News Broadcasting
Roy floats NDTV Ventures for entertainment channel, new media expansion
NEW DELHI: The Prannoy Roy-promoted NDTV Ltd, which today reported a 27 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenues for the quarter ending September 30, announced formation of NDTV Ventures to start a slew of TV channels, including a Hindi general entertainment channel.
NDTV figs for FY 06 ended March ’06
Total income: Rs 1941.48 million
Profit after tax: Rs 199.12 million
Unveiling the future course of expansion, top honchos of NDTV said it is to take the company revenue up to $ 500 million in five years; focus on triple play and make NDTV a global Indian media brand.
NDTV Ventures, a 100 per cent subsidiary, has been formed to undertake major expansion in non-news segments as well as aggressively push new media propositions.
“Every three to four years we take a leap, consolidate our position and then again move ahead,” is how NDTV chairman Prannoy Roy explained the philosophy behind the latest expansion model during an interaction with journalists today evening after a company board meeting.
“The new model is based on an entrepreneurial management structure aimed at attracting and rewarding the best global talent in the business, including the large talent bank within NDTV. The model will help streamline existing operations and make them more cost efficient,” Roy said in a year when quite a few media companies like Television Eighteen and Zee Telefilms have undertaken corporate restructuring to chart out new expansion plans.
Though no time frame was given, Roy also said that the company plans to start “soon” four city-centric English infotainment channels called NDTV Metro Nation.
The new model envisages having NDTV LTD as the parent entity with news and non-news operations under it as separate subsidiaries. Each of the subsidiaries will have a number of verticals, NDTV’s chief executive for growth and strategy Vikram Chandra said.
The non-news forays would be undertaken by NDTV Ventures (in the process of being formally incorporated) and will have under it the entertainment and new media divisions.
NDTV New Media, in turn, will have NDTV Convergence (Internet initiatives), NGen (media process outsourcing) and NDTV Labs under its umbrella. According to Chandra, NDTV Labs, which will develop in-house broadcast technologies for sale to proposed clients, has already closed its first deal.
The corporate model for NDTV Ventures, which will incubate and operate focused verticals, will permit investments by strategic and financial partners in individual verticals apart from NDTV Ventures itself.
If that was not enough, NDTV has also acquired for the rights of Indian boxing fixtures for the next 10 years.
This, in a nutshell, marks out the route the Roys and associates are taking to expand regionally as well as globally. The new growth model would enable NDTV to raise funds for its future businesses beyond news, Roy said, adding that an IPO of NDTV Ventures is “one of the options before us.”
NDTV MAINTAINS OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK
The company’s board, which approved the new growth plans, also approved the Q2 financial results.
The company declared net profit at Rs 37 million on revenues of Rs 545 million. Revenues in the previous corresponding quarter stood at Rs 430 million.
The company added 78 new clients and 172 new brands to its advertiser base this quarter.
The current quarter’s expenses include the costs attributable to certain initiatives for generating new income streams in the future. Some of the operating loss of Rs 33 million has been incurred in building new businesses.
On the revenue front, the company said the second half of the year is expected to be far more buoyant with revenues in the news business expected to grow at a robust 30-35 per cent.
Going forward, the company expects top line growth to accelerate, with substantial contribution from new business initiatives.
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.
