iWorld
Quick, crisp facts sans opinion: GoNews launch live-streamed from Global Exhibition on Services
NEW DELHI: GoNews, an app-based news channel, was officially launched on Tuesday at CII’s Global Exhibition on Services. True to its adage of providing news on the go, the occasion was live-streamed to over 20,000 smartphone users who had downloaded the app, besides scores of followers on social media.
Speaking on the occasion, GoNews founder and editor-in-chief Pankaj Pachauri said that creation of the app-based news channel was done on purpose so as to disseminate basic information and hard facts to viewers having no or little access to satellite TV.
Pachauri, a former TV news journalist who had also done a stint as the former PM Manmohan Singh’s media advisor, said research and data convinced him that satellite TV news was losing its viewership as well as sheen because it had become “highly opinionated” and was increasingly becoming “hostage to advertising.”
“We must deploy emerging technologies in media and save avoidable costs by constantly focusing on innovation and R&D. Unfortunately, this is not being done enough and it is hurting the bottomlines of all the news organisations,” he said while speaking at GES 2017.
According to him, “There are more smart phones in India than TV sets now and viewers, particularly the youth, are fed up of news in the long format. They want their news without opinion or bias and they want it quickly. They hate it when the videos buffer. That is why the GoNews app is light on data size as well as data consumption. This is so because we are not force-fitting satellite content into a website and website content into an app. We are creating the content primarily for the app.”
The app also puts the choices in the hands of viewers by allowing them to select the amount of content they want to watch on different subjects. “That is why we say ‘whenever you have time, that’s `prime time’,” Pachauri quipped.
The CII’s Exhibition on Services is a three-day event in which 73 countries and nearly 600 exhibitors are participating. The exposition will continue until Thursday.
Later, Pachauri told indiantelevision.com that the reception to the app based news channel made him believe that he and his team, probably, have made the correct decision to go mobile. “There were several queries on whether we were looking for additional funding and I had to tell those people that the venture is comfortable at this point of time. But the feedback from the audience was really encouraging,” he added.
GoNews delivers personalised news to viewers on their smart phones and smart TVs at a time of their choosing. As per information made available by GoNews, news stories are citizen-centric and not consumer-centric, credible, co-creative and concise. The channel is collaborating with content generators in rural India to offer news and stories that often go unreported or are not available at other news outlets.
In addition, GoNews provides live streaming of important news events from its studio and from the field, depending on the importance of the event.
GoNews was founded and led by the veteran journalist Pachauri who has a wide experience of working with some of the top international and Indian broadcasters for over three decades. The team comprises senior journalists, drawn from the field of broadcasting, management and academia. GoNews is the first digital offering of Cloudburst Mediaworks Private Limited.
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Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
