News Broadcasting
Republic Network becomes the largest news network with 184 million reach
MUMBAI: Republic Network smashed the national news networks and commanded number one position with 184 million Reach. The viewership of Republic Bharat has increased by 228% over the period in the last five weeks doubling the reach to 138 million. Republic Bharat was ahead this week keeping its focus on its core agenda of Rashtravad and 100% news. In the English News genre, Republic TV continued its winning streak, being number one consistently since 95 weeks.
Republic Network elevated its news agenda by pulling out one exclusive after the other which set the agenda for national discourse. As the focus at the Front shifted to the ceasefire violations of Pakistan this week and how mortal shelling from across the border killed young children on the Indian side, Republic Bharat’s ‘Sarhad Par 100’ format ensured that the Bharat team was with the victims and brought their stories to the people across the country. With an aggressive deployment at Poonch, Sunderbani Sector, Mendhar, Rajouri, Nowshera along the LoC and Longewala, Hindumalkot, Jaisalmer, Pathankot and Attari at the International Border, Republic Bharat was the only news team bringing India the pulse and the on-ground breaking news from the Front.
While Team Bharat was ahead of the curve in terms of breaking news on the retaliatory action by the Indian Forces and the anti-terror encounters in Jammu and Kashmir, the channel changed the narrative on Sunday with its super exclusive video on the Baloch Army attacking Pakistan Army posts, which came days after the Pashtuns warned Pakistan. Taking its content play and journalism to fifth gear, for the first time on national television, Republic Bharat had put out clinching proof the IAF strikes against Pakistan after it accessed photos of the strike in Balakot and brought to its viewers specific information pertaining to the SPICE 2000 weapon used in India’s strike.
Not relenting even the day after getting the big exclusive of the Balakot pictures, Republic Bharat brought its viewers the maximum details on the Jammu terror attack within the breaking news format.
Republic Bharat’s swiftness and innovation while setting the agenda continued right to the last day of the week– when the Supreme Court announced a mediation on the Ayodhya case and the channel had a full-scale show with top Hindu saints and a live audience from Ayodhya to discuss the matter. On the final day of the week, Republic Bharat also put out the Republic TV-C-Voter Popularity poll was a daily tracker of political sentiment of 50,000 Indians over a period of above 60 days which reported the national sentiment of the electorate. Whether it was reporting from the front, taking on those who insult and politick over India’s forces, those who batted against nationalistic slogans of India, or it was setting the agenda for Election 2019:
With the aggressive strategy on content and with its pace of innovation in breaking the news and breaking the established mould in terms of format, Republic News Network is now officially topping the charts.
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.
