News Broadcasting
‘Indian Telly Awards’ steals march over IIFA telecast: emediaplan study
MUMBAI: The repeat telecast of the Indian Telly Awards 2002 on Star Plus, an event organised by www.indiantelevision.com managed to hold it’s own against the much hyped IIFA awards aired on Sony Entertainment Television.
According to TAM data put out by emediaplan for Sunday 11 May for cable and satellite homes 4+, the Indian Telly Awards show is at the second spot in Delhi in the top 15. It got a TVR of 3.65 which is extremely impressive when you consider that the show ran from 8-11 pm. Sony’s high profile and lavish IIFA show took place in South Africa. The much touted “weepfest” Devdas is out of sight in the emediaplan study.
In Mumbai, while the Telly Awards came in at number six it still beat IIFA which held the number eight position. The show had a TVR of 2.81 as opposed to a TVR of 2.24 for IIFA. Interestingly, Zee enters in just once in Delhi with its show Astitva Ek Prem Kahani. Its TVR of 2.31 gave it a position of number eight..
In Delhi, SET’s Kya Hadsaa Kya Haqueeqat is at number one with a TVR of 4.61. It also takes the number three spot with a TVR of 3.14.
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.
