News Broadcasting
New NOTA survey of Intl. TV trends published
MUMBAI: During the 2002/2003 season there were 1 086 new programmes, almost as many as last year (1095). The broadcasters took more time to put in place their new season scheduling and they preferred to spread the launching of new programmes throughout the year.
These results are contained in a New On The Air (NOTA) survey International TV Trends – 2002-2003 Season Real TV Or Social Awareness TV? The report notes that the trend is to maximise the communication around the launching of the new shows all year long without radically changing the programme schedule that comes in later in the year. More and more channels have adopted this strategy.
Cautiousness and stability everywhere except in the US: Even though cautiousness and stability remain the key words for the new programme planning in most countries from the NOTA survey, the United States make an exception. 41.3 per cent of the new American programmes for this season have been presented to the viewers in September. Four countries from this survey recorded an increase in the launching of new programmes. The US reached a growth of 12 per cent bringing on a total revision of the network schedules.
France and Italy propose fewer novelties: The number of novelties on French and Italian TV decreased, even though it represents a large output per volume : interactive game shows such as Star Six or Tubissimo on M6, Essaye encore on Canal +, Operazione Trionfo on Italia 1 or even Destinazione San Remo on Rai 2. The broadcasters have chosen to enroll the introduction of their new programmes in a long term strategy.
Growing number of positive programmes: 9/11 generated an important production of positive programmes with multiple objectives : understanding our surroundings, supporting a good cause, being entertained in order to forget life pressure, improving ourselves and looking back remembering the good times.
Many special events have been built around stars supporting a good cause. Italy is a leader in this field with many shows on Rai 1. Un dono damore in prime time gathered stars in order to increase people awareness on organ donation. The players of a prestigious soccer club got together for the Juventus una squadra per amico in order to collect funds for the construction of a children hospitals extension.
In the same spirit, famous singers sang live in Con tutto il cuore to collect money for the inhabitants of Pristina, capital of Kosovo. Finally, Nel nome de cuore was a special show dedicated to the life of St Francis of Assisi and to fund collecting for a good cause.
Inspired by a heavy social and political environment, and also by the viewers need to be better informed, the channels studied by NOTA have thus chosen to air more accessible political and social awareness shows. At the initiative of channel Ned 1, the members of the new Dutch government were able to introduce themselves to their voters in Nieuwe Stuurlui. In the same style, campaigning candidates were confronted with an artist in Szenewechsel broadcast in Germany on ARD.
Entertainment shows are flowing: A rush of entertainment shows and in particular, the development of ‘comedy shows’ materialises the need of ‘escaping’. In Germany, three shows based on astonishing concepts were broadcast.
Ohne Worte on RTL is built on silent sketches. Rent a Pocher on Pro 7 is centred around the host Oliver Pocher who can be hired by the public in order to fulfill various tasks. In Alt & Durchgeknallt on Sat 1, seniors which are both protagonist and target of comic attacks, see their everyday life and problems being staged.
The reality television scene: Reality shows are durably installed in the schedules. In the UK on Channel 4, Operatunity sees 100 junior opera singers participating. The winner will get a major role in the London opera house. And in the US, on Fox, Mr Personality hosted by Monica Lewinski stages a woman having to choose her prince charming among 20 masked men.
Reality TV renews itself and the new programmes follow three different directions : talent quests, dating shows and shows casting celebrities. Among the last seasons successes were Joe Millionnaire on Fox in the US and Hotel Glamour on Tele 5 in Spain.
The wave of nostalgia catches up also the celebrities. Reborn in the USA broadcast on ITV in the UK is a reality soap in 8 episodes. Here English singers from the 1960s, 70s and 80s try to boost up their career throughout a US tour. The American public chooses two of the worst singers and the English viewers save one of them. The winner will sign up a contract with a label.
Finally, the active participation of celebrities reflects the duality between television show materialised by Reality TV and Scocial Awareness. The former includes La Isla de los Famosos broadcast on Antena 3 in Spain. At the other side of the spectrum you have social awareness programmes often based on solidarity. exmaples of this are Celebrity Boot Camp on Fox in the US, Comic Relief does Fame Academy on BBC 1 in the UK, Im a celebrity get me out of here airs on ITV in the UK and ABC in the US. Here celebrities are the corner stones.
Created in 1997, NOTA combines the expertise of Eurodata TV, the international database for television logs and audiences worldwide and IMCA, the audiovisual consultancy firm. Every year NOTA, tracks and monitors new shows worldwide, analyses and decodes trends in programming, production strategies and format circulation . Eurodata Tv which makes part of Mdiamtrie follows the audience performances programme by programme in 72 countries.
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
