iWorld
Worldwide Media gets going with Grazia Intern Diaries
MUMBAI: For sometime now, publisher Worldwide Media has been churning out video content which has been making its way on television or on the web. Among the shows it has executed figure: The Good Homes show (in association with channel TLC and Hafele), Famously Filmfare (Colors Infinity), Nexa Journeys on AH1 (Discovery) and Secret Ingredients (for Michelin Tyres).
And the latest to come out of its content studio (headed by Vidyut Patra) is the scripted reality web series Intern Diaries – an eight part show. As the title suggests, it is all about the experiences of two young girls as they intern – where else but at Worldwide Media fashion title Grazia. The first two episodes were released digitally on 15 May and with two being released every week, since then. The last of the two episodes are slated to go out next week.
“Given the current consumption pattern on digital, video content draws the maximum eyeballs and hence when it came to expanding Grazia’s audience base on digital, we thought of creating an original web series that would resonate its brand tonality – being young, easy chic, uber-cool and high street. Grazia , being a fashion and beauty brand catering to a younger audience and having interns working with the team round the year, the idea of Intern Diaries was formed,” Worldwide Media (Grazia’s parent) business strategy and special projects head Sunil Wuthoo explains, giving the backdrop to the series.
To Worldwide Media’s advantage, Lever brand Ponds BB+ latched on to the idea and agreed to associate with it. The reason: a similar target group of young female audience mainly into the world of fashion and glamour.
The show features two girls – Tara and Anika, who are interning at Grazia and are aspiring to make a mark in the world of high fashion, style and Bollywood. And according to the Grazia website, the interns are seen working their way through tasks, completing them to the magazine’s standard. The web series takes “the audience through a journey of real situations, fashion emergencies and challenges from a millennial’s point-of-view and is relatable.”
Because it was shot in the Grazia offices, it features its editor Meharnaz Dhondy and members of the magazine’s brand team. To add to the glam quotient, fashion icons such as Manish Malhotra, Anita Dongre, Masaba Gupta, Sonakshi Sinha and Payal Singhal were roped in to interact with the Anika and Tara in scripted situations.
Says Wuthoo: “We have shown them going through the daily grind like planning magazine covers or some or the other challenges like visiting a designer store to source clothes for a model shoot. And that’s where they get to interact with the star or the designers.”
Line production was assigned to Bodhi Tree Multimedia. “The team was kept small to about 10-12 members so as not to disrupt the actual day-to-day functioning of the magazine and most of the shoot was done in all real locations across Mumbai,” reveals Bodhi Tree Multimedia co-founder Mautik Tolia.
Promotion was in three phases – pre-teaser, teaser and promo. While the teaser phase was used to boost the excitement, pre-teaser phase saw celebrities talking about their own internship experience. Those videos were posted on Grazia’s social media pages as well as on the featured celebrities’ social media pages.
This was further followed by the launch of the microsite that acted as a hub for this show, which not only hosted the episodes, but also a lot of ancillary content around the show including details about the characters and their fictional lives.
“We also sustained the interest of the viewers by connecting them with the characters through Facebook live sessions and publishing key moments from the show on various platforms. All of this is also being cross promoted across various social assets belonging to brands like Filmfare, Femina, TopGear, Hello! India, which further helped reach out to a young demographic,” says Wuthoo.
At the time of writing, Intern Diaries had manage to generate close to 10 million impressions, 2.5 million views, with a reach of 8 million.
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Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
