Television Eighteen has been on the acquisition mode for a while now to create more revenue opportunities for its shareholders. After creating a new division for marketing and ad sales TV18 Media Network, its CEO B Sai Kumar has chalked out a strategy, which is to emphasise on all the TV18 products in terms of delivering value to shareholders.
Sai Kumar is trying to position the TV18 brands in such a manner that they will continue to achieve consistent and profitable growth. TV18 Media Network has also conceptualized 'CNBC Universe' for such concerted activities for various products.
In a free wheeling conversation with Indiantelevision.com's Manisha Bhattacharjee, Sai Kumar speaks of the TV18 brands, and how they will make a measurable contribution to earnings.
Excerpts:
Why has TV18 created an umbrella brand called CNBC Universe? It helps us demonstrate the power of the CNBC Universe platform and shows a tangible integration of different media offerings. It is also about reaching out to multiple communities --- from retail investors to foreign institutional investors and even company managements. CNBC Universe is about how much more you can dominate in the business space. With the kind of growth our network has seen, the challenge is now to do justice to individual products, individual streams. If you look at the television part of the business, I am extremely kicked about the prospectus of CNBC Awaaz as we have touched operating break even. Of all the elements of CNBC Universe, CNBC Awaaz is the joker in the pack. On the revenue side I see at least 100 per cent growth for the quarter. |
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Why do you say the business space is all about influence and not as much as viewership delivery? |
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Are you indicating that despite being in the television space, your main competitor is the print medium, pink dailies to be precise? |
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Has TV18 started working with TAM to address the out of home viewers? |
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Have you identified the strong holds of the pink papers in order to wean away advertisers and clients? |
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What's happening on the global front? |
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What's the reason behind TV18 initiating a restructuring in its marketing and ad sales set up? I will continue to oversee CNBC Focus which is our non-inventory solution cell that reports into Anil, but he will still report into me as I am still involved in that part of the business. And I continue to be involved in the internet side of the business. Web18, which comprises moneycontrol.com, easymf.com, commoditiescontrol.com, compareindia.com and tech2india.com, will be handled by an independent team working on this. We already have a 12-member team in place with Raghavan Srinivasa handling internet sales. |
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What is the kind of growth the internet business has seen over the last quarter? |
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How are you pushing your online properties --- content or packaging? |
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So are you indicating that it is content that drives ad sales and marketing activities? Our biggest challenge is to do justice to individual brands in the TV18 stable. We had to work out a structure by which these brands get adequate attention and well lead by clearly thought-out strategies. So, each of these professionals have the mandate to take business decisions independently. |
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What kind of network solutions are you providing for your clients? |
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Are you saying that the network does not indulge in combo deal? |
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Which product in the CNBC Universe needs pushing? The market place has started embracing the internet only recently, so it can only grow. CNN-IBN had an excellent launch, but no way close to the peak. That's why my question is: what is NDTV going to do next as they have already touched between Rs 90 crores to Rs 105 crores with NDTV 24x7. For CNN-IBN, it is only going to be 100 per cent growth over the next one year. |
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Well, that's because CNN-IBN's base is small? No. The base isn't that small. We have already achieved operating break even with CNN-IBN business. At any point in time, while we are creating new strategies, they push down our products leaving room enough for growth. TV18 is creating potential for generating more revenues streams. For example, I would be extremely concerned if I was running Star Plus. What do you do next when you have already achieved Rs 1,500 crores. Last year, I did Rs 150 crores and there are expectations the entire network may touch Rs 250-Rs 260 crores. |
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TV18 has been very aggressive on the acquisition front, especially in the online space? Are you looking at converting any of your online properties that will be largely leady by subscription? |
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You are now the TV18 Media Network CEO, besides overseeing the sales aspects of TV18 properties, are you looking at venturing into commission business? TV18 has moved from a production house to a broadcast house, why? Because we wanted to own our content. In the production space you are selling your content and getting dwindling margins. But in the broadcast space, you own every piece of news that's going up and this is monetizable and encashable in various forms. We are into brand building, product building and business building. We are not into selling. TV18 is an integrated company. |
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What does CNBC Universe mean to the advertisers? |