News Broadcasting
BBC World attributes quiz show success to promotions
MUMBAI: A highly successful online and SMS promotional campaign for the second series of University Challenge Quiz has seen participants answering more than 6.5 million questions in just six weeks, three times the number recorded during the whole of last year’s inaugural campaign, claims BBC World.
More than 150,000 people have taken part so far, more than twice as many as in 2003, and there are still a few days left to run. The competitions, hosted by Yahoo! India, offer participants the chance to win a grand prize of a trip for two to the famous BBC Television Centre studios in London, as well as camera mobile phones and BBC World merchandise, informs an official release.
The 360-degree marketing promotion plan for University Challenge included interactive promotions through on-ground, online and SMS platforms, complemented by radio promotions and print advertisements. Special quiz columns in association with prominent newspaper dailies such as The Telegraph in Kolkata and the Deccan Herald in Bangalore offered special weekly prizes to readers.
BBC World marketing head Seema Kotecha says, “Once again, the integrated approach to our marketing and PR activity has proved highly successful in bringing in a wider audience to the channel. With the younger generation increasingly using mobile and Internet technology, there is great potential for higher consumer engagement. This campaign has seen more interactivity than last year and we’re overwhelmed by the response.”
BBC World telecasts University Challenge, sponsored by Microsoft and Sumo Victa, every Thursday at 10 pm with a repeat on Sundays at 10 am.
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.
