News Broadcasting
Digital Media Asia meet in Malaysia to explore new avenues of digitisation of media
NEW DELHI: Online and social media, tablet and mobile publishing, and digital business innovations are among the main subjects coming up for discussion at the forthcoming Digital Media Asia in Kuala Lumpur this month.
Participants include Business Blogging CEO Kiruba Shankar from India; Canada’s Globe and Mail Digital News Strategy director Anjali Kapoor; Google Strategic Partner Lead Parin Mehta; Singapore’s InmobiVP and GM of the Japan, Asia Pacific brand business Phagun Raju; and Berita Satu Media Holdings, IndonesiaCEOSachin Gopalan.
The meet has been organised from 12 to 14 November by WAN-IFRA Asia Pacific which will be represented among others by its chief operating officer Thomas Jacob.
The meet will also see an Inverted Media Workshop, Digital Media Asia Expo, a creative ad campaign contest, Opennews.hack Asia and the Digital Media Asia awards.
About 300 media executives representing over 115 organisations from 31 countries are expected. Digital Media Asia is the largest conference on new media in Asia for news publishers. Thirty speakers from leading news publishing companies in Asia and worldwide – such as FT, Apple Daily, Metro, SPH, Wall Street Journal, Globe & Mail, The Economist, Mainichi Shimbun – as well as online pure players like Google, Senatus, Microsoft, Coconuts Media, Yahoo will share inspiring case studies and innovative ideas with the audience.
Topics covered at Digital Media Asia include paid content and the implementation of paywalls, online video monetisation, digital and mobile advertising, tablet publishing, big data, diversifying revenue streams, start-ups and publishers.
Other speakers include The Economist Digital, UK, VP Advertising Audra Martin; The Straits Times Editor Warren Fernandez; Head of Tablet Editions, Metro, UK, James Cadman; The Wall Street Journal Hong Kong Asia Digital Editor Adam Najberg; Naoki Onodera, Head of Digital Publications, Mainichi Shimbun; Alan Soon, Head of Audience and Managing Editor SEA, Yahoo!; Graham Hinchly, Engineering Manager, FT Lab, FT, UK; Christina Lo Man Ki, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Apple Daily, HK; Sue Brooks, Director of Video Transformation, AP, UK; Geoff Tan, Senior VP, Head of Strategic Marketing, SPH; Dan Sloan, Editor in Chief, Nissan Global Media Centre, Japan; Todd Forest, Executive Producer APAC, Microsoft Online Media; JV Rufino, Director of Mobile, Philippine Daily Inquirer; and Eamonn Byrne, Business Director, The Byrne Partnership, UK.
News Broadcasting
Mihir Bhatt appointed as chief content officer at News18 Studios
The media veteran brings two decades of experience across television, digital and radio to one of India’s biggest broadcast networks, Disney+ Hotstar, Discovery+
NEW DELHI: Network18 has a new strategist in the building. Mihir Bhatt, one of Indian media’s more versatile operators, has joined News18 Studios as chief content officer, stepping into a role that will see him shape content strategy, build multi-platform properties and drive brand partnerships across the network.
Bhatt brings more than two decades of experience spanning television, digital and radio, with a track record of doing something rare in Indian media: combining editorial ambition with hard commercial results. At Times Network, where he served as managing editor and chief business officer of Times Influence, he built one of the industry’s more respected content studios, launching marquee properties such as the India Economic Conclave, the Times Now Summit and Leaders of Tomorrow. He also pushed the network into premium OTT territory through tie-ups with Disney+ Hotstar and Discovery+.
His resume stretches well beyond the studio. Bhatt has led Global Investor Summits for multiple state governments, worked alongside the World Economic Forum and played a pivotal role in launching the Indian Pickleball League. Earlier, as editor of Zee Business, he pioneered investor education initiatives that are still cited as industry benchmarks.
At News18 Studios, Bhatt will report to chief executive S Shivakumar and will oversee the studios execution vertical alongside revenue verticals covering emerging markets and campaigns. Sidharth Saini, Hemanth Kumar and Nimar Sarkaria will work under him.
Rahul Joshi, managing director and editor-in-chief of Network18 Group, made the announcement in an internal communication. “Mihir’s ability to build enduring brands, foster strategic partnerships and navigate a rapidly evolving media landscape will be instrumental as we continue to strengthen our position and explore new avenues of growth in the Studios business,” Joshi said.
In a media industry lurching between disruption and reinvention, Network18 has bet on a man who has spent two decades thriving in exactly that chaos. Whether he can do it again, at greater scale, is the question worth watching.
