News Broadcasting
BBC Magazines see robust growth in UK
MUMBAI: Homes, motoring and food categories have once again boosted the sales of BBC Magazines in the UK. Titles such as Top Gear, the local version of which which launched in India a few days ago, Good Homes and Good Food managed circulation increases.
In the January to June 2005 period, 17 titles in the BBC Magazines portfolio saw both year-on-year and period on period sales increases. BBC Magazines subscriptions were up by 21 per cent year on year
Highlights include
– Circulation of Good Homes went up by 13 per cent
– Top Gear magazine celebrated its 23rd consecutive period as the market leader
– Food group sold over 440,000 copies combined
– However Radio Times posted marginal decrease in hugely competitive market
– In the Pre-school segment Balamory was up 35 per cent and Bob the Builder went up up by 27 per cent
BBC Magazines MD Peter Phippen says,”Yet again, BBC Magazines continues to set the kind of sales increases other publishers aspire to in core areas. Recent independent research suggested that our titles, as well as extending the enjoyment of great BBC television, radio and online output, are also the UK’s most trusted. I am confident that the ongoing investments and new launch activity we have been making across our entire portfolio will ensure that we continue to experience growth in many other markets throughout 2005/06.”
Top Gear magazine publisher Adam Waddell says: “Top Gear managed overall year-on-year growth of 10 per cent. Under the ever-innovative editor Michael Harvey, the title has delivered constant and substantial growth – we’re now selling an additional 35,000 copies per month at the UK newsstand and to UK subscribers compared to the same period two years ago just prior to our redesign in summer 2003.
“Top Gear magazine’s appeal has also gone global with the recent launch of the tenth international edition in Thailand, to accompany the already successful nine other territory-specific editions in countries as diverse as Korea and the Netherlands . Also we relaunched the Top Gear magazine website – www.topgear.com – which aims to be the UK’s premier online motoring destination. An all new ‘Drives’ section is the car buyer’s ultimate tool, whilst the Time to Burn? area showcases stunning motoring photography and video clips from the TV show for the first time.”
BBC Magazines’ Food Group publisher Nicki Hill says,”The popularity and loyalty for BBC food magazines shows no signs of dissipation despite four new titles in the food market in the last two years. With subscriptions for Good Food and Olive up a staggering 35 per cent and 71 per cent respectively year on year and sales of Easy Cook up by 71 per cent it is clear that when people seek a gorgeous melting pot of top culinary advice, close links to popular television shows such as Full on Food and Master Chef, and the best advice from award-winning chefs such as Heston Blumenthal and John Torode, BBC food titles are perceived to be the most trustworthy in the market.
“An overall circulation increase for the food group of 10 per cent indicates a really exciting period of growth in the food market – a sector created by BBC Magazines over 15 years ago.”
News Broadcasting
Newsrooms rethink AI, trust and revenue models
Editors and tech leaders debate tools, deepfakes and viability.
MUMBAI: If yesterday’s newsroom ran on caffeine and chaos, tomorrow’s may well run on code but with a human still holding the pen. At the 22nd edition of the Video Broadcast and Broadband Tech Summit hosted by IndianTelevision.com, some of the sharpest minds in Indian media gathered to examine how artificial intelligence, automation and shifting audience behaviour are reshaping journalism. The session, titled The Newsroom of Tomorrow Tools, Trust, and Business Viability In Focus, did not descend into techno-utopian hype. Instead, it wrestled with a more uncomfortable question: how do you stay relevant, credible and profitable when the audience is changing faster than the headline cycle?
The panel featured Govindraj Ethiraj, Editor of The Core, Dr Nilesh Khare, COO of Sakal Media Group; Prakaran Tiwari, Chief Executive Producer at NDTV Profit; Manoj Padmanabhan, Head of Business Media and Entertainment at AWS; Neeraj Mishra, Key Account Manager at Vizrt and session chair; and Mayuresh Konnur, Bilingual Correspondent at Collective Newsroom, publisher for BBC in India.
Govindraj Ethiraj set the tone with a frank assessment. “The reason people do not consume as much news through us is because they are consuming news through other sources they trust more,” he said. In a fragmented ecosystem flooded with content, trust has become the real differentiator.
Yet AI is undeniably transforming workflows. Ethiraj admitted he now uses AI tools to proofread his own articles. “Sometimes it is scary how much it picks, but it helps,” he said. What once required layers of sub-editing can now be assisted by machines trained to flag errors, inconsistencies and structural weaknesses.
He pointed to how newsroom roles have evolved. The desk editor, widely advertised over the last 15 years, barely existed in its current form before the internet boom. As digital publishing accelerated, tasks such as curating listicles, ranking stories and optimising headlines became specialised functions. Now, many of those responsibilities can be performed or at least supported by AI systems. The disruption is not hypothetical; it is operational.
Dr Nilesh Khare approached the issue from both a business and technological standpoint. Sakal Media Group is developing its own large language model, built on 60 years of text and photo archives. The goal is independence. “We won’t need to depend on other platforms to develop ours,” he said, underscoring the strategic value of proprietary data.
For Khare, AI represents opportunity as much as anxiety. It can help expand content across geographies and languages, particularly in bridging North and South Indian markets. It can streamline production and reduce costs. He did not shy away from the implications. “As a journalist I feel bad but as a content producer I feel good that we will require less manpower,” he said, articulating a tension many in the room recognised but few openly admit.
He also highlighted how audience behaviour is evolving. Today, a retail investor can follow a stock using Gemini or GPT instead of toggling between multiple news channels. News is no longer consumed linearly; it is queried, personalised and synthesised. The newsroom must therefore produce content that survives not just on screens but within AI-generated summaries.
Prakaran Tiwari offered a more philosophical reflection. “AI has developed itself and adapted on the basis of how news is consumed. It’s all about giving a perspective,” he said. In his view, the competitive edge will not lie in speed alone but in interpretation. Facts are increasingly commoditised; context is not.
He also suggested that formats are fluid. While short-form video dominates social feeds, long-form audio is resurging. Govindraj Ethiraj noted that in the United States the 2024 election was described as the “podcast election”, reflecting how audiences are investing time in deeper, long-form discussions. The newsroom of tomorrow must cater to both scrolling and sustained listening.
Manoj Padmanabhan of AWS reframed the debate. Technology, he argued, is not an existential threat but an amplifier. “The power is given to the human journalist with all this technology in their hand, with it acting as a support or assistant to deliver the correct and relevant news to the people,” he said.
The traditional divide between a “normal” newsroom and a “digital” newsroom is fading. “It will not be two newsrooms,” he said. “It will be one newsroom.” In that integrated environment, the storyteller remains central. AI may assist with research, editing and distribution, but editorial judgement remains human.
Neeraj Mishra of Vizrt echoed the assistive narrative. India, he said, is a market of organised chaos, where news broadcasters are pushing ever-increasing volumes of content. AI will help manage scale. It is not here to replace people but to assist them.
Production barriers are already collapsing. “You don’t need a green screen to produce content now,” Mishra observed, hinting at virtual production tools and real-time rendering technologies. And this, he said, is only the beginning. In a cost-conscious market like India, AI adoption in both B to B and B to C segments is likely to rise sharply. The skills are available, he argued, the real question is whether organisations are willing to invest.
If opportunity was one half of the conversation, risk was the other. Mayuresh Konnur warned that fake news is now being peddled with alarming ease using AI tools. Deepfakes, synthetic audio and fabricated visuals can damage credibility overnight. Several journalists, he said, have already faced instances where manipulated content was circulated in their name.
“Eventually it becomes a question of how authentic you are in the market,” Konnur noted. In a crowded information economy, credibility is the ultimate moat. Regulations and clear guidelines, he argued, are necessary to curb misuse without stifling innovation.
Mishra added a note of caution against overuse. “AI should not be everywhere. It has to be used optimally,” he said. The value lies not in blanket automation but in strategic integration.
One of the most resonant metaphors came from Padmanabhan. AI, he suggested, is like a brush in a human hand. Powerful, versatile, transformative but inert without the artist. It cannot survive without the human touch.
Konnur distilled the session’s core takeaway, AI is inevitable, but the art of storytelling will never disappear.
In a media landscape defined by speed, shrinking attention spans and intense competition, the newsroom of tomorrow is not simply a technological upgrade. It is a recalibration. Between efficiency and ethics. Between automation and authenticity. Between reducing manpower and retaining meaning.
The algorithms may write cleaner copy and generate sharper graphics. They may even predict what audiences want before audiences know it themselves. But the enduring task remains unchanged to tell stories that inform, interrogate and inspire.
And for that, the human newsroom is still very much open for business.
