News Broadcasting
Alpha Marathi awards give dubbed Titanic fight for ratings
MUMBAI: Another televised awards function from the Zee stable has made its mark, this time on the ratings front. The Alpha Marathi awards, Alpha Gaurav Puraskar 2004, ran a neck to neck race for the top spot in the ratings with the dubbed Titanic on Star Gold on 14 February.
The Alpha Gaurav Puraskar 2004, in its fifth year, garnered 20.5 per cent channel share in Mumbai during its telecast in 14 February, running a close second behind Star Gold which aired the dubbed-in-Hindi Titanic the same day.
Quoting a TAM data, in C&S 4+ in Mumbai, the Alpha Gaurav awards (which fete the best from the Marathi film industry) fetched TVRs of 5.5 whereas in Maharashtra, it got scored a TVR of 5.3. In C&S Females 15+ ABC, the Alpha Puraskar reached as high as 6.0 TVRs, claims an official release.
“If one studies the minute-by-minute rating of this 31/2 hrs show, Alpha Gaurav has got more than 9 TVRs in Mumbai as well as Maharashtra. In 1 mn+ towns this event got as high as 10.6 TVRs. The channel share of Alpha Gaurav within Marathi regional channels was 91 per cent in Mumbai and 86 per cent all over Maharashtra in CS 4+,” says the release.
Titanic, aired at the same time, had a channel share of 24.7 per cent in Mumbai and 20.9 per cent in the rest of Maharashtra. Alpha Gaurav got 20.5 per cent and 19.7 per cent respectively.
The Alpha Gaurav Puraskar 2004 was a ground event held at the NSE grounds in Mumbai on 8 February, and telecast on 14 February. Cinthol sponsored this show for the third consecutive year. A Tam Adex study earlier had showed that last year, Cinthol had benefited with tremendous exposure on this event, showing that the Cinthol brand had continuous exposure for two hours 13 mins and 25 seconds.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
