News Broadcasting
News channels see digital platforms driving subscription income
NEW DELHI: News Channels have seen exponential growth over the last few years and can still “find the pot of gold,” but from a long term perspective, will have to focus on higher subscription revenues, speakers at The Indian News Television Summit 2007 said here today.
Audience share has increased from less than one per cent in 2000 to seven – eight per cent as the genre has exploded with over 40 channels beaming news content. “The genre has taken away viewers from the general entertainment channels and brought in new advertisers. News channels have the people to take this pot of gold forward,” Tam India CEO LV Krishnan said.
The pace of growth is set to accelerate as over 40 applications are waiting for clearance from the information and broadcasting ministry. NDTV, in fact, is expecting a 20 per cent year-on-year growth.
“New sources of revenue are still to be tapped like content syndication, overseas expansion and internet presence. Besides, there is scope for local news channels with sectors like retail seeing rapid growth,” said NDTV Media CEO Raj Nayak.
Agreed Starcom Mediavest Group CEO South Asia Ravi Kiran, “We will see dramatic changes in the way news is going to be consumed over the next three -five years. Media organizations will need to gather, aggregate and distribute news.”
The session on “Searching for revenues: Advertising and Distribution, Finding the pot of gold” was moderated by Indiantelevision.com editorial director Thomas Abraham.
The digital era will throw open more revenue opportunities for news channels. “There will be subscription opportunities. News and sports, for instance, will drive Mobile TV. In the digital era, however, brands will be important,” said SET Discovery president Anuj Gandhi.
Al Jazeera Network director – global distribution Phil Lawrie said that it would be interesting to see how business models are going to evolve in India in a digital environment.
However, Hinduja TMT president – corporate services Ashok Mansukhani wasn’t too bullish on the potential to accommodate so many news channels. “The Cas (conditional access system) data shows that consumers are not willing to pay for news channels. And on analogue cable TV, there is a distribution cost. It remains to be seen how this battle for the marketplace is going to shape up,” he said.
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.
