News Broadcasting
Headlines Today claims to be climbing popularity charts
MUMBAI: ‘We are making headlines!’ Or so claims Headlines Today. India Today’s English news channel claims that they have been providing relevant information in a format that is tailor-made to suit the needs of the time conscious viewer and resulting in a fillip in the audience loyalty for the channel.
Quoting the Tam figures for the week 39, Headlines Today claims that they command 35 per cent market share in prime time amongst the English news channels in six metros. The ratings, as quoted in a company release, equals that of NDTV 24X7 and likes of CNN, BBC and CNBC are trailing behind. According to the release, the channel has managed to score an ace over rest owing to their quality news programs, strategically slotted and timed, have climbed their way up the TRP ladder and are giving stiff competition to established channels
The flagship programmes that have helped the channel are Head Start, Top 5, and Sports Quarter, which have emerged leaders in their time-band across other English news channels. While Head Start, slotted in the morning band, provides news to the professional in a compact 15 minute wheel, Top Five Today satiates the viewer by providing the top five developments of the day. Sports Quarter, a fifteen minute program repeated twice a day throughout the week gives news on sports.
According to the release, Head Start has gained popularity as it provides all the news in a compact 15 minute wheel. The prime time programming Top Five Today has helped the channel equal viewership to the India Business Hour on CNBC and the 9 o’clock news on NDTV 24X7. Meanwhile, Sports Quarter’s viewership is equal to combined viewership of NDTV 24X7 and CNBC for the same time slot
In addition to that, Headlines Today has programs designed specially to be aired during the India-Australia series. Cricketing Icons Sourav Ganguly and Shane Warne share their views exclusively in Captain Speak, and Warne’s Spin on select match days. The other programs which have been lined up for the series are Final Frontier and Wisden Show, which has helped the channel solidify its position in the news channel genre.
The channel, claims the release, has many other programming initiatives in the pipeline that are due to roll out in the next one month.
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.
