MxMIndia

Tag: Republic TV

  • After launch in the MENA region and North America, this is the next overseas expansion of the media channel

    Republic Media launches operations in the UK

    By A Correspondent

     

    Republic Media Network’s news channel R. Bharat will now be seen in the UK through the Sky platform. The channel started beaming from yesterday, August 15 and will be available at channel number 708.  After launch in MENA Region and North America, this is the next overseas expansion of the media channel.

     

    Talking about the launch, Priya Mukherjee, President – Distribution & International Revenue at Republic Media Network said: “After the superlative performance of Republic TV as the No 1 English News channel in India since its inception in 2017 till date and its successful run in the MENA Region and North America, we are delighted to bring Republic Bharat to its viewers in the UK through Sky. With our compelling content, huge fondness and appreciation for the channel from the Indian diaspora internationally we will endeavour to build value through our partners for all the stakeholders.”

     

    The separate beam is being telecast in alliance with World View Media Limited, Channel partner for Republic Media Network in the UK. Talking about the association, Manish Vasisht – Director of World View Media Limited said: “This association is exciting as we will use our international experience to grow the brand of Republic Media Network overseas.”

     

     

  • The top Tier I and II cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Gurgaon notched the traffic

    Republic TV’s HD OTT boasts record watchtime on Counting Day

    By A Correspondent

     

    English news channel Republic TV is impressed with its Counting Day numbers of 122 million watch minutes on its digital live stream. The top Tier I and II cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Gurgaon are said to have notched up traffic and recorded deepest engagement. Republic TV’s digital platform also recorded its biggest global audience mainly from USA, UAE, Australia and Canada. It may be noted that MxMIndia has not verified the data with any source.

     

    Said Ashwin Rao, Director, India at Limelight Networks: “Millions of viewers in India and around the world tuned into Republic TV for the much anticipated 2019 Lok Sabha Elections results. While the traffic spikes were expected, Republic TV successfully managed to provide a seamless and a broadcast quality experience on millions of connected devices to their India and global customer base.”

     

    Arnab Goswami

    Added Arnab Goswami, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Republic Media Network, in a statement: “News is instantaneous and video news access across devices makes Republic TV the most accessible news brand. Video consumptions have sky-rocketed during the Election season and Republic TV clearly emerges a leader amongst its fellow publishers. With 60% of our audience being below the age of 35, we are extremely confident that we will start a wave of knowledge that will attract more such inquisitive minds and provoke them to think”.

     

     

  • Jagran Prakashan won two Gold medals, while Viacom18, Sony Pictures Network, Tree Design and Tonic Worldwide were awarded one Gold medal each

    Jagran, others win big at Montreux

    By A Correspondent

     

    At the recently conducted 30th Golden Award of Montreux Switzerland Festival, Indian agencies won six gold medals across the categories of Media, Design, TV/Cinema and Events.

     

    Of the winners, Jagran Prakashan won two Gold medals, while Viacom18, Sony Pictures Network, Tree Design and Tonic Worldwide were awarded one Gold medal each.

     

    Jagran Prakashan won in the media category for their work on “Cleaning Mindsets before Cleaning India’’ and “The Conspiracy of Silence’’. Viacom18 won for “India’s Got Talent’’ in the events category. In the TV Cinema category, Sony Pictures Network won Gold for “My Second Country – The 2018 FIFA World Cup’’ while Tonic Worldwide’s entry for MTV titled  “Woofer’’ also won Gold. Tree Design won Gold for “Love Knows No Boundaries’’ for Cadbury’s Mondelez Silk Packaging in the category of design.

     

    Also, Republic TV was awarded with two Finalist awards while Viacom18 and Jagran Prakashan won three Finalist awards each. Mathrubhumi Publication, Tree Design and Ignite Media each won a finalist award too.

     

     

  • For India’s future to be robust, the media has to be even more robust, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Sound, fury & graphics on Results TV

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    One thing one has to say for our beloved news channels is that they do not let us down. You are guaranteed a proper Indian jatra-tamasha when it comes to election results coverage. Your TV screen is covered with colours, faces, numbers, words all competing for attention. Graphics run around everywhere, and they change faster than a pulsar can rotate on its own axis – 17 times in one second, I believe in the case of one.

    I have not understood until today where these channels get their figures from because every channel gets different numbers on leads and trends! As you switch from one to the other, the same party can win between 283 and 291 in the space of eight channels and 10 seconds. And the best for me is that none of them tally with the Election Commission’s results website.

    Aah, well. Having been forced to run through these channels thanks to this column, I found that surprise surprise, the least scary and most readable graphics were on India Today, although once people started speaking you had to run for cover. The easiest to watch was Mirror Now with Faye D’Souza providing a friendly face and personable presence to viewers. The most “sound and fury”, as expected, was on Times Now, with strong competition between Rahul Shivshankar and Navika Kumar as to who could outshout the other (the guests had to try really hard here).

    CNNNews18 was less obnoxious than I thought it would be. NewsX was more watchable than I had assumed, although there were too many faces on the screen. Wion was boring by comparison but less frenetic. Tiranga TV was all right. The most amusing was Republic TV because from what I could understand, Arnab Goswami speaks mainly in Hindi now. NDTV remains the most reliable and generally un-screechy. I missed Dorab Sopariwala, usually a regular with Dr Prannoy Roy, but perhaps I watched at the wrong times?

    Most news channels of course, true to type, were overjoyed at the projected massive mandate for Narendra Modi and the BJP. (How close the exit polls, otherwise known as pre-voting surveys, were to the actual results, we shall discuss in another column.) So therefore, no chance of expecting much journalism from the usual suspects into the next five years.

    The twin concepts of showing truth to power, of holding a government accountable for its policies and actions, will once again fall to a smattering of newspapers and news sites and a couple of news channels. I sincerely hope that I am wrong. But, judging from the last five years and the looks of utter triumphant joy on the faces of anchors like Rahul Shivshankar, Navika Kumar, Rahul Kanwal at a BJP win, to name just three of the usual suspects, we have to be prepared for more of the same.

    For the rest, the battle is on. We must be prepared for a rise in bigotry and notwithstanding the Sensex and Nifty rises of May 23, India’s economic situation remains precarious. For India’s future to be robust, India’ democratic institutions which includes the media has to be even more robust. Here’s our test. I can guarantee now, unless a huge reckoning happens, we are going to fail again.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. Her views here are personal

  • It may be noted that since there is no third-party measurement of access data, the Republic TV numbers of watch minutes has not been independently verified by MxMIndia

    Republic TV’s HD feed reports new high on OTT platforms on Exit Polls Day

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading English news channel Republic TV has reported healthy numbers on its outreach via smartphones and digital devices on OTT platform, telco apps and OEMs like Hotstar, Jio TV, Zee5, SonyLIV, Vodafone Play, OLAPlay, Mi TV, Samsung My Galaxy, PayTm, YouTube and JustDial.

     

    The Republic TV ‘Double’ Exit poll show saw 19.8 million watch minutes being clocked digitally. Source – Brightcove Analytics, Hotstar Analytics, YouTube Analytics and Frrole Insights. The above data does not include data from Jio TV. It may be noted that since there is no third-party measurement of access data, the Republic TV numbers of watch minutes has not been independently verified by MxMIndia.

     

    Said Vikas Khanchandani, Group CEO, Republic Media Network: “News and sports categories have been the driving force for video consumption across AVOD Platforms. News is here and now and video news access across devices makes Republic TV the most accessible News brand. Our teams have worked hard on building capacity and technology to offer a native user experience with Ad Serving (SSID) capability. The demographic profile across our own platforms are extremely young with 60% of the audience under the age of 35. We are extremely confident that this will build a yet another strong platform for advertisers to reach the younger, aware, informed and engaged audiences.”

     

     

  • Republic Media Network and Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami has entered into an agreement to buy back shares from investors like the Rajeev Chandrashekhar-owned Asianet News Media

    Arnab Gowami buys back “some” Asianet shares as Republic completes two years

    By A Correspondent

     

    Republic Media Network and Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami has entered into an agreement to buy back shares from investors like the Rajeev Chandrashekhar-owned Asianet News Media. Notes a communique: “On the two-year anniversary, the company transforms into the Republic Media Network. This anniversary also marks a major milestone for the company as its valuation has closed in on Rs 1,200 crore in just two years.”

     

    Commenting on the buyback, Chandrashekhar, who is now part of the Bharatiya Janata Party, said: “I am pleased with the growth and success of Republic and Arnab. I am happy to have supported the vision of building a strong media-tech platform. In pure financial terms too, this has been a successful investment. Post Arnab’s buying back of some shares, Asianet News Media will continue to support Republic, however as a minority portfolio investor.” The exact quantum of the Asianet and Chandrashekhar holding is not known, though in earlier discussions with the media, Goswami had indicated that he had a significant majority in the venture.

     

    Added Goswami: “We have built a strong media brand in partnership with Asianet News Media – and are poised for growth. We have expanded rapidly in the last two years. Partnering with Asianet News Media has been terrific. Their strong track record and competence as savvy media tech investors has helped us tremendously in our exponential growth. Going forward as Republic Media Network, I look forward to diversifying and growing Republic across all platforms.”

     

    From being #1 from Week 1 to being on top of the heap even after a hundred weeks is creditable no doubt. Republic TV had launched on May 6, 2017 with much fanfare and it went on to launch a Hindi sibling, Republic Bharat, in February 2019.

     

     

  • Accompanying the high decibel launch is a campaign across media around the theme of nationalism saying “Rastra Ke Naam”

    Republic Bharat gets set for Feb 2 launch with blast across media

    By A Correspondent

    Republic TV’s Hindi channel is all set to launch tomorrow, Saturday, February 2. And accompanying the high decibel launch on television, is a campaign across media around the theme of nationalism saying “Rastra Ke Naam”. The channel will start transmission at 6am on Feb 2.

    Notes a communique: “Over 700 hoardings spread across 53 cities in major Hindi-speaking states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi/NCR, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha have been booked wearing the brand slogan ‘Rashtra Ke Naam’.”

    Accompanying the on-ground presence, Republic Bharat’s launch campaign has also targeted the HSM market on television. A partnership with the Star network takes the buzz into the audiences of Star Bharat, Star Utsav, Star Utsav Movies, Star Pravah, Star Jalsha, Star Gold, Star Sports. And then there are FTA channels like Enterr10, Dangal, Bhojpuri Cinema and Fakt Marathi with FCT and non-FCT elements. In addition, Star Networks English channels have also been leveraged to drive the launch messaging.

    On radio, partnerships with Big FM and Radio City have been inked to take the messaging to the bread-and-butter Hindi-speaking states.

    The various digital media platforms have also been deployed… from the voices of India sending in their message of ‘Ab Hindi Ho Jaye’ to snippets on social media, smses and Whatsapp messages and social media presence with over 70 videos.

    And finally, print publications like Dainik Jagran and Amar Ujala have been deployed to ensure maximum eyeballs turn to the channel.

  • Republic Bharat, the Hindi channel from the Republic TV stable, has unveiled a new campaign of promos

    Republic Bharat launches new campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    There are no dates yet, but in the run-up to its launch, Republic Bharat, the Hindi channel from the Republic TV stable, has unveiled a new campaign of promos.

     

    Said Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of Republic Network: “Republic Bharat will bring back news on Hindi Channels. Our brand of journalism-putting the nation first has been accepted across the country and I am very excited about bringing this now and over 150 million more”.

     

     

  • A combination of the best regional and national news at your fingertips now

    Republic TV to live-stream on Zee5

    By A Correspondent

     

    Zee5 has strengthened its offering in the news content space by launching the live-stream of Republic TV on its platform.

     

    Announcing the partnership, Manish Aggarwal, Business Head, Zee5 India said: “With the addition of Republic TV, the platform is looking to connect with viewers who are digitally savvy but do not want to lose on the live news experience. Our association with Republic TV aligns well with our commitment to making Zee5 as the one-stop destination for digital content consumption.”

     

     

  • Our Progressive Web App gives users the best of both worlds on mobile devices, says Vikas Khanchandani, CEO of Republic TV

    Republic World launces progressive web app

    By A Correspondent

     

    Vikas Khanchandani

    Republic World, part of Republic TV’s umbrella brand, has launch a Progressive Web App (PWA). Said Vikas Khanchandani, CEO of Republic TV: “Republic World has always been a trendsetter instead of a trend follower. We have always been the forerunners to present users with content and technology that they find valuable and easy to use. In line with this philosophy, we have become India’s first news brand to launch one of India’s lightest mobile apps. Our Progressive Web App gives users the best of both worlds on mobile devices. PWA will especially be useful for our viewers in Tier II & III towns who are looking for ways to access high-quality news and stay informed about the latest happenings in and around the country & world.”

     

    Ben Morrell

    Added Ben Morrell, General Manager, Asia at Brightcove:  “Republic World has been a game changer in the India market since their launch last year and they continue to look at new ways to continuously bring world class user experiences to their site, and the implementation of PWA only serves to elevate its position as India’s most innovative English news brand online.”

     

     

  • I&B and Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathorewas chief guest

    Republic awards Indian biz leaders in Dubai

    By A Correspondent

     

    Republic TV conducted a leadership summit and awards to felicitate business achievers in the Middle East. The Republic TV Gulf Indian Leadership Summit and Awards 2018, saw I&B and Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore as chief guest along with Vipul, Consul General of India in Dubai and Surjit Bhalla, Member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, Republic editor-in-chief and chief promoter Arnab Goswami and Sameer Manchanda, Chairman, DEN Network.

     

    Speaking at the event, Goswami presented an ambitious map for Indian media worldwide. He asked, ‘Why is it that the robust Indian media cannot produce international content and compete with the BBC and CNN’s of the world? Within the next two years, not later than 2020, Republic TV or any other Indian media must aim to do so. An Indian channel producing world coverage watched by everyone in hotels all around the world like this one in Dubai.’

     

    Added Rathore: “Western perspective is all good but we have had enough of it. We now need Indian perspective of the world. All of you are ambassadors of India overseas and your voice is equally important.’”

     

    Most awardees shared their critical views on the Indian Gulf business relationship and their stories of success with inspiring words and nuggets of wisdom on the panel discussions hosted by Goswami and Republic TV’s Shivani Gupta.The Dubai chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India hosted the event along with Republic TV.

     

     

  • CAF India and Republic Network are also working together to build the India Giving Index

    Republic partners with CAF India to nurture Culture of Giving

    By A Correspondent

     

    Arnab Goswami

    Republic TVis celebrating its first year anniversary by partnering Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India to fuel and accelerate the spirit of giving among Indians.

     

    Said Arnab Goswami: “We don’t just believe in giving back to society. We believe in encouraging people to do the same. Being generous brings out the kindest best in people and makes them more empathic. We want to enable the citizens of our nation to experience the satisfaction and joy associated with the spirit of giving.”

     

    Vikas Khanchandani

    Added Vikas Khanchandani, CEO, Republic TV: “As a news brand, we feel strongly that our platform should engage in meaningful conversations that foster positive impact in the society. We want to commemorate our first anniversary towards the cause of a more inclusive India, and we are committed to contributing INR 2 Crore upwards of media assets to promote this initiative. As a news brand we want to leverage our widespread reach to stoke the fire of giving back. As a culture, we have always been a generous society, and we want to highlight that there are many meaningful ways of contributing.”

     

    Meenakshi Batra

    Said Meenakshi Batra, CEO, CAF India: “We are very excited about this partnership. India has always had a deep rooted culture of giving. We hope to further nurture this by spreading awareness and encouraging each and every  citizen to come forth and become the drivers of strategic giving culture in the country. With Republic TV’s reach and CAF India’s expertise we are sure that the momentum of giving will gain traction amongst people worldwide!”

     

    CAF India and Republic Network are working together to build the India Giving Index which will be based on extensive research across the country, added a communique.