News Broadcasting
SPARR reveals differences in popularity of sections among dailies
Front page readership is very high while sports and edit sections get less readers. These are just a few of the findings that the survey SPARR conducted by Media Users Research Council (MURC) has thrown up for newspapers.
SPARR stands for Sections, Pullouts and Attitudinal Readership Research. The survey was conducted for Mumbai. It came about because publishers and agencies felt the need to understand evolving options for dailies. For example readership of Pullouts, Sub-metro offerings. The survey also went beyond demographics for sensitive reader analysis.
The front page reads range from 82-88 per cent. The Times Of India (TOI) also does well when it comes to city news readership at 80 per cent. Mumbai Samachar is one per cent higher. Mid-day and the Sena mouthpiece Saamna are much lower at 64 and 68 per cent respectively. They also lag behind the other publications when it comes to following the national news with figures of 59 and 60 per cent. TOI‘s figure is the highest at 75 per cent no doubt because its coverage is perceived to be more complete.
Not surprisingly the international news readership for Saamna is a mere 39 per cent. TOI‘s figure has also come down to 63 per cent. Mid-day fares decently here with a figure of 56 per cent. Because its devotes a lot of coverage and analytical pieces to sports the figure goes up to 60 per cent. Only TOI has a higher figure of 65. Most of the others are in the 40‘s.
However Mid-day scored poorly when it came to the Edit section. Only 24 per cent of the readers check it out. For business readership the overall figure falls. It is between 15-42 per cent. The study also noted that for TOI the edit and international pages score higher among SEC A. Also the readership profile is higher at 35-44 years. The teens are not interested. The picture is the same at Loksatta. SEC A is also interested in editorial, sports, business.
Interestingly for the Maharashtra Times the edit section is frequented by SEC C. The Gujarat Samachar readership profile is higher than the other dailies at 45+ years. The Times of India and Gujarat Samachar derive most of their readership from the priviledged consumer segment. This is a proactive consumer with the money and the will to spend.
Besides family dramas and Hindi movies, they also like to watch watch sports and news. They watch films regularly. The average consumer reads TOI, Loksatta and Navakal. Mid-day derives most of its readership from the aspiring consumer. Area wise TOI is well read in the city area and in the western suburbs i.e. Bandra to Dahisar.
As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, when it comes to television serials rule the roost. 70 per cent of the females check it out and more importantly the soaps engage half of SEC A. As expected women display little or no inclination for sports where the figure is just one. For men it is much higher at nine. Star Plus scored the highest across the board. For SEC A the figure is 38 while for D, E it is 36. The number of women interested is more than double the number of men 46 as opposed to 20. Star‘s arch rivals Sony and Zee are languishing far behind in the single digits.
Among radio stations Radio Mirchi comes out on top with a figure of 57 followed by Star‘s Radio City at 49. Vivid Bharati‘s share is 34 while Red FM is still further back at 16. Those aged 12-17 tune into Radio Mirchi and Radio City the most. Vivid Bharati has older viewers in the age bracket 46+ tuning in. Coming to the cinema the priviledged and aspirational consumers frequent theatres the most while the constrained consumer tends to ignore it.
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
