News Broadcasting
Cricket: business, not sport – Ad Club debate
MUMBAI: Former Test cricketer K Srikkanth’s summation of the current state of cricket as a means of business and entertainment aptly described the mood at a panel discussion that had media bigwigs rubbing shoulders with cricketing celebrities and C&S channel heads on Thursday evening.
The Advertising Club Bombay had organised a panel discussion on marketing opportunities that advertisers could leverage for their brands by ensuring participation in the forthcoming World Cup cricket (WCC) 2003.
Panelists included SET India CEO Kunal Dasgupta; Lodestar Media executive director Shashi Sinha; former Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth, former India all rounder Mohinder Amarnath and The Times of India group sports editor Ayaz Memon.
Memon set the tone for the discussion by stating that Destination India was the in thing as far as the International Cricket Council (ICC) was concerned. Dasgupta too pointed out that the ICC has recognized the power of the Indian audiences and has ensured that the timings of the matches coincide with the prime viewing time slots in India. He added that all the matches for the forthcoming WCC are slated for prime time viewing.
He followed it up with a presentation called “World Cup – Opportunities”; highlighting the reasons why SET felt that the World Cup was worth every penny of the humungous amount that it had invested.
Memon lamented the fact that the performances of the Indian team in New Zealand were making shivers run down advertisers’ spines. Lodestar Media’s Sinha, however, placated the panel by reminding that amnesic Indian audiences were renowned for ‘forgiving and forgetting’.
Memon raised an apt point when he questioned the situation wherein too much money was chasing moderately talented Indian cricketers. Sinha claimed that cricket-mania had ensured that players created a persona that reaped rich benefits for them in the long run.
A garrulous Srikkanth added zing to the discussions with his incisive analysis of the game and the probable reasons for its popularity. Srikkanth made a valid point when he mentioned that cricket was one game where all the constituents benefited; the Boards, players, channels, advertisers, viewers, shops and small businesses.
Srikkanth blasted the TRP ratings and urged the media planners to go by ‘ public feel.’ In the same breath he emphatically stated that Extraaa Innings, a revolutionary concept, received a lot of flak from critics who resist any new change; but surpassed all expectations by generating high TRPs.
Dasgupta revealed that MAX would give 40 Indian brands a unique opportunity to make it big without getting bogged down by clutter. Sinha countered that media planners were aware of the power of cricket but had issues about the pricing of the cricket properties. He mentioned that the premium on cricket was linked to the frenzy and the weight of expectations from the unpredictable Indian team. He maintained that the key was to create a great impact at cost-effective rates.
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.
