MxMIndia

Tag: Sakal Media Group

  • This change in name will enable the organisation to effectively capture its national stature, notes a communique

    MRUC to be now known as MRUC India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Media Research Users Council (MRUC), a registered not-for-profit industry body, has announced its new name – Media Research Users Council India (MRUC India). This change in name will enable the organisation to effectively capture its national stature, notes a communique.

     

    Said Pratap Pawar, Chairman of MRUC and Chairman, Sakal Media Group: “The change in name only reaffirms our commitment in advancing the cause of media research in India. MRUC India will continue to provide the industry with research studies that are robust, reliable and of global standard.”

     

    Established in 1994, MRUC India has over 150 members with representation from advertisers, agencies, publishers and broadcasters.

     

     

  • Eros International has also appointed  Vijay Vaishnav as Chief Finance Officer at Eros Now and Bishwarup Chakrabarti as Legal-Head at Eros Digital

    Pradeep Dwivedi joins Eros India as CEO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Pradeep Dwivedi

    In Greek mythology, Eros is the god of love, the son of Aphrodite. And now comes the news that Pradeep Dwivedi, the M&E professional the industry loves, has joined Eros International Media Limited (EIML) as its Chief Executive Officer.

     

    EIML is a majority-owned subsidiary of Eros International Plc, a leading player in the global Indian film entertainment domain. Dwivedi, a popular, high profile and very visible face in the Indian A&M industry, will be, as per a communique, responsible for managing business growth and operations of the company and will also be responsible for all commercial negotiations and representations in various markets, forums, customers, vendors and regulatory authorities.

     

    Said Kishore Lulla, Executive Director, EIML and Executive Chairman and CEO of Eros International Plc, in a statement: “We are delighted to have Pradeep Dwivedi joining us as CEO at Eros India. His energy, leadership credentials and relationships across multiple industries and deep understanding of media & technology business will be an asset in driving our growth. I am looking forward to working with him in successfully executing our strategy”

     

    Added Dwivedi: “The Indian media and entertainment industry is poised for rapid transformation in the digital era and Eros India, with its strong legacy and innovative vision of Mr. Kishore Lulla, is all set to take advantage of the enormous market opportunities ahead. This provides a significant springboard to lead large-scale creation of value and business transformation. I am keen to work with all our stakeholders to accelerate growth and further success in the next exciting phase of its journey.”

     

    Dwivedi was until last year CEO of the Sakal Media Group, and before that was Chief Corporate Sales and Marketing Officer of the Dainik Bhaskar Group. He is a superactive officebearer of industry associations like the India chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) as well as of The Advertising Club.

     

    Meanwhile, Eros International has also appointed  Vijay Vaishnav as Chief Finance Officer at Eros Now and Bishwarup Chakrabarti as Legal-Head at Eros Digital.

     

     

  • Pawar took over from from Ashish Bhasin, CEO – Greater South and Chairman & CEO – India, Dentsu Aegis Network

    Pratap Pawar is MRUC chairman for 2019-21, Shashi Sinha is vice-chair

    By A Correspondent

     

    Shashi Sinha

    It may have been raining cats and dogs in the rest of the city, but Media Research Users Council (MRUC) held its Annual General Meeting and unanimously elected Pratap Pawar, Chairman of Sakal Media Group as its new Chairman, and Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands as its Vice Chairman. The announcement was made at the MRUC’s Board meeting following the 25th Annual General Meeting. Pawar took over from from Ashish Bhasin, CEO – Greater South and Chairman & CEO – India, Dentsu Aegis Network.

     

    Pratap Pawar

    Said Pawar while thanking the MRUC Board: “I thank Ashish Bhasin for his immense contribution to the growth of the Council and the IRS in particular. I assure the stakeholders of MRUC that together we will indeed take IRS to new heights and provide the industry with a more robust, reliable and accurate study. We will continue with our all-inclusive and democratic approach to address industry concerns and provide acceptable solutions which will help the industry make effective business decisions.”

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Added Bhasin: “It was indeed an honour and privilege to helm such an august body of industry stalwarts over the past couple of years. There were challenges MRUC was faced with when I took over, with the existence of the IRS study itself being questioned, having been out of the market for almost four years. From there to today – where, not only is the IRS back on track with quarterly updates, butis now universally accepted as the currency for print – it has been an incredible journey.I truly appreciate the support of the MRUC Board as well as key industry stakeholders who helped us restore the IRS to its past glory. I am confident that Pratap Pawar will take the IRS and MRUC to even greater heights. My best wishes to him and the new Board members.”

     

     

  • Menon was Chief Marketing Officer at Sakal Media Group until recently

    QYou Media appoints Krishna Menon as Chief Revenue Officer of Q India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Krishna Menon

    QYou Media Inc has  announced the appointment of Krishna Menon as Chief Revenue Officer of The Q India . Based in Mumbai, Menon will drive the advertising and sponsorship revenue.

     

    Prior to joining Q India, Menon served as Chief Marketing Officer at Sakal Media Group and General Manager at Network 18 Media. Menon will be responsible for increasing advertising sales and boosting digital, channel and mobile platform revenues by creating new opportunities for monetisation. He will also also oversee The Q’s expansion into influencer marketing initiatives.

     

    Sunder Aaron

    Said Sunder Aaron, General Manager at The Q: “The Q India business is growing quickly, and we’re excited to build on this momentum by bringing Krishna onto our executive management team. Krishna has a proven track record of growing media and mobile businesses in the region. He’s also someone who knows how to fashion and cultivate a brand and will serve as a key player as we further grow The Q into the leading channel and programming brand for young Indians aged 20-30 years old.”

     

    Added Menon: “I am thrilled to be joining The Q India team. I look forward to helping build The Q into a premier entertainment brand for young Indians and capitalising on new opportunities to maximise revenue potential through ad sales, channel distribution and influencer campaigns with partners.”

     

     

  • The leadership duo had their continuation endorsed by the current Board at the meeting held immediately post the 24th AGM

    Ashish Bhasin and Pratap Pawar continue to helm MRUC

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network and President of the AAAI and Pratap Pawar, Chairman, Sakal Media Group, will continue in their respective roles as Chairman and Vice Chairman of Media Research Users Council (MRUC), until the next AGM. This was decided last week after the AGM.

     

    Said Bhasin: “After the successful launch of IRS 2017, our aim is to release the IRS more frequently and strengthen the focus on MRUC’s core objective of offering Media Research that goes beyond the flagship study IRS.”

     

    Pratap Pawar

    Added Pawar: “We thank all our members for their continuous support to the MRUC in ensuring the success of IRS 2017. We will carry the momentum forward and ensure the users of IRS do not have to wait long for the next launch of IRS.”

     

     

  • Dailyhunt users will access hyperlocal news content across politics, entertainment, sports, health and agriculture in Marathi and English

    Dailyhunt partners Sakal Media Group to offer hyperlocal content

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dailyhunt has announced its partnership with Sakal Media Group. With this partnership, Dailyhunt will now be able to offer hyperlocal Marathi and English news content on politics, entertainment, sports, health, agriculture and other topics.

     

    Said Virendra Gupta, Founder and CEO, Dailyhunt: “We are excited to partner with the Sakal Media Group. This partnership is a natural progression towards building robust local language content for our loyal, ever-increasing user base. The local language is the single biggest opportunity in the Indian Internet today. The future for us lies in winning the regional language audiences. The core focus of our business is and will always be on regional language content as it plays a significant role in bringing traffic across various verticals of the Dailyhunt Group. It is our privilege to join hands with a brand that has managed to create a huge library of hyperlocal Marathi content and has become a household name across deep pockets of Maharashtra over the last eight decades.”

     

    Added Pradeep Dwivedi, Chief Executive Officer, Sakal Media Group: “We are very happy to partner with Dailyhunt. The Sakal Media Group is poised to take a significant leap forward as it has been expanding its footprint to access audiences across various demographics and geographies in the last few years. We are constantly working towards reaching a wider audience—the Marathi-speaking young audience, not only residing in the State of Maharashtra but also across the length and breadth of the country. We have a large base of loyal readers who choose us for the authentic news and information we provide through our various media platforms. We want give our readers, who are consuming news online and provide them with a similar experience. We have been curating various distribution technologies and we consider Dailyhunt as our natural ally in this process. This partnership is in line with our long-term vision and content distribution strategy.”

     

     

  • The event was directed towards millennials who love music

    Sakal Times Summersault 2018 engages Pune millennials

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sakal Media Group conducted the ‘Sakal Times Summersault’, a music festival on April 28 and 29 at Shiv Chatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi on the outskirts of the city.

     

    Said Krishna Menon, Chief Marketing Officer, Sakal Media Group: “Sakal Media Group is proud to have created yet another intellectual property ‘Sakal Times Summersault’ that amalgamates youth and music onto a single platform. We look forward to building IPs with a purpose, from marketing to consumers, to creating platforms that matter to the audience and enabling them to engage. Sakal Times Summersault along with our partners successfully managed to meet the expectations and we look forward for a mega edition in 2019.” A slew of marketers associated themselves with the music fest.

     

     

  • Helming MRUC in this critical period will be Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network in South Asia. Prataprao Pawar, Chairman of Sakal Media Group

    Ashish Bhasin is MRUC Chairman, Pratap Pawar is Vice-Chair

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s perhaps the most critical year in the existence of the Media Research Users Council and for the beleaguered print media sector.

    After the last IRS study was rubbished by key industry players a few years back, the MRUC is working on an all-new study frequently validated by constituents.

    However, it remains to be seen whether print media players – especially the big ‘uns – take the final verdict of the Nielsen-led research findings with maturity like the television players did a little over two years back when BARC first released its study.

    Helming MRUC in this critical period will be Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network in South Asia. Prataprao Pawar, Chairman of Sakal Media Group.

    Bhasin takes over from I Venkat and Pratap Pawar was handed the baton by Sanjay Tripathy.

     

  • The SMG and DCF is a platform for development of women, youth and all sections of society, says Delivering Change Foundation founder and chairman Abhijit Pawar

    Sakal says ‘Good Morning’ to change with power-packed forum

    By A Correspondent

     

    What’s a regional newspaper group doing conducting a two-day seminar called ‘Delivering Change Forum’ at Mumbai’s Nehru Centre? A lot of hot air, you think. Especially since it’s got Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in attendance along with the top deck of his administration.

     

    Get ready for the tripe, you tell yourself. And then you see some pictures posted on Facebook by a few A&M land honchos, and you tell yourself that they must’ve been in attendance thanks to the missives from the affable CEO.

     

    So you give Day 1 a miss. The tweets are promising, but then that’s what one expects from the official handle of any event. Hence the first half of Day 2 is also missed, although the session themes are inviting.

     

    You finally do the trek to the venue, with the hope of meeting some old friends and consuming the yum batatavada and samosa at the canteen. Plus some diet cola to free yourself of some guilt. And scan the exhibits at the art gallery or the books published by the Centre which you always look up but never buy.

     

    Enter the large, well-airconed hall of Nehru Centre. The head of one of the country’s biggest design shops does a “hey”. Along with her two others from Pune. And she berates you for having missed the first day and a half. But then she’s a friend and well-wisher of the big boss. You discount some of the praise.

     

    You are then accosted by the marathon banker. You really missed it, he said. We move on. You really liked it, huh, we quizzed him. “Of course”. And he said how he had thought of just dropping by for the inauguration on Day 1 and since then has been riveted. “Couldn’t get up from the seat”. And you meet another adlander-cum-athlete who echoes the same. And yet another.

     

    You finally sit in for the first post-lunch session. Mobile in hand, checked into Whatsappto fighting away possible boredom. Cut to three hours later. Fourteen calls missed. Some more from bank and telco DSAs. Several messages unread. Although one did make a few exits, met the big boss, the namesake, and a few other friends, the sessions were indeed engaging, albeit on softer issues like design.

     

    So here’s a report based on the communique received from the Sakal Media Group on the event:

    “Sakal Media Group organised India’s first “Delivering Change Forum” (DCF) on January 24 and 25 in Mumbai.Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the conference co-organised by Sakal Media Group and DCF (the advisory arm of Sakal Media Group), in cooperation with the Maharashtra government and many institutions from across the globe. “This is the right time to implement new concepts leading to transformation in a country which has the largest youth population in the world. We have to strive hard so that these new emerging concepts reach policy makers and then are implemented,” Fadnavis said.

     

    DCF Founder and Chairman Abhijit Pawar elaborated on the concept of the conference. He said: “Connecting boardroom to grassroots is crucial for bringing about a desired change in society and Delivering Change Forum (DCF) aims at connecting the dots and converging efforts for this transformation”.He further added that ‘Maharashtra which has a large pool of youth and it needs to be channelised to bring about the desired transformation’.  Pawar urged participants to join hands in this work. “The SMG and DCF is a platform for development of women, youth and all sections of society,” he said.

     

    Added Pradeep Dwivedi, CEO, Sakal Media Group: “In today’s context, media has to transcend from being a passive informer and act as vital catalyst for larger change and progress in society. Hence, this conference was designed with enriching content and brought a world class line up of speakers discussing the key trends, innovations and concept proven models, all of which with one objective in mind: To help deliver positive change in society and lead more effectively in the current environment.”

     

    Commented Krishna Menon, CMO, Sakal Media Group: ‘Sakal is fulfilling its social commitment through initiatives such as Tanishka and YIN. As the social change is underway, developments in financial, educational and social sectors should reach all sections of society’.

     

    The event culminated in a dinner over discussions with Ratan Tata, Amitabh Bachchan, Fadnavis (and senior government officials), senior advertising professionals like Sam Balsara, amongst others.”

     

    Notes to oneself: Good Morning! (Sakal is morning in English). Send reminder request to Mr CEO for videos of the two-day proceedings. Pawar-err-Power-packed forum indeed.

     

  • Dwivedi will take charge of print dailies, magazines, television, digital business as well as on-ground activations and innovative media solutions businesses

    It’s official. Sakal Media Group appoints Pradeep Dwivedi as CEO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Pradeep Dwivedi

    We told you saw. As reported by MxMIndia a few weeks back, Sakal Media Group has announced the appointment of Pradeep Dwivedi as Chief Executive Officer for the group’s media business which includes print dailies, magazines, television, digital business as well as on-ground activations and innovative media solutions businesses. He was until recently Chief Corporate Sales and Marketing officer at the Dainik Bhaskar group.

     

    Confirming the appointment, Abhijit Pawar, MD, Sakal Media Group, said: “We are excited to have Pradeep Dwivedi joining us as CEO. His exemplary leadership credentials and relationships across multiple industries and deep understanding of media business will be an asset in driving our growth. This is also in alignment with our group vision of sustainable, equitable and measurable socio economic growth and transformation through all its businesses, and I am looking forward to working with him”

     

    Starting his new role, Dwivedi said “I have admired Sakal Media Group for many years and am delighted, therefore, to have been chosen to lead the company in the next exciting phase of its journey. I am keen to work with all stakeholders to achieve growth and further success in the years to come”

     

    Dwivedi will be based in Mumbai and Pune in his new role. He would also work very closely with other initiatives of the group-led independently by seasoned business leaders such as Delivering Change Foundation projects including YIN- Young Inspirators Network, Tanishka Foundation, Global Inspirators Network in building community networks and delivering Smart Village/Smart City projects.

     

  • The Sakal Media Group tops readership charts in Maharashtra and Goa and publishes 5 daily newspapers with 12 editions, 3 weeklies, 3 magazines in Marathi and English

    Salt Brand Solutions bags communications mandate of Sakal Media Group

    By A Correspondent

     

    Maharashtra’s largest independently owned media group has appointed Salt Brand Solutions to represent its communications.Salt Brand Solutions will be spearheading the creative strategy and communication for the Pune based Sakal Media Group.

     

    The Group’s extensive portfolio includes – Sakal, Sakal Times, Gomantak, Gomantak Times, Magazines, Saam TV channel and foundations namely DCF, YIN, SILC, Tanishka and Madhurangan.

     

    Mahesh Chauhan, Founder, Salt Brand Solutions said, “Our engagement with Sakal has been a journey of discovery. What appears to outsiders as a regional media group is actually a dynamic media conglomerate that is transforming itself into a media-ecosystem aimed at creating real, sustainable change on ground. We are eager to bring this story alive to all key stakeholders. Besides, I consider it an honour to be associated with an institution like Sakal.”

     

    “We were impressed by Salt’s thorough understanding of the brand and our ambitions. The team is young and enthusiastic with some great creative work to showcase.” said Jwalant Swaroop, CEO, Sakal Media Group.

     

    The Sakal Media Group tops readership charts in Maharashtra and Goa and publishes 5 daily newspapers with 12 editions, 3 weeklies, 3 magazines in Marathi and English. The newspaper was established in 1932.

     

  • Shailesh Amonkar elevated as Chief Operating Officer at Sakal Media Group

    Shailesh Amonkar is now COO at Sakal

    By A Correspondent

     

    Shailesh Amonkar

    Shailesh Amonkar, Chief Marketing Officer, Sakal Media Group has been elevated to the role of Chief Operating Officer – New Businesses.

     

    He will report to Abhijit Pawar, Managing Director of the group. This is effective April 1, 2015. For the present, Mr Amonkar will help in the transition to Jwalant Swaroop who took charge as Chief Executive Officer of the media business on January 1. As CEO, Mr Swaroop is overseeing four functions in the company – editorial, sales, marketing and circulation. As was reported, Mr Swaroop will report to Mr Pawar and work closely with Bobby Nimbalkar, Head Strategic Council of Sakal Media.