MxMIndia

Tag: Vivek Khanna

  • The winners will get a chance to go on a trip to Oxford, UK

    Season 3 winners of NewsWiz declared

    By A Correspondent

     

    The third edition of India Today’s news-based national inter-school quiz show NewsWiz came to an end with the team from Thrissur emerging as the winner at the grand finale. NewsWiz is the brainchild of former quizmaster Siddhartha Basu and anchored by journalist Rajdeep Sardesai. The final winners, Sreeram Madhavan V and Paul Binu, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Poochatty bagged the winner’s title. In addition, the winners will now get a chance to go on a trip to Oxford, England.

     

    Team Hyderabad which was a wildcard entrant represented by Ahmed and Syed Abdul from Mannan Little Flower High School were first runner-up in the grand finale of Season 3. Team Hyderabad won a television set and a scholarship from a reputed university to pursue higher studies.

     

    Said Sardesai: “It a truly uplifting story to know that our winners are from a school in Kerala that served as a relief centre during the floods. The young boys Sreeram Madhavan V & Paul Binu have shown that the power of news as knowledge can conquer all adversity. I congratulate the winners and all the teams who made NewsWiz 2018 such a grand success”

     

    Added Vivek Khanna, Group CEO, India Today Group: “We are elated to announce the culmination of the show where-in we have seen enthusiastic participation from thousands of students from across geographies, which were selected through a rigorous selection process. The NewsWiz team for the first time picked up Wild Card Entries in this third season. Euphoria created by News Wiz has been phenomenal and never seen before in the history of a quizzing show.”

     

     

  • Vivek Khanna moves from Mint to Hindi Business, and K Venkataramani joins Mint from Bharti Walmart.

    HT Media announces new business heads for Hindustan & Mint

    By A Correspondent

     

    Vivek Khanna

    Vivek Khanna, who successfully spearheaded the Mint and ‘Ad for Equity’ businesses for the past few years, will now take on the leadership role of Head, Hindi Business at Hindustan Times.

     

    K Venkataramani has joined as the new Business Head of Mint, moving from Bharti Walmart where he was Vice President Hardlines and Home Entertainment.

     

    Mr Khanna will be reporting to Benoy Roychowdhury, Executive Director, HT Media Ltd, and Mr Venkataramani will be reporting to Rajiv Verma, CEO, HT Media Ltd.

     

  • HT Media has launched its weekly business publication 'MintAsia' in Singapore

    Mint goes to Singapore lah

    By Ananya Saha

     

    HT Media’s business daily – Mint has forayed into the global market with the launch of MintAsia, a weekly business paper, in Singapore. To be retailed at 6SGD, the newspaper will hit stands every Friday. The first edition was unveiled on April 6 at the IIMPact alumni event in Singapore by Dr. Raghuram Rajan, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India and R Sukumar, Editor, MintAsia.

     

    “Our readers are not only highly affluent but also of a global outlook and have gone beyond the shores of India. Singapore is home to a large Indian diaspora, belonging to the Mint reader mindset, actively seeking insights into the Indian business market,” said Vivek Khanna, Business Head, Mint and Head- Strategic Partnerships, HT Media told MxM India. Targeting over 10 percent population of NRIs in Singapore, Mint Asia’s in-depth analysis and sharp insights will keep the global audience abreast of developments shaping the Indian economy and markets, according to Mr Khanna. The content of the paper will be distributed into various sections including banking and finance, policy and corporate affairs, opinions and views of experts across industries and a lifestyle section, offering insights into the Indian business market.

     

    In an official communique, Rajiv Verma, CEO, HT Media Ltd, said, “When we conceptualized Mint, we were always very clear that it would be a regional media brand and I am delighted that, with this launch in Singapore of MintAsia, we have started on that journey. This is amongst the first for an Indian media company.”

     

    Said Mr Sukumar, “Singapore is one of the world’s foremost financial centres and many decisions regarding investments in India happen here. With our unique Web First approach and a weekly print offering, both backed by an integrated newsroom we will try and cater to the India-specific information needs of the discerning Singapore reader.”

     

    While MintAsia would be editorially managed from India, it will be printed in Singapore. The initial circulation would be around 3,000 copies. The first edition has 40 pages, and has a healthy mix of content and advertisements. “We have had a very encouraging response from the readers and advertisers for the very first issue,” remarked Mr Khanna. On the rationale behind launching a weekly, he said, “Mint is more about the analysis of how a financial event can impact you, which cannot be done for a 10-15 minute read. And since all information is now globally available, the monthly would have been too dated. Hence, we decided on a weekly based on our research.”

     

    Currently, the Singapore print market is robust and is dominated by The Strait Times. The business weekly The Edge also has a good hold on the market. “We are sure that with our content and right proposition for our target group, we will become a good vehicle for advertisers and a great product for readers,” Mr Khanna asserted. The only challenge MintAsia might face would be to address the audience present in another market from here. “Yes, it is a challenge. Every new market is the same challenge. But to address Singapore readers, and since you are not sitting in the same market will be challenging.”

     

    MintAsia will be unveiling a multiple-media campaign soon, but Mr Khanna refuses to divulge details. For the record, Mint started its journey on February 1, 2007 in India with the premise of bringing ‘Clarity in Business News’.

     

     

  • Mint's publisher Vivek Khanna on the success and future plans of the pint-sized business paper.

    Ready for the digital revolution: Vivek Khanna

    By Akash Raha

     

    Vivek Khanna, Publisher and Business Head of Mint, HT Media Limited

    Vivek Khanna joined HT Media in 2008 after working for more than 16 years, of which 11 were spent with Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) where he led strategic and marketing initiatives – segmentation, positioning, advertising, and new product development. In his last assignment he was Director Marketing with Aviva, responsible for the company’s product and marketing strategy. He is a post-graduate in management from IIM-Ahmedabad and an economics graduate from the University of Delhi. In conversation with MxMIndia, Mr Khanna talks about Mint’s brand of accessible business news, new markets, and the digital wave, among other things. Excerpts:

     

    Q: Since its inception five years ago Mint has become a success story of its own. What has the journey been like, and what are some of the learnings that you would like to share?

    When we started off five years ago we identified a clear need gap amongst readers, which none of the existing business papers were satisfying. And that is how the entire positioning of Mint got developed, looking at the need gap and then asking how we could address it. We worked towards developing a product that would address the need gap; plus we said that we would get the best minds in the business – and we got editors and journalists from around the world and created a totally differentiated and unique product. I think the single biggest learning that we have is that as long as we are able to sustain this quality that we have been known for, we will continue to grow and do well. The journey so far has been very good, basically because of the fact that we have a product that is totally unique and well differentiated, and has been able to sustain and maintain itself from day one.

     

    Q: There are many reasons attributed to Mint’s success – the Berliner format, the content, and good marketing. What do you think is the main reason Mint has worked with both readers and advertisers?

    What clicks is with the readers first is the product. It is the quality of the product over the last five years that has helped us grow significantly since our launch. The advertisers are paying for the fact that we reach out to a certain number of very high-profile target audiences across the country. That’s really the key thing. Our product is something that this target audience likes, and therefore they are reading it on the regular basis. No one will keep picking up a product each day if it’s not good… Hence the fundamental thing behind our success is really our content.

     

    Q: Mint started off with emphasis on making business news easier for the masses. Is this still the ethos now and for the future?

    The Mint proposition is ‘clarity in business news’. We didn’t say we will be for the elite or for the masses. We just said that we will provide clarity to business news and that is what we continue to do – by analyzing and discussing a particular topic at length and presenting it in a manner that is easy to read as well as supported with facts, and therefore we have a certain credibility in the market. That focus has been there since the beginning, and it should continue.

     

    Q: What is the nature of Mint’s tie-up with The Wall Street Journal – content sharing or more?

    I can’t discuss what constitutes our tie-up with WSJ, as it is confidential information.

     

    Q: Following the Hindi and Gujarati editions of The Economic Times, do you see Mint also coming out with regional avatars?

    Well, as we speak, I have heard about some of these regional avatars getting pulled out from the marketplace. We will get to know over the next couple of days if that news is true or not. As far as we are concerned we have a certain growth path which is planned, we will continue to go on as per that planned growth plan. I can tell you that in the very near future, in the next 3-6 months, we don’t have a plan for any language business daily.

     

    Q: Regional media in India is still growing. How does the proposition of Mint in a Hindi or regional language avatar look to you?

    There is a increasing trend in smaller towns and among readers of Hindi and regional language. As the economy of some of these smaller towns continues to grow there is the tendency and the desire for people to be abreast with what is happening in the business environment. So if we feel that we have a certain role to play and we can provide those readers with news that will help them, then we will certainly evaluate it. But like I said, as of now there are no such plans.

     

    Q: Going forward how do you see the audience and revenue breakup for your digital editions? Specifically the web, tablets and smart phones?

    It is almost impossible to say that… You have different experiences in different markets. We have some western economies where people have moved predominantly towards digital and have dropped significantly. On the other hand we have a market like Singapore which has an 86 percent internet penetration, and 70 percent of the people there own a smart phone, and still there is no drop in circulation of leading products like The Straits Times. So we are talking about very different markets and very different experiences. I think in India the printed form still has some way to go. However, digital is going to emerge over a period of time. Now whether it is going to be five, 10 or 15 years is very difficult to say. What we have to do is, be prepared when it comes. Therefore, we have launched some apps and some more are going to come. So there is a whole plan to be ready for the so-called digital revolution in newspaper, when it comes.

     

    Q: What are the plans to break into newer markets?

    We are in fact evaluating a few markets. When we feel that the time is right for us to enter, we will do so. We still have some way to go in a few of the existing markets… So the focus remains in growing in the existing markets as well as looking at the right time to enter in some of the newer markets.

     

    Q: What are some of the marketing initiatives that the paper has planned and in which cities?

    We have two big initiatives coming up which are around the budget and around our luxury conference (in March), which is an annual event.

     

    Q: Since you are a listed company, will you be give us some numbers as to how Mint has been doing over the years?

    I can’t disclose that information.

     

    Q: What are some of the upcoming trends that you observe in the print industry?

    What is happening is that there is a clear trend, in terms of increase in readership, in some of the language publications that we have been seeing. Clearly, as the literacy level is rising, people’s urge to learn more and read more too is increasing. In times to come, this phenomenon will grow further with penetration of technology and spread of education in India. The other trend that we can observe is the proliferation and spread of digital media.

     

  • A lot of information today is lost in business jargon which business papers must stay away from.

    The Anchor: 6 things for the publisher of a business publication to remember

    By Vivek Khanna

     

    #1 One of the most important things that the publisher of a business paper – or, for that matter, any publication – has to keep in mind is the content. Accuracy and genuineness of information is critical to the success of any newspaper.

     

    #2 It is extremely important that the content and business sides of a paper are always separate, especially in a business publication. There has to be a wall between the content and business side so that no one can influence the other.

     

    #3 Checking for errors is extremely important. Business news can make or break an economy, hence it is critical to keep many level of checks before any news goes into print. In our organization, we have several levels of checks to ascertain that the news which goes to print is genuine and credible.

     

    #4 Journalists and Editors for a business publication have to be handpicked as they are meant to have a very special skill set and knowledge of the business world.

     

    #5 Business news needs to have more clarity. A lot of information today is lost in business jargon which business papers must stay away from.

     

    #6 In a market where there is a plethora of publications, it is of importance that a business publisher finds the differentiating factor for his product. A differentiated product with credible content is the only way to success.

     

    Mr Vivek Khanna is the Publisher and Business Head of Mint, HT Media Limited.