s sophisticated content platform.

     

    Commenting on Chauhan joining his team, Goswami said, “A gifted tech leader guiding our digital venture is a strong statement of what Republic stands for and what it will become – a true media tech company. I am excited to have Jay onboard with us on this journey.”

     

    On joining team Republic, Chauhan said: “It’s an exhilarating feeling being part of the Republic team’s vision of innovation and disruption on a global scale. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves, deliver amazing digital content products for our global customer base and build a profitable digital business.”

     

  • With an impressive experience of over 20 years, Vikas Khanchandani will head the business of the upcoming independent media venture

    Vikas Khanchandani joins Arnab Goswami’s Republic as CEO

    Vikas Khanchandani

    By A Correspondent

    Vikas Khanchandani, former Chief Business Officer of RBNL (Reliance Broadcast Network),has joined Republic as Chief Executive Officer. With over two decades of working across ad sales, digital, television and media technology, Vikas Khanchandani will play an integral roleto grow Republic as an independent media tech company.

    Commenting on the same, Arnab Goswami, Founder of Republic said, “We are delighted to welcome Vikas on board. He is a great leader and joins us with very strong industry experience across multimedia platforms. Together, we believe, we will create the No. 1 news channel in India.’’

    Added Khandchandani: “I am looking forward to working with Republic as I believe in the core objective and vision of launching the first global independent media venture. I am certain we will change the media scenario in India”

     

  • An analysis by Stratagem Media on how the English news channels fared post-demonetisation and Arnab Goswami's exit

    Mitron, the Nation wants to Know…

     

    Call it the News Channel Dangal or whatever, here’s an analysis by Stratagem Media on how the English news channels fared post-demonetisation and Arnab Goswami’s exit

    Background :

    The economic and political scenario in the country over the last two months has been fodder for the news business – mainly with the announcement and unfolding of the demonetization drama, followed by the demise of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa. But for all of us in the marketing and media fraternity, something equally dramatic happened about the same time.

    On November 2, the media fraternity witnessed a piece of truly “breaking news” –Arnab Goswami, the editor-in-chief and star NewsHour anchor of Times Now channel had resigned. Well of course, he was still on air, for the next few days, when on November 8, even as everyone was trying to predict the after-effect of his departure from the TV screen, the shock-n-awe of demonetisation happened.

    Speculation about Goswami’s departure from the TV screen, and his plan thereafter,has been rife, ever since.

    Objective of the study:

    At Stratagem Media Pvt. Ltd, we were equally eager to understand the effect of these developments on the viewership of news channels. Our friends (mitrons) and fellow professionals in the media and marketing fields (by and large, our ‘nation’), would be keen to understand

    – whether news viewership has risen post-demonetisation

    – whether there is a difference between the after-math of demonetization on English and Hindi news channels?

    – Or has Mr Goswami’s absence from the TV screen, had any effect on channel viewership and if so, how much?

    But we felt it would be prudent to resist the temptation of jumping to conclusions and not rush through the analysis. So, we waited for the scenario to stabilise, till viewership data for at least a few weeks had trickled in.

    Here’s a study of viewership,both pre- and post-demonetisation, which happened to also coincide with ArnabGoswami’s last week on the screen. Naturally, the questions that have been addressed are whether the viewership of English and Hindi News channels was affected in any way, post that week, and what was the effect on the viewership of specific channels.

     

     

    Methodology:

    A simple viewership comparison was undertaken for a period of 10 weeks i.e. five weeks pre- and five weeks post demonetisation/ Mr Goswami’s departure from the screen.

    This study was focused on the ‘9 pm to 11 pm’ time slot on the weekdays, (which historically contributes to a major proportion of viewership). This analysis was done for three relevant geographical units (the 1mn+ cities across the country, Mumbai+Delhiand Mumbai+Delhi+Bengaluru), as well as for a relevant and sufficiently wide target group comprising of Males,above the age of 22 years belonging to the top two segments of affluence (i.e.NCCS AB)Although not all of it is published here, the analysis was also undertaken simultaneously, but separately, for the entire genre of Hindi News channels and English News channels (including English business channels).

    Two viewership parameters were examined – gross impressions and relative channel share (for the English and Hindi channel genres).

    The source of all data was the BARC viewership ratings.

    Conclusions (English channels):- (Refer slides above)

    From the above analyses,in the five weeks post-demonetisation,it is evident that (within the specific TG of Men, above the age of 22, from the top 2 affluence classes – NCCS A&B), in the prime time slot of 9 pm to 11 pm,

    – The viewership of English News channels in all main cities in India, in fact declined by 1 %, in the 5 weeks post demonetization. But it increased by about 11 % to 12 % in the 2–3 main metros. In other words, as expected, the viewership pie of English news genre as a whole has only managed to increase in the main cities (Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi) where the English news channels get most of their eyeballs.

    – While Times Now continues to lead the pack in the English News genre, the decline in its viewership, ranged from – 29 % to  -45 % in these 3 market units. In fact, even CNN News18 declined by about 27 %, to 61 %,whereas the gain in viewership of other channels such as NDTV 24×7 and India Today TV, was considerable, ranging between 99 % to 230 % for either of them, over the same period. However these channels grew from a relatively much smaller base.

    – Consequently, in the main cities of the country as a unit, the decline in the relative share of viewership for Times Now was from 55 % to 40 %, whereas NDTV 24×7’s relative share grew from 8 % to 17 %, and India Today TV’s relative share grew from 12 % to 19 %.

    – The corresponding changes in viewership shares, in the main metros for these channels were even more pronounced, as evident from the graphs.

    – And yet, without doubt, Times Now still stands head-n-shoulders above the other English News channels.

     

    Conclusions (Hindi News channels)

    From the analyses, it was also evident that in the 5 weeks post demonetisation, (and within the specific TG of Men, above the age of 22, from the top 2 affluence classes – NCCS A&B), in the prime time slot of 9 pm to 11 pm

    – The viewership of Hindi News channels increased by as much as 29 % in the 1 mn + cities, with some channels registering gains of more than 50 %

     – In terms of relative channel shares, the biggest gainers were News18 India, Zee News and AajTak.

    So, on an apple-to-apple comparison, Hindi channels seem to have grown in the post-demonetisation phase, in the cities, whereas English channels have in fact, marginally declined. So, could this perhaps be a case of missed opportunity.

    This does however give rise to another pertinent question. What constitutes brand identity for a media house – be it a newspaper title, a TV channel, an FM station or a website? They say ‘Content is King’, but is it just content, or the values that the brand is perceived to stand for, or production quality, or just the sheer the persona of the anchors/ RJs.

    To validate some of the quantitative findings of this analysis, we asked senior media professionals about their individual opinions and experiences. This is what they had to say :

    Sandip Tarkas

    Sandeep Tarkas, CEO (Sports, Media & Special Projects), Future Group, states that “I think Arnab was the person I missed the most during the entire demonetisation debate. After initially watching a lot more of news for about a week, I have almost stopped watching news TV, and that’s where I missed Arnab. He would have brought the right issues to the fore even if one didn’t agree with his take on the issue”.

     

     

    Karthik Mani

    Kartik Mani, Founder, Chief Insurgent – Merry Men, says that although he has never been a fan of Arnab Goswami, but Arnab’s absence has made watching Times Now, a lot less compelling.

     

     

     

    Munnish Puri

    Munnish Puri, media expert & Founder, Indian Financial Advisors, has this to say:”Beyond doubt, Arnab and Times Now were a highly impactful combination. Viewers tuned-in to get real ‘inside information’ of the news that mattered. Even global audiences took a strong liking to Arnab. Looking at the recent viewership data, it is not surprising that the Times Now viewership has been impacted. The Newshour is certainly not as engaging without Arnab!’

     

     

    Bharat Kapadia

    Bharat Kapadia, veteran media expert, confesses that he gets put off when news channels become noise channels, and that leads to reduced exposure. But he adds that Arnab always had the last & loudest word which at times made it interesting. And that he has hardly watched Times Now after Arnab quit. Bharatbhai also adds that his time spent watching news channels post demonetisation had increased, but he was disappointed about the way the topic was covered by all channels in general. There was no depth in the content, just opinionated angles and gimmicky presentation. He feels that it is entirely possible for face value to outweigh brand value of a media house, just as it happens in the film industry.

     

    Sumit Roy

    For Sumit Roy, Founder Director Univbrands, Times Now was not the preferred channel. He sums it up by saying: “Times Now isn’t any better now, without Arnab. As a policy I switch channels when any Anchor speaks over the Panelist and cannot control panelists speaking over each other. Some other anchors seem to have gone that route as well.As a result my preferred news channels are India Today, NDTV and BBC World. In that order. I stay with whichever (of these) has the more interesting story at the time of watching.”

     

    Nevertheless, as evident from the above analyses, it’s not just content, or the values of a news channel, or production quality, that builds a TV brand. Viewership also seems to be obviously sensitive to changes in brand persona.All in all, with state elections around the corner, we can be sure that the News Channel ‘Dangal’ is far from over.

     

    Sundeep Nagpal

    This report has been conceived and produced by Stratagem Media Pvt Ltd., an independent media specialist company, headed by its Founder–Director, Sundeep Nagpal

     

  • Irrespective of whether you watched Arnab Goswami or not, or what your replacement anchor is, a vacuum has certainly been left behind, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Life after Arnab

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    It’s been about two weeks since Arnab Goswami went off-air, and it may be a while before we see him a hosting primetime news show again. Over a decade, and especially since 26/11/2008, Goswami had built a cult following that does not have any parallel in India’s news economy. You either loved him or hated him. There were no in-betweens. And even his harshest critics, including those running competition channels, could not ignore him.

     

    Clones of the Newshour show mushroomed across English, Hindi and regional news channels over the last five years. Journalists with more years on their CV than Goswami’s were forced to adapt to a new style of reporting and debating, where taking a stand and pushing it through was not only seen as legitimate, it became the only valid style of journalism.

     

    It’s fair to say that Arnab Goswami has transformed the Indian news landscape. The jury will be out for a long time on whether this transformation is a positive one. But it’s a transformation alright.

     

    I’ve been a fairly ardent viewer of the Newshour show over years, though there was always the need to take occasional detox breaks from the show. If you have been an ardent follower of the man yourself, you would know that there are many around us who would judge us for watching and liking him. “How can you watch these meaningless shouting matches every night!”

     

    To confess, sometimes, I even questioned if I had bad taste in news. But I couldn’t really get off the show. And today, I know why. Because there are simply no viable alternatives. Over the last two weeks, in search of a primetime news show I can gravitate towards, now that Goswami is off-air, I tried all the English news channel options available, right from 8 to 11pm. What you get is not very encouraging.

     

    Many of these shows are clones of the Arnab format, and in a very ‘wannabe’ way too. And the others are simply deathly boring, with no personality to keep you interested.

     

    News is available online through the day. Hence, primetime telecast cannot possibly be about headlines, especially in the English category, where a majority of audiences are well connected digitally. It has to take the agenda forward and provide something more than just telling us what happened. When Goswami decided to use debating as the format of his primetime show a few years ago, was it a conscious way of differentiating against the omnipresence of news online, I wonder!

     

    The search on the English news genre being futile, I moved to the Hindi news category. In Ravish Kumar, I found the closest option. There are two things Kumar and Goswami share. Both have strong, well-defined personalities, be it their style of talking or taking a dig or just commenting on the state of affairs. These personalities, while distinct from each other, have a strong sense of wit and bravado, almost nonchalance, woven into them. They are anything but boring.

     

    The second connecting element between the two is their confidence to take a stand on a topic and see it through with commentary that’s decisive. In this, I like Kumar even more, because his articulation is more colourful and vivid.

     

    But Ravish Kumar does not do multi-window debates. And hence, much as he’s a good replacement, he has not been able to fill the Arnab Goswami vacuum for me.

     

    But irrespective of whether you watched Goswami or not, or what your replacement anchor is, a vacuum has certainly been left behind. Will we see an Indian news journalist as powerful and influential as him again in our lifetime? I won’t bet on that. So, I would rather wait for him to make an on-air comeback soon.

     

    Now that’s a good 2017 wish to have.

     

  • The confirmation of the resignation leaves more questions than answers

    It’s final. We won’t see Arnab on Times Now wef next month

    The Amul topical ad released last week on Arnab Goswami going off Times Now

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    For almost a week, Times Network, the television broadcast arm of Bennett Coleman & Company Limited (better known as The Times of India group) chose to stay mum on the resignation of its editor-in-chief and president-news Arnab Goswami. Given that he’s larger than life, and decidedly the most influential face on news television – across languages, India indeed wanted to know about what was up at the Times Now HQ.

     

    But that’s a question only Goswami is allowed to ask. No one –  never ever – can ask this of the channel that puts people in the dock and if they choose not to accept the invite to be on the nightly inquisition, an empty chair is put on camera. Get humiliated if you are on air, and face the same barrage of insults even if you choose to stay away.

     

    All that was fine when Arnab Goswami when the channel grew into its own in early 2008. He had started asking the tough questions then, and the November 26 terror siege ensured that he never looked back. He marshaled his team from the newsroom, and did it so very well. News was not just about reportage, he proved. It was also about studio discussions and debates. Make a spectacle of the 9pm news, if you want to fight the viewership pull of general entertainment channels.

     

    While Times Now is where Goswami concentrated his energies, he has also been incharge of ET Now and Magicbricks Now. According to a communiqué, he will stay on with Times Network till the latter half of this month (Nov 2016) and will continue anchoring the flagship show Newshour till then.

     

    The parting appears to be amicable.

     

    Sample this: M K Anand, MD & CEO, Times Network: “Times Network cherishes the decade long association it had with Arnab. We are sure he will do well in his next endeavor and our good wishes are with him.”

     

    Arnab Goswami: “It’s been an exciting ride at Times Network. We have changed the way news is done and I have worked with fantastic professionals in this journey. To these professionals, I dedicate the success of the last decade as I look forward now to the future”

     

    But not everyone is sure. Senior journalist and MxMIndia columnist Ranjona Banerji writes on MxMIndia today: There is bombastic power on camera and there is velvet-glove-iron-fist power off camera.

     

    Could there have been differences between Goswami and Vineet Jain, Managing Director of BCCL that led to the star editor’s exit? Even if he wasn’t asked to go, did the climate get as difficult to breathe in as Delhi is today?

     

    We won’t know the real reason in a hurry. But, the question that’s now being asked by many is: Where will Arnab go? Who are his mystery backers? Will he (and his new home base) be able to gain the same ratings as Times Now?

     

    And then: will Times Now be able to retain supremacy sans Arnab Goswami? Will it pull in a Rajdeep Sardesai or Barkha Dutt to take charge of its primetime or will it, like CNN-IBN has done with some success, put up lesser knowns on air and grow them. After all, Arnab Goswami wasn’t among the Top 3 English general news anchors until a decade back. That slot was occupied by Rajdeep, Barkha and Prannoy Roy. Arnab belonged to the next line with Vikram Chandra and Sonia Singh Verma.

     

    What will also be important to see is whether Times Now continues with the same brand of news presentation. Ask the tough questions, take sides and almost always damn all those who don’t agree with its views.

     

    Arnab Goswami will be off air from some time in the latter half of this month. Time will tell what happens next. For now, he will continue to be on Times Now.

     

    Clearly, the confirmation of the resignation, has left us with more questions than answers.