GECs
AFP to launch international news service
MUMBAI: French news wire Agence France-Presse (AFP) is broadening its focus with the launch of AFPTV International.
AFPTV will offer video reports every day and plans to produce 150 reports a month. Initially these reports will be in English and French. Reports in Arabic, Spanish and other languages will follow.
AFP company chairman Pierre Louette said, “On the basis of a service set up in 2001 called AFP Video, we are moving on to AFPTV, a new international service made up of around 40 video journalists and several production units worldwide.”
“We need to develop video production to enable the growth of our multimedia products. While video is at the heart of the agency’s multimedia plans, multimedia development is central to the agency’s development prospects,” he added.
AFP’s television production was started in 1996 under a partnership accord with US financial news agency Bloomberg. AFP global news director Denis Hiault said, “We opted for a novel approach unlike that practised by the competition a decade ago.
“We process news with our own specific vision, our multicultural approach, in order to best analyze it. Rather than offering just the umpteenth version of a Baghdad booby-trapped car attack or the latest riot, our film comes with keys to understanding the news, with analysis that gives meaning to the information,” he said.
AFPTV service grew after the setup in 2005 of two test production centres, one in Baghdad, the other in Warsaw covering Eastern Europe.
“The choice of the location of our production units was based on our decision to provide something extra in comparison with the competition, as well as offering coverage of geographical areas they had shunned,” Hiault said.
AFP has set up permanent video positions in New Delhi, Istanbul, Bangkok, Cairo, Nairobi and Rio de Janeiro.
“This is AFP’s most ambitious project since the launch of our international photo service two decades ago. It’s a new opportunity to demonstrate our editorial know-how and bolster our place in the field as a primary source of information. Our video footage is based on the same criteria of excellence as our text dispatches,” said Hiault.
AFP this year plans to further increase its capacity to collect images. “By the summer of 2007 the agency will have internet-quality images thanks to telephone-camera equipment being distributed to journalists on a voluntary basis,” said Louette.
GECs
ZEEL overhauls sales structure to chase growth across TV and digital platforms
New structure sharpens digital push as viewing habits fragment fast
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is reshuffling its sales playbook as it looks to keep pace with a fast-changing media landscape, where audiences are scattered, screens are multiplying and advertisers are following the data.
According to media reports, the rejig is anchored in the company’s push to build a more integrated, data-led monetisation engine, one that can straddle both traditional television and fast-growing digital platforms with equal ease.
At the heart of the move is a reworked sales architecture designed to deliver cross-platform solutions. With connected TV gaining ground and digital consumption surging, ZEEL is aligning its teams to move quicker, think broader and sell smarter.
The restructuring is being led by chief operating officer, advertisement revenue, Sandeep Mehrotra, at a time when the company says it is seeing tremendous growth. The idea is simple: match the right talent to the right opportunity in a market that is anything but static.
As part of the overhaul, several long-serving executives have been elevated to chief sales officer roles across regions and content clusters. Sanjoy Chatterjee will head the east market, while Gunjarav Nayak takes charge of the west along with high-margin verticals such as hmg, brand works, intellectual properties and digital sales. Rajnish Gupta will oversee bengaluru and chennai markets alongside the kannada and tamil clusters.
In other key moves, Divjyot Dhanda will lead hyderabad and kochi markets and manage zee tv, zee keralam and the telugu cluster. Roshan Vasu Kotian will supervise a diverse portfolio including Zee Marathi, &tv, Zee Punjabi, Zee Anmol, Big Magic and Zee Biskope.
The company is also strengthening its bench, appointing national sales heads across retail, regional clusters, digital and brand solutions. Ankur Kapila’s appointment to lead digital sales signals a sharper push into a segment that continues to outpace traditional formats.
Behind the scenes, dedicated strategy and operations roles have been carved out for both linear and digital businesses. Nitin Shetty, Rajkiran Shrivastav and Priya Nambiar will take on key responsibilities to ensure the new structure runs with precision.
The broader aim is clear. ZEEL wants a bigger slice of advertising budgets that are steadily drifting towards digital and connected TV ecosystems. By integrating its offerings, the company hopes to deepen client relationships while unlocking new revenue streams.
The new structure takes effect immediately, with Mehrotra continuing to report to chief executive officer Punit Goenka and steer the company’s advertising revenue strategy. Senior executive Laxmi Shetty will support the transition, with her revised role expected to be announced soon.
In a market where content is everywhere but attention is scarce, ZEEL’s latest move is less about rearranging the org chart and more about staying in the game.
