News Broadcasting
India Today launches 7 mobile-specific niche channels
NEW DELHI: The India Today group, which recently announced the appointment of its group editorial director (Broadcast & New Media) Kalli Purie as group vice vhairperson, has now entered the new age of mobile journalism with seven customised news and other channels on different aspects of life.
Purie told indiantelevision.com that the channels launched today are Yoga Tak, Food Tak, Life Tak, Tech Tak, Astro Tak, Sports Tak, and News Tak which will also see the presence of veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai. The news channel News Tak will carry headlines every hour.The tagline for the channels is ‘Share kar’.
Purie said that the Indian media landscape is transforming with ever changing content consumption pattern in society and the aim was to take full advantage of this.
Although the group already had an online presence, the new channels will be more interactive with videos on demand and over 150 videos are already available from today.
She said this had become possible because of increased bandwidth available with increase in players including Jio. Since mobile has its own limitations, she said the videos could also be seen without audio or vice versa.
Her aim as to increase this number by at least two more channels so that the total is ten including the formerly launched Lallantop.com.
The channels are also present on sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and except for the last medium, there are no ads at present. Publicity would be done through the group channels and social media.
Driven by broadband services at affordable rates and technology improvements, the number of internet-enabled mobile phones is growing very fast and the number is expected to touch 700 million by 2021.
Consequently, approximately 99 per cent of Indian language internet users access online content on mobile devices and over 60 per cent of the Indian language internet users prefer to consume regional news.
The most used content on mobile phones is video. Video is expected to represent 60 per cent of the overall mobile data traffic and is expected to grow to 78 per cent by 2021.
The channels can be downloaded from https://www.mobiletak.in/
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.
