iWorld
Scripps’ website puts popular TV shows online
MUMBAI: Scripps Networks Interactive, owner of the Food Network and the Travel Channel, can rest easy as advertising spending plateaus on television and explodes on the Web. The Knoxville, Tennessee-based, lifestyle media company announced on 3 October that it was launching ulive.com, a destination site for short-form videos and for clips and full-length episodes from its half-dozen cable networks.
A highlight of Ulive – rhymes with you give – will be its more than 70 original Web series, some with Scripps stars, like the Travel Channel’s Bert Kreischer, and some featuring newcomers. In a demonstration of digital video’s appeal to advertisers, Ford Motor will have a starring role in nine custom episodes featuring ulive talent.
Though video advertising on the Web is still a fraction of what’s spent on television, digital is growing fast. Advertisers will shell out $5.8 billion on Web video in 2014, a 39 per cent spike over 2013, according to eMarketer. Television advertising will grow 3% next year to $68.5 billion.
“There really aren’t enough quality video advertising opportunities,” said ulive COO Lisa Choi Owens. “Given that our content is incredibly high quality in categories that are really relevant to advertisers, they’re excited to have this.”
iWorld
Tips Music CEO Hari Nair to step down
Girish Taurani and Sushant Dalmia to jointly steer the company as the hunt for a new chief begins
MUMBAI: A leadership shuffle is under way at Tips Music. Hari Nair, the company’s chief executive, will step down on April 30 as the music label begins the search for a successor.
The company said Girish Taurani, executive director, and Sushant Dalmia, chief financial officer, will jointly oversee operations during the transition while the board identifies a permanent replacement.
Nair joined Tips Music in 2023 and set about reshaping the veteran music label into a more digital, data-led enterprise. During his tenure, the company secured licensing and partnership deals with global platforms including Sony Music Publishing and TikTok, while renewing agreements with Warner Music Group.
Drawing on earlier experience in technology and entertainment, including a stint at ByteDance, Nair pushed the organisation towards a performance-driven culture. He built a brand partnerships division and introduced proprietary software systems aimed at strengthening digital distribution and data capabilities.
Kumar Taurani, chairman and managing director, credited Nair with embedding a data-led culture within the company and driving revenue growth in line with shareholder commitments.
In his resignation note, Nair said that after helping transition the label into a modern, digitally focused and process-driven organisation, the time had come to pursue his next leadership challenge.
The leadership change comes as the broader Tips Films group shows signs of financial stabilisation. In the third quarter of FY26 the company reported a net loss of Rs 2.86 crore, narrowing sharply from Rs 14.2 crore in the previous quarter. For the nine months ended December, losses stood at Rs 12.37 crore.
Yet revenue told a more volatile story. Income from operations slid to Rs 4 crore in Q3 FY26 from Rs 56 crore in the preceding quarter, taking total operating income to Rs 4.56 crore.
For a company built on a catalogue of more than 34,000 tracks and decades of Bollywood hits, the next chief will inherit both a digital engine and a volatile music market. The playlist may be familiar, but the next act at Tips Music is only just beginning.
