MxMIndia

Tag: Coleman & Co. Ltd

  • Library of original content on love for stories in India

    Mirchi audio OTT launched

    By Our Staff

     

    Mirchi, the city-centric music and entertainment company, has launched Mirchi Plus, a mobile app. The app offers a large library of original audio stories, podcasts, videos, entertainment news and more across 10 different languages – English, Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bangla, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada.

     

    Said Vineet Jain, Managing Director, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd: “Mirchi has always been the audience’s go-to choice for all things music; with the launch of ‘Mirchi Plus’ we now enter the exciting & evolving space of story-telling and original content. This transforms Mirchi into its full digital avatar, allowing us to pick, analyse and act on consumer signals in real time.”

     

    Added Prashant Panday, MD & CEO, ENIL: “Mirchi has dominated the radio industry for over two decades with its best-in-class audio entertainment. With the evolving needs of our consumers and the rapid adoption of digital avenues for entertainment, we wanted to expand our consumer engagement and be present where our consumers are. Mirchi Plus strengthens our digital play. Through the launch of the app, we look forward to building a multi-lingual and immersive audio experience for our listeners. Moreover, Mirchi Plus is a significant addition to Mirchi’s digital properties aiding Mirchi in fulfilling its goal of generating 25% of our revenues from digital.”

     

    Added Nandan Srinath, Executive President, ENIL: “The team at Mirchi is so excited with the launch of Mirchi Plus! This is a major stride for us in delivering new and original content, gathering data for action, and providing measurable & actionable outcomes for our advertising partners. The Mirchi Plus app is crucial to the enduring success of our company, brand and people in the coming decade.”

     

  • So are the achche din back in printland? We speak to the President – Response at Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd and find out

    MxM Live with Partha Sinha. Free, Frank, Freewheeling

     

    So on Saturday, August 15, The Times of India had a blockbuster of an edition across many centres. Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad and perhaps a few others. We thought it was a good time to pitch for an interview with Partha Sinha, President – Response at Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), better known as The Times of India group.

     

    Sinha had joined BCCL with much fanfare in March this year, just a few days before the Lockdown was effected. We had wanted to interview him on the day we first heard of the news – sometime in late Jan or early Feb, but guess it had to be under wraps. And then the Lockdown happened, and we didn’t think it right to stress him.

     

    When we learnt from his team about the super-thick editions, we thought it would the right time to pitch. They agreed. And so did he.

     

    So without further ado, here’s the interview. Free, frank and freewheeling. The interview talks about the blockbuster edition but delves into his views on the print business. Heck, why are we telling you this. Watch. Enjoy. Like.

     

    (PS: if you’d like to share, here’s a short link: bit.ly/MxMParthaSinha)

     

     

  • Raj Jain will be concluding his tenure with the media group today (March 31, 2020) after a tenure of five years

    Sivakumar Sundaram to take charge as CEC, BCCL from tomorrow

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sivakumar Sundaram will take charge as Chairman, Executive Committee (CEC) at leading media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL). Raj Jain, who is CEO of BCCL, will be concluding his tenure with the media group today (March 31, 2020) after a tenure of five years.

     

    Sundaram will take charge on April 1. In the new role, all functions of the company will report to him as CEC (word used in office advisory was not report to, but relate with). In addition, the RMD (short for Research & Market Development) team will relate with Mohit Jain who in turn will relate with Sundaram.

     

    According to an office advice, both Sundaram and Jain will join the Board of BCCL as Executive Directors.

     

    Sundaram has spent some 30 years with BCCL, across various roles. He incubated and grew Brand Capital after which he was elevated as President – Revenue. As has been reported, leading advertising captain, Partha Sinha, is scheduled to join BCCL in Sundaram’s position from tomorrow (April 1).

     

     

  • Raj Jain will be concluding his tenure with the media group on March 31, 2020 after a tenure of five years

    S Sivakumar to take charge as Chairman, Executive Committee (CEC) at BCCL

    By A Correspondent

     

    S Sivakumar to take charge as Chairman, Executive Committee (CEC) at leading media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd. , BCCL. Raj Jain will be concluding his tenure with the media group on March 31, 2020 after a tenure of five years.

     

    Sivakumar will take charge on April 1. In the new role all functions of the company will report to Sivakumar as CEC. In addition, the RMD team will relate with Mohit Jain who in turn will relate with Sivakumar.

     

    According to an office advice, both Sivakumar and Jain will join the Board of BCCL as Executive Directors.

     

  • Ajay Nair will continue in his role as Managing Director of the company, focusing on new opportunities for the company

    OML beefs up leadership team

    By A Correspondent

     

    OML has announced the appointment of Gunjan Arya as its Chief Executive Officer, Dhruv Sheth as the Chief Operating Officer and Saurabh Abbi as the Chief Business Officer (New Initiatives and International Business). The newly elevated leadership team — all Managing Partners at OML prior to these appointments — will take on their new roles with immediate effect, leading OML into its next phase of growth and expansion. Ajay Nair will continue in his role as Managing Director of the company, focusing on new opportunities for the company.

     

    Said Rajesh Kamat, MD, Emerald Media, and a board member to OML:

    “OML, as an industry leader, has accomplished massive growth in the past decade. The new leadership team led by Gunjan has a proven success record and I’m sure that they will continue to excel in their new expanded roles at OML to ensure high momentum business growth.”

     

    Added Ajay Nair, MD, OML: “OML has had its best performing couple of years in FY 18 and FY 19 and is poised to grow at over 30 per cent over last year in FY 2020. These three years have been remarkable for the new businesses OML has built and for the multiple new live, branded and content experiences it has executed. This has been largely due to the excellent leadership of Gunjan, Dhruv and Saurabh along with a very talented, experienced and resourceful team and it gives me great pleasure to announce their new roles. I am confident in their abilities to take on these expanded roles and lead such a diverse portfolio in today’s dynamic environment.”

     

    Added Sanjeev Shah, Executive President, Corporate and M&A at Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., one of the investors at OML: “OML continues to remind us of its outstanding ability to build businesses with its “customer n people first” approach. The new leaders are a testimony to its management depth and maturity. Hats off to Ajay for developing the business with such redundancy and future-proofing.”

     

     

  • The salon has teamed up with renowned experts Namrata Soni, Dr. Mickey Mehta and Saanchi S. Nayak

    Digi Osmosis to manage digital duties of Femina Flaunt salon

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd has mandated Digi Osmosis for the digital and social media mandate of its recently launched Femina Flaunt Studio Salon in Mumbai.

     

    Said Sandeep Dahiya, CEO, Femina Flaunt: “Femina Flaunt Studio Salon is designed to be a hotspot to ignite ideas for self-expression. It’s a place where beauty meets bravado, glam meets gusto, comfort meets creativity, chic meets street and expertise meets experimentation.” He further added, “As we go about redefining the beauty service landscape, we’re glad to have on-board Digi Osmosis, to help us create a differentiated consumer experience on the digital platform too.”

     

    Added Manish Kumar, CEO, Digi Osmosis: “We are at an exciting phase of our journey and I believe that the work we have on the table and have done till now will make our clients proud. Beauty and Wellness market in India is a rapidly evolving and a growing market. We see a lot of scope of interesting digital campaigns which will help Femina Flaunt Studio Salon reach out to a larger customer base across the globe. We look forward to our association with them.”

     

     

  • It is evident from the report that the high timespent of Republic is a sore point for Times Now

    BCCL fires fresh salvo against Republic. ET report raises doubts on timespent in BARC data

    By A Correspondent

    Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd, the owner of The Times of India, Economic Times, Times Now and a slew of topselling media brands, has fired a fresh salvo against former Times Now editor-in-chief and President News’s entrepreneurial venture, Republic TV.

    The clip of the report on Page 8 of The Economic Times Mumbai dated June 12, 2017

    Since the data for the first week of Republic TV’s launch, Times Now, which was the highest rated amongst English news channels, found itself ousted from the top spot by Goswami’s channel. Consequently, the channel along with a few others, prevailed upon the News Broadcasters Association to act on the usage of dual LCNs and advise that they remove the watermarking on their channels thereby opting out of the BARC measurement.

    Other than NBA, many channels are also part of the Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF). Interestingly, IBF in turn is 60 per cent owner of BARC India, which is a joint industry body.

    The channels came back to the BARC fold after they felt assured when Republic TV is said to have told the Court that is not taking multiple LCNs. Interestingly, India Today TV also filed a complaint with TRAI about Times Now using the dual LCN route to boost ratings.

    Last Thursday, BARC released date for Week 22 which marked the return of all English news channels to watermark-led measurement.

    While there is a sentiment that even this data is boosted by channels employing landing pages, an Economic Times report has cautioned media buyers and advertisers that all isn’t well with BARC viewership data. It is evident from the report that the high timespent of Republic is a sore point and Times Now hasn’t gone up in terms of timespent.

    There are questions that need to be addressed now:

    01.Will BARC probe the charges in the ET report?

    02.What does BARC think about the ET report? While ET is not indicting BARC in any direct way, the fact that the timespent data has been questioned, it impacts the reputation and credibility of the joint industry measurement body. What do BARC and owners IBF, ISA and AAAI have to say on this?

    03.Is this a misuse of sibling media by Times Now? If it was such a grave issue, how come other business dailies haven’t taken it up?

     

    It’s perhaps time for NBA and/or IBF to bring order in the house. It should bring together the four or five top English news channels and get them to stop throwing muck at each other and more importantly conduct their business in a fair manner.

     

  • I am not sure how legally tenable the complaint is, but in my limited view, it was unethical, writes Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Mediaah!: Is BCCL right in registering a copyright infringement complaint against Arnab Goswami?

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Is Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL) right in registering a copyright infringement complaint against Arnab Goswami? Yes, it is. I am not sure how legally tenable the complaint is, but in my limited view, it was unethical. When the story was first aired on Republic TV on May 8, one couldn’t help sitting up and take notice. But then along with the various questions that Goswami raised in his ‘super exclusive’, there were some questions that I had.

     

    The Economic Times report (Page 3, May 17, Mumbai edition)

    See report in Economic Times on the complaint: link

    In fact, I tweeted about it (see link).

    The fact that it was only retweeted twice indicates that copyright and editorial ethics aren’t considered very critical and holy to many (or most?) in India. Copyright, it’s often joked, is the right to copy!

    But this isn’t about copyright. That’s something for Times Network owners to take up with the Courts.

    It’s an issue of ethics.

    The recordings of the conversation between Prema Sridevi, the reporter and Shashi Tharoor or Sunanda Pushkar’s Man Friday was done when the reporter reportedly worked with Times Now. Unless her terms expressly stated it, or she was just a freelancer with the channel, the recordings belong to work done when the reporter was an employee.I am not sure what is the legal view on it, but it’s not ethical.

    I am not even raising issues of why Goswami and Sridevi, now Editor-News at Repulic,  didn’t air the recording when they were in Times Now, but that’s not really my concern though it’s a question that must be answered.

    The Nation wants to know…

     

    **

     

    All eyes are now on the BARC India numbers that will be out tomorrow (Thursday, May 18). Given all the promotions and distribution via multiple frequencies, it’s quite likely that Republic will be #1, but the question is that it’s not a play over one week. Republic can’t be spending so much monies on distribution as it’s today, so the real story will emerge after a few weeks when it opts of taking multiple frequencies.

    To Goswami’s credit, his equity with viewers is huger than all the other anchors. The MxMIndia-MRSSINDIA poll earlier this week indicated that Rajdeep Sardesai is a close second and not a distant one in the trust factor, but it’s for India Today to use this to their advantage. Possibly promote Sardesai a little more.

    We’re going to see some interesting times over the next few weeks or months. And we aren’t complaining

     

    Pradyuman Maheshwari is Editor-in-Chief and founder, MxMIndia. The views expressed here are his own.

     

  • Nitin, in his career spanning close to two decades has worked in designing brand campaign, media planning, building statutory audit/ legal frameworks and strategic alliances

    Nitin Alawadhi appointed National Sales Head at LIVE Viacom 18

    By A Correspondent

     

    Viacom18 has announced the appointment of Nitin Alawadhi as the National Head, Sales, LIVE Viacom18. In his new role, Nitin will spearhead the business development team to drive revenues and build a strong clientele across India.

     

    Launched in 2013, LIVE Viacom18 creates large format event IPs such as Vh1 Supersonic, MTV Bollyland, Emerge, MTV Indies Extreme and MTV Indies SPIRO along with International award formats like MTV Video Music Awards India (VMAI), Kids Choice Awards, et al.

     

    Nitin joins LIVE Viacom18 from Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd. (BCCL) where he spearheaded the Integrated Brand Communications and Experiential marketing divisions. With dual management degrees in Marketing and International Trade Management from CMD and NMIMS, Nitin, in his career spanning close to two decades has worked in designing brand campaign, media planning, building statutory audit/ legal frameworks and strategic alliances.

     

    Speaking about Nitin’s appointment, Jaideep Singh, Sr. Vice President and Business Head- LIVE Viacom18, says, “Nitin’s experience in successfully driving revenues for the Integrated Brand Communications and Experiential marketing platform will add a great value to the LIVE division at Viacom18. The experience and caliber is apt to be leading a dynamic and ever aggressive brand like ours that is always in a transition for better compliance with market needs.”

     

  • The programme aims to encourage individuals with a business idea to come forward and connects them with relevant mentors and investors

    Eco Times launches The Power of Ideas 2012

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Economic Times brings back The Power of Ideas,India’s largest entrepreneurship development programme. It aims to encourage individuals with a business idea to come forward and connects them with relevant mentors and investors. The programme was first launched in 2009 when it received over 12,000 business ideas followed by over 16,000 the next year. This year, armed with a bigger corpus of funds, the initiative seeks to transform more business ideas into real businesses.

     

    Ravi Dhariwal, Chief Executive Officer – Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd said: “We at The Economic Times believe that the future of the Indian economy lies in the hands of young entrepreneurs. It is the energy and drive of these young people with an idea that will giveIndiaits next big leap. I am happy to say that The Power of Ideas initiative has provided critical impetus to many such ideas.”

     

    The programme is conducted by The Economic Times in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. DST brings to the programme its expertise and relationships in the entrepreneurial space as well as a corpus of Rs6.2 crore of guaranteed funds. The funds are open to all those with genuine innovation on their mind, regardless of whether they have just an idea or a fully functional start-up.

     

    Working alongside ET and DST is IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE).CIIE is a leader in the field of mentoring, guiding and making business ideas investor-ready.

     

    The greatest value CIIE will add to The Power of Ideas will be by way of their wide network of mentors and investors who will evaluate every single business idea received as part of the programme. The most deserving ideas will be given personalized mentoring. In the last phase, entrepreneurs who make it to the final cut-off will be taken through a nine-day period of intensive mentoring by CIIE, as a residential programme at IIM Ahmedabad. This unique public-private-academia partnership remains in place in 2012 to drive the programme to new heights.