News Broadcasting
Ann Sarnoff named Dow Jones Ventures president
MUMBAI: Dow Jones & Company has named Ann Sarnoff president of Dow Jones Ventures, a new position charged with expanding the reach of Dow Jones brands to new markets and customers.
An executive with media, consumer-marketing and professional-sports experience, Sarnoff will lead development of new digital businesses in adjacent consumer markets at Dow Jones, states an official release.
Sarnoff, 44, comes to Dow Jones with a background in consumer media and young-adult marketing. She held senior strategy, finance and development roles at Viacom and was a key player in the growth of the Nickelodeon, VH1 and Country Music Television brands and businesses. Sarnoff also ran the business operations of the Women’s National Basketball Association, the release adds.
“We want to create compelling new products and businesses to make the very most of our indispensable brands, content, products and people for the benefit of existing and new customers. With her experience and success building and expanding brands and businesses, Ann is ideally suited to help us innovate and take the Journal and other Dow Jones franchises to new audiences and new arenas,” says Dow Jones chief executive Rich Zannino.
Sarnoff spent 10 years at Viacom, rising in 2001 to become COO for both VH1 and CMT:Country Music Television where she was responsible for the strategic planning and business development of both channels, and oversight of their brand extensions and digital strategy. Previously, she was responsible for consumer products and business development at Nickelodeon.
More recently, Sarnoff was the COO of the WNBA, where she oversaw all the league’s business operations, including programming, marketing, licensing and merchandising. She worked earlier in her career at the strategic consulting firm, Marakon Associates.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
