DB Corp Limited has announced the appointment of Pathik Shah as Chief Executive Officer for DB Digital, its digital products business.
Prior to joining Dainik Bhaskar Group, Pathik was associated with Hike Messenger for seven years. He was designated as the Vice President, Products and also led M&A functions.
Commenting on the appointment, Pawan Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director, DB Corp Limited said: “We are pleased to welcome Pathik on-board. We are confident that his proven ability to drive strategic growth especially in digital consumer products through product innovation, and his leadership skills will contribute to the Group’s ambition of further strengthening the brand. Dainik Bhaskar Group is at an exciting stage of growth and we look forward to achieving several milestones on the journey ahead and reinforcing our position as one of India’s largest and dynamic media conglomerates.”
Added Shah: “I am delighted to be a part of the DB Digital team of India’s largest print media company, Dainik Bhaska Group. Having a leadership position in the print medium, we’re now aiming to become the dominant player in digital news and content products built for India, targeting the enormous pool of ~500 million users who are either existing or soon-to-become users of internet directly via mobile phones, in the next couple of years. We have the opportunity of a lifetime to build a rich, mobile-first news product for this market and innovate on key aspects like engaging content formats and a seamless product experience optimized for India while continuing to deliver what we’re already known for – high quality, trusted content. It will be my sincere endeavour to contribute meaningfully towards achieving success in this ambitious mission.”
We missed this news last week. My FM, the wing of the Dainik Bhaskar group, has elevated Rahul J Namjoshi as its Chief Operating Officer (COO). Namjoshi has been with the organisation since 2007 – first as Station Head – Ahmedabad and later as National Head – Corporate Sales.
Said Pawan Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group on the appointment: “Rahul has been associated with us since 2007 and under his guidance, My FM has achieved many milestones. As a Business Head, he has played a pivotal role in driving growth. We are confident that he will continue to lead the organization on its journey through the steady growth path”
On his elevation, Namjoshi said: “I am delighted by the faith the company has shown in me and look forward to further strengthen its brand position in retail and corporate markets. Will try to use my experience in the industry to help contributing to the growth story of the brand and reach to higher scales in this challenging phase”
DivyaBhaskar.com, with an all new look and a wide canvas of content will now impart knowledge through news coverage from state, country and the globe with a special focus on spirituality, literature and women centric content.
Speaking about the relaunch, Pawan Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group said: “People from Gujarat are known for their love for literature, spirituality and gender sensitivity. The renewed content philosophy of DivyaBhaskar.com will cater to all these attributes.. We are moving beyond news and it’s a new beginning for us to continue our legacy and dominance in digital footprint in Gujarat. Further to news and information, we will now provide our readers with various unique features like Gujarat’s biggest Women Only Jobs Platform, Community wall for spiritual Gurus, a depositary to digital literature work and profiling of 111 temples of Gujarat.â€
Harrish M Bhatia, CEO of M​y​ FM, is being elevated and brought back to DB group core business of print media as President. In the new role, all state COOs of DB group, will report to him. This move will be effective starting November​ 2, ​2017.
Bhatia joined M​y​ FM in Oct​ ’2001 and spent 16 years of his career with ​the group. Prior to moving to the ​r​adio division of the group​,​ he spent around ​six​ years in print where he was head of the Rajasthan Unit. Subsequently, he laid the foundation of Divya Bhaskar in Gujarat and also led the Corp​orate​ Sales & Marketing vertical of the ​p​rint ​b​usiness. Then in the year 2007, he took charge of ​the ​radio ​b​usiness and established M​y​ FM.
​Speaking​ on the ​development, Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp Ltd​ said:, “Harrish is an old hand in the system, with his vast exposure across brands and categories and deep understanding of the various functions in the Print business, he will be able to take the business to new heights. I wish him all the very best in the new role.â€
Rahul Namjoshi, who was earlier the Corporate Sales Head, has been elevated as Business Head, MY FM keeping in view Bhatia’s movement into print business. In his new role​,​ ​Namjoshi will report to Pawan Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director. ​Namjoshi joined the organi​s​ation in March​ 20​07 and held the role of Regional Head Gujarat and Cluster Head – NCR till 2012. In 2012 he moved into the role of National Corporate Sales Head and has been also handling the client solutions team and the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
​Added Pawan Agarwal​: “Rahul has been with us since 2007, his strong understanding of the radio business both at the retail and corporate level made him the obvious choice for us, I am sure M​y​ FM will achieve new heights under his leadership.â€
DB Corp Limited (DBCL) announced that according to ComScoreratings of November 2016, DB Digital is now the second largest digital media group in India. Bhaskar Group sites at the second place, dominates the position with 1.02 billion page views which stands with a wide lead of around three times to the media house at the third place.
Across all digital properties demonstrating steady growth, unique visitors has risen by 124 per cent YOY to 33.4 million in November 2016 from 14.9 million in November 2015 and page views grew by 228per centYOY to 1.02 billion for the month of November 2016 from 312 million in November 2015. DB Digital’s improving operational performance driven by various advertising monetisation efforts, hyper-local news and content coverage and exciting audience activation are also translating into better revenue growth for the business.
Commenting on the launch, Pawan Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director, D B Corp Ltd said “There could not have been a better start to the new year. DB Digital’s acknowledgement as the second largest digital group is a reflection of our total commitment to our vision to create the most preferred destination for content by leveraging the digital revolution taking place in India. Our strategy has centred on ensuring that our digital content and all our platforms are consistently evolving to ensure stronger audience engagement through news coverage across over 800 cities. We are also working hard to create efficient monetization models to boost our profitability structures. Our mobile focus since the past two years has yielded very encouraging results and we believe that through DB Digital’s differentiated WAP and web enabled properties, there’s tremendous potential to be capitalised, considering that the digital market in India is still at a nascent stage.â€
Of the various newsmedia conferences organized in the country, the annual International News Media Association South Asia Conference is by far the most well-attended. Yes, there are newspaper groups which are conspicuous by their absence, and owners who have a fair say in decision-making aren’t all there, yet care is taken to not allow it to lose focus.
Each conference is curated and this year saw longer panel discussions, shorter case studies (read: self-plugs) and a newer set of speakers with the theme being ‘Print: Thriving in the age of digital’ . There were more media agency honchos addressing delegates (CVL Srinivas, Anupriya Acharya and Lara Balsara) and a panel of editors saw some hard talk on newsroom integration*. There were frequent references to Amazon founder’s acquisition of Washington Post through the conference and how the new digital reality could not be ignored.
Yes, there were a few sessions which saw more chatter than the others, and some of the captains gave Day 2 a miss, but that didn’t prevent some engaging talk over one-and-a-half days.
Arunabh Das Sharma
On Day 1, the registration started over lunch with an address by Jagran group CEO and President, INMA South Asia Division. Mukund Mohan, the scheduled conference moderator who is Managing Director, Microsoft Ventures in Asia, wasn’t present so Arunabh Das Sharma, President, BCCL and INMA South Asia Board of Directors was moderator.
So what was the main takeaway from the conference? In keeping with the times, let’s put this in less than 140 characters: Newspapers and Digital will co-exist. Concentrate on just one, and you’ll perish. Short video clips are the future and revenue-friendly.
Earl J Wilkinson
This was very eloquently presented by Earl J Wilkinson, CEO and executive director, INMA, who ensures INMA is on top of engagement with the industry and in thought leadership. Storytelling is vital, he stressed in this co-existence of the digital and printed forms.
Mr Wilkinson of course knows that the takeaways are important in meets like these where there are a fair number of people in attendance are company-sponsored and don’t really care much about the content.
Lara Balsara
But the quote of the conference came from Lara Balsara, Executive Director, Madison World. She said: “Print is like the Sun. It keeps rising in the East and declining in the West.” Â The young Ms Balsara words are sure to be used in many sales presentations in the coming months.
In fact one senior adsales honcho told us in private that he will use this the next time a Madison buyer tries to beat him on price, saying television is more effective than print.
Ashish Pherwani
While each session was critical to the theme, the CEOs’ panel moderated by Ashish Pherwani of Ernst & Young was the highlight. The topic was: ‘Why is Publishing Continuing to Thrive in South Asia?’ It also gave that vital glimpse of what the industry leaders — Ravi Dhariwal, CEO, BCCL; DD Purkayastha, MD & CEO, Ananda Bazar Patrika group; Jacob Mathew, executive editor, Malayala Manorama; Pawan Agarwal, non-executive director, Dainik Bhaskar Group and Mr Sanjay Gupta of Jagran — are thinking and the directions their respective organizations may be taking in the next few years:
Ravi Dhariwal
According to Mr Dhariwal, newspapers are an extraordinarily good value consumer product and there is much emphasis on habit-forming. There is a fair deal of innovation happening here and the sector sees stiff competition, the battles being tougher than what are waged by a Pepsi or Hindustan Unilever.
Mr Purkayastha raised the issue of innovation and asserted that the digital media penetration is much lesser in South Asia than the West. Regional publications were customizing with relevant content and there was a strong growth in advertising. The ABP CEO and MD added that there is a lot more potential for growth. Newspapers are very adaptive of the times and have been diversifying into other segments like television, radio, OOH etc.
Mr Mathew stressed on the quality of journalism and said the demand of news was being met by newspapers. The hyperlocal coverage had helped build communities and the form of the newspaper offered a range of ads that can’t be executed on digtal.
Mr Agarwal threw some points not stated by the others. He said that in Tier 2 and 3 towns, the commuting time wasn’t very high and hence the window of opportunities for newspapers is high as people step out for work only at around 9-9.30am. Print are a fantastic platform for retail advertisers and a day’s paper is cheaper than a cup of tea, he added.
Sanjay Gupta
Mr Gupta underscored the vital role of print in news media and its credibility since television news is just 20 years’ old. There is much headroom with newspapers and the editorial operations are managed at a low cost.
The next edition of INMA South Asia Conference will also be held around this time next year in Delhi.
*MxMIndia unofficially supported the INMA South Asia Conference 2013
Of the various newsmedia conferences organized in the country, the annual International News Media Association South Asia Conference is by far the most well-attended. Yes, there are newspaper groups which are conspicuous by their absence, and owners who have a fair say in decision-making aren’t all there, yet care is taken to not allow it to lose focus.
