HT Media Group has named Saurabh Sharma as Head of Marketing and Insights for its core news brands for both print and digital.Under Sharma’s leadership, the marketing teams for Hindustan Times and Hindustan will align, streamlining operations and maximizing synergies.
Notes a communique: “This organisational change underscores the Group’s commitment to sustained growth and agility, providing meaningful career advancement opportunities within the organisation.”
Fever FM Network has unveiled a new brand identity and tagline ‘Happening Hai’. Fever listeners will now get to select and cancel songs and playlists on air, choose their RJs, and even curate shows, among other features.
Said Ramesh Menon, CEO, Audio, HT Media Group: “We are excited to launch the ’New Fever’ with a focus on the new age, digital savvy, younger generation. The new Fever will be curated by the listeners, for the listeners. It revolutionizes the way we ever experienced radio. Your love for the brand has shaped us over the years and provided us with insights to deepen our understanding of your needs. We are confident you will have a wonderful time engaging with us terrestrially and digitally on the ’New Fever’.
By Our Staff
HT Media Group has launched two new print editions of Mint, its business and financial daily, in Chandigarh and Lucknow. This expands Mint’s reach to 65 cities with nine editions.
The Chandigarh edition will serve Mint’s readers in the tri-city area of Panchkula, Mohali, and Chandigarh, while also serving Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala, and Jalandhar. The Lucknow edition will be available to readers in Lucknow, Kanpur, and Gorakhpur (Eastern Uttar Pradesh). Towns across Western UP are already served by the Group’s Greater Noida printing centre.
Said Ravi Krishnan, Editor-in-Chief of Mint (he joined the newspaper recently): “Our signature brand of journalism, which includes exclusive news breaks, in-depth reportage and smart commentary, is finding newer audiences by the day. This is very encouraging. But it’s also unsurprising at some level. As more people seek financial literacy, upward social mobility and look to participate in the India growth story, they will need a trusted news partner in their journey,” he said, adding, “Mint has provided that consistently for over 16 years, so we’re a good bet for curious minds.”
Good to see the editor being quoted in a communique for the launch of a couple of editions of the newspaper.
By Our Staff
HT Media Group has announced the appointment of Binoy Prabhakar as its new Chief Content Officer of HT Digital. Prabhakar’s role will be pivotal in driving the content growth strategy for all digital offerings of the Group and retaining the leadership of its news sites through quality and credible content.
Prior to joining HT Media Group, Prabhakar served as the Executive Editor at Moneycontrol. He has also held several senior positions across reputed media houses in India, including The Economic Times, The Indian Express, and The Times of India. He was the founding editor of CNBCTV18.com. Prabhakar started his career with Hindustan Times as a Copy Editor in 2001.
Said Prabhakar: “I am thrilled to join the talented team here to contribute towards empowering our audience through engaging, insightful, and informative content. It is exciting to be a part of the Group, which has a storied journalistic legacy, at a time of growth and innovation, especially centered on the application of AI in journalism.”
By A Correspondent
HT Media Group re-launched its flagship brand Hindustan Times, in a digital-first avatar. The refreshed HT product portfolio, including HT City and Brunch, have gone in for a new look-and-feel.
HT has also unveiled its new positioning – First Voice, Last Word. Said Editor-in-Chief Sukumar Ranganathan in a statement: “Now more than ever before, there is need for news that is credible and contemporary. This is the driving principle behind our relaunch of the Hindustan Times, which seeks to be the First Voice, yet have the Last Word.”
The paper has been redesigned by newspaper refresh veteran Dr Mario Garcia.
Said Rajan Bhalla, Group CMO, HT Media Ltd: “The media landscape has undergone immense transformation in the past decade and despite the testing times, Hindustan Times continues to make strides as a market leader to give the ‘news consumers’ what they are seeking and how they are seeking it. This refreshed product fits the fast-paced, knowledge seeking needs of the millennials without alienating the older generation who are also fast adapting to the new ways of news consumption. We are extremely excited about this new offering and are certain that this raises the bar for the news industry in our country.”
Dentsu Aegis Network’s creative agency has worked on the print and digital communication campaign of the relaunch.
By A Correspondent
Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has added the mandate to its recently established Social Media Division, Dentsu Impact Digital.
The agency has been awarded the digital mandate for all three radio businesses of the HT Media Group – Fever FM, Radio Nasha and Radio One. Dentsu Impact also handles the creative duties for Hindustan Times and Hindustan Hindi – the two leading dailies from the HT Media group.
Speaking on the development, Rajan Bhalla, Chief Marketing Officer, HT Media said: “We have been associated with Dentsu Impact for a long time and have immense trust in the capabilities of the team. The agency’s forward-thinking approach in embracing the evolving market today, and the intent of giving us synergised solutions for digital and offline is something that helped us come to this decision. We hope to see some great work being rolled out soon.”
Added Amit Wadhwa, President, Dentsu Impact: “At Dentsu Impact, we have a clear vision of becoming a truly digitally enabled agency, and that was the thinking behind setting up our social media division. It is extremely encouraging to see clients embrace our vision and see the kind of value we bring in. Our relationship with HT Media is an old one and one that we really cherish, and we are thankful to them for placing their trust in us once again.”
By A Correspondent
Dentsu Impact has released its latest campaign for Hindi daily – Hindustan. Titled ‘Aathwa Phera’, the campaign focuses on the importance of an equal status that both husband and wife should enjoy in a marriage.
Commenting on the campaign, Rajan Bhalla, CMO, HT Media Group, said: “Hindustan is a progressive brand, and believes that new perspectives have the power to bring about positive change in the society. Aathwa Phera is an initiative that will connect deeply and emotionally and it will evangelise the core brand positioning of Tarraki Ka Naya Nazariya. Most importantly it will bring home the message of gender equality in the society.”
Speaking about the concept, Soumitra Karnik, CCO, Dentsu Impact added: “The narrative of gender equality has been there for a while now. However, we still hear stories every day that prove there is still a lot to be done to ensure equal status for women (specially in certain regions). Everyone talks about equality in the workplace, jobs, opportunities etc., but what about our homes? What about the husband treating his wife as an equal? This is where our concept came from. We want each and every man to take a vow that he will support his wife and ensure her equal status in a marriage.”
Koovs plc, the London-listed fashion online business, has joined forces with strategic partner and investor HT Media to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, by profiling five amazing young women, famous in India in five very different fields.
The daily features will leverage the reach of The Hindustan Times and its Fever 104 FM radio station with profiles in The Hindustan Times HTCity section and radio interviews running parallel on the evening primetime Fever 104 FM daily.
This new initiative is part of the continuing strategic partnership between Koovs and HT Media.HT Media Group has invested £3 million and holds a 6.16 per cent stake in Koovs plc. Said Piyush Gupta, chief financial officer at HT Media: “This is a great initiative to engage our young audience. We have a huge belief in the long-term investment prospect with Koovs.â€
Added Mary Turner, CEO Koovs: “This campaign brings together the reach of HT Media’s channels with Koovs following to provide the right platform to profile these dynamic and inspiring young women.â€
By A Correspondent
Minute Media is bringing its revolutionary contributor-driven sports-media platform to India in a joint venture with HT Media Group.
The new joint venture will launch 90min, Powered by HT, to serve millions of football fans in South Asia in English and later in Hindi. Built on 90min’s next-generation mobile and socially driven technology, the site will offer the latest news, commentary, statistics and visuals on global football to an increasingly passionate Indian market across HT Media Group’s properties.
“India is not just home to one of the world’s largest football fan bases, at 170 million and growing, but more than 20 million football fans are already active on social media. That’s where our content comes in,” said Asaf Peled, Founder and CEO of Minute Media. “We see a tremendous need to provide brands, publishers, and fans with a platform to generate and share football related content across web, mobile and social based channels. Our strategic partnership with HT Media is the perfect gateway to introduce our open technology platform into the Indian market and give a powerful voice to the growing number of football fans across India.â€
90min, Powered by HT will feature an array of topics created by the fans using various multimedia formats including video, polls, slideshows and interactive polls. Powered by Hydra, Minute Media’s proprietary content management platform, publishers such as HT Media can feature or embed its rich content across their media properties.  Global advertising partners and local brands will also be able to reach consumers through customized content marketing campaigns across 90min India’s platform.
Announcing the Joint Venture, Rajiv Verma, Group CEO of HT Media, said: “We are very pleased to partner with 90min.com, the fastest growing soccer site in the world with over 50 million monthly users, and bring to India 90min.in which will provide a platform for the massively expanding number of soccer fans in the country to engage with and be a part of the global soccer community and conversation. 90min.in is a contributor-led offering in English, and soon in Hindi, and is available across web, mobile and social platforms. In the coming months, we intend to build scale into this hyper-connected fan platform, covering of course all of the best of global soccer and the biggest global tournaments, but also the fast emerging Indian soccer leagues, teams and players.
The idea is to bring together the proven platform of 90min in engaging football fans and HT Media’s established reach with audiences, brands and customers.â€
“This is a perfect pairing for football fans in India,” said Marcus Brauchli, managing partner of North Base Media, a minority investor in both 90min India and Minute Media and a partner of HT Media in the MediaHack accelerator. “A football match lasts 90 minutes. 90min is the place football fans can go online or on mobile in the 146 and a half hours every week when their favorite teams aren’t on the pitch.”
The 90min partnership with HT Media comes after a year of rapid growth for Minute Media. Its global audience has climbed from 7.5 million unique visitors a month to 55 million global unique visitors in the past 18 months. More than 110 million users engage with 90min through social media monthly and 70 percent of the audience is under the age of 25. Minute Media enables more than 4,000 fan journalists to create a new form of rich, interactive, social content and is currently generating more than 15,000 pieces of curated content per month in 10 languages. Last October, the company closed a $15 million round of funding, bringing its total funding to $45 million, led by leading venture capital firms Battery Ventures, Dawn Capital, Gemini Ventures, North Base Media and ProSieben.
By A Correspondent
Hindustan Media Ventures Limited (HMVL) recently launched its 10th edition in the state of UP from Moradabad. With this, Hindustan completes its footprint across the two states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand. It is now printed from 18 centres across the states of UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi.
Commenting on the launch, Benoy Roychowdhury, ED, HMVL said: “Moradabad is a unique region of Uttar Pradesh that has placed India on the global map through its exports of over Rs2,200 crore of brass artifacts annually. Through the launch of our Moradabad edition, Hindustan now serves the entire footprint of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand – two progressive and prosperous states with a rich, cultural heritage.”
Sharing his views on the launch, Amit Chopra, CEO, HMVL said: “With our launch in Moradabad, we mark the completion of our journey of expansion that began in 2005. We now serve this economically powerful and culturally rich zone. As in our other markets, Hindustan will work to create reader delight through a high-quality newspaper and continuous engagement. We will become partners in progress for the citizens of the region. I am confident that Hindustan will emerge as the preferred newspaper for the people in this region.”
Rajan Bhalla, (Head-Marketing, Strategic Businesses – HT Media) said: “The core proposition of Hindustan is ‘Tarakki ko chahiye naya nazariya’ – central to our brand and activation campaigns. We approached Moradabad with this very distinct perspective. Our Election Campaign “Aao Rajneeti Karein” reflects our commitment towards the state of UP and creating positive social impact.”
Hindustan’s Moradabad edition has started with a strong 1.1 lakh circulation, a number that is unsurpassed in that zone. Moradabad launch comes on the back of the recent Aligarh edition launch which continues to progress by leaps and bounds; setting new benchmarks of journalism and reader connect.
Hindustan Media Ventures Limited (HMVL) is the publisher of the leading Hindi newspaper – Hindustan, Hindi magazines Nandan and Kadambini and the news website livehindustan.com. Hindustan, which is the fastest growing daily in the country has presence in the states of UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand & Delhi, with a Total Readership of 3.75 crore.
The company is a subsidiary of the HT Media Group – a diversified media group with interests in Radio, print & online media.