Tag: ABP News

ABP News, Avinash Pandey, Star News

Regional and digital based news content has been the key drivers of revenue growth for ABP in 2018

Avinash Pandey

Avinash Pandey has been promoted as the Chief Executive officer of the ABP News network (ANN). Avinash Pandey, who has been there with the ABP News network for over 14 years now, has been the main contributor towards their growth in the advertising revenue along with their increased business outreach within the country. Moreover, the new CEO discussed about his role along with the new beginnings and challenges in a conversation with exhange4media. Here are the excerpts of the same:

Avinash Pandey

Journey till now with ABP & the new role

I joined ABP News Network in 2005 as the AVP of Advertising & Sales and Head of Strategy. That role of mine made me directly work under Uday (Shankar) and it was an immense learning experience. That was a very exciting time as Uday was trying to transform the news television industry and we were experimenting with a lot of things. We wanted to shine in the crowd and so learnt a lot in terms of pricing strategy, go-to market, expansion, creation of property and their sale as GEC properties. Also, we launched a new news channel in Bengal, ABP Ananda. That led to the discovery of the market. We never thought that there was place for a news channel in a vernacular language in Bengal. But look what we have created today– the strongest brand in media space in Bengali. In 2007, we launched Marathi news channel Majha.

After 2007, I started looking at the entire advertising sales of the company and I continued to do that until very late. In between, I handled marketing and media research. I became the COO in January 2012, after which I handled distribution team, marketing, sales and strategy. And at the same time, I started having a deep involvement with the content teams, which led to the creation of good programmes such as Ghoshna Patra, Press Conference, Ghanti Bajao and Pradhan Mantri, which is the finest documentary that we have produced. Last year, we launched our first channel in Canada, which is very successful. We also expanded digitally. We were the first news channel to go with Hotstar. We also launched our digital product which is again very successful.

As a CEO, I feel responsible for one thing—to get news priced appropriately. In India, news is grossly underpriced. My job is to make it premium and get it appropriately priced from advertisers and consumers.

Key areas to be focused

We are at an inflection point in the industry. Conversion is happening in a very big way because of telecom, cable and satellite businesses. My first task would be to make sure that we serve the advertisers and viewers in a place that we don’t lose out. The task that I have taken up is to make sure that the reach of all channels grow with the growth in market, and that digitally, we are the finest company in the country.

How TRAI’s new tariff regime would change the game?

Brands and product that are not strong will certainly have an issue. But brands and products that are very strong will get benefit out of this. If we talk about the news industry, the top five news channels will be benefitted. And I don’t mean top as in top in India, but channels popular in particular regions will be benefitted. Right now, the product has been made like a platter which is for everyone, but now the product needs to reinvent itself. We will have to decide who the consumer is and the product will have to be curated accordingly. Many of us have not done this exercise because everybody targets the HSM and all kind of TGs. The race will be more sensible now. The business leaders have to think which direction they want to go. Everybody will have to define the business they are in.

The year gone by, for the news industry

From the advertising perspective, there has been ups and downs. Obviously, with so many changes happening in the industry, one is likely to get impacted. But most of the news channels have seen double-digit growth. There has been a major focus on politics, and so channels that specialise in covering politics have gained a lot. Issues such as Triple Talaq and Ram Mandir have gained prominence. Therefore, social economic issues are mixing up with political issues. Channels that are strong in this field are gaining momentum. One of the shifts that has taken place is that a lot of consumption is taking place on digital. And thanks to the decline in the cost of bandwidth, all good brands have huge digital numbers now. May be not much revenue is out there right now, but there is immense opportunity in digital in future.

2018 for ABP News Network

Despite all problems, we have registered a double-digit growth. Our main revenue drivers have been regional and digital businesses. Hindi business has shown a decent growth. Our events division has also done extremely well and created a lot of IPs in West Bengal and some of them are worth million of dollars in terms of overall output. The West Bengal business is also going up every quarter. It’s an interesting time for us to be in the business.

A Brief description about ABP’s future projects

We have planned some launches in the coming quarter. We are still in the discussion stage, but we will definitely be expanding.

How TV news industry would unfold in 2019 ?

One, there will be very heavy consumption of news, driven by general elections and cricket world cup. Hence, news and sports will be the dominant players in the television space in the coming three quarters. Second, the way we consume television at home will go for a change because all leading broadcasters will be doing digital experiments. And with data cost going down, a lot of VOD players will grow, even in the news category.

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ABP News, Avinash Pandey, Star News

ABP News Network elevates Avinash Pandey as CEO (Chief Executive Officer)

Avinash Pandey

New Delhi : Avinash Pandey has been elevated as the Chief Executive Officer of ABP News Network Pvt. Ltd. (ANN) effective today i.e. 2nd January 2019.

Avinash is at the helm of the organization as the COO of ABP News Network and has been instrumental in growth of network over the last 5 years. An HBS Graduate &Post Graduate in History, Avinash has over two decades of experience in News Media, Advertising, Sales, Distribution, Marketing, and Content Creation. He has been with ANN since 2005, guiding the growth of advertising revenue and playing a key role in the expansion of the network’s reach over the past decade.

Avinash Pandey CEO

Commenting on the appointment, Mr. D.D. Purkayastha, MD & CEO ABP Pvt. Ltd. said, “Avinash has rendered invaluable services during the past 13 years of tenure in the organization. Wishing him success in the new role.We are proud of our success and look forward to the next chapter of growth under Avinash’s dynamic leadership.”

Commenting on his appointment as CEO, Mr. Avinash Pandey said,“I am delighted andthankful to the Board of Directors of ANN for bestowing such faith in me. ABP News Networkhas been consistently setting benchmarks in the media and entertainment industry for innovation and growth in India, which is one of the world’s fastest growing markets.The convergence of telecom, media and technology is one of the major drivers of the industry and India’s media ecosystem has reached an inflection point. Am looking forward to taking the channels to the next level in these exciting times.”

Avinash Pandey

Important Marketing Skills By Avinash Pandey COO ABP News Network (formely Star News)

Avinash Pandey

For a person in the marketing job or for a company or organisation doing marketing for itself, it is very important to understand some major marketing skills. Refining these skills can lead them to grow their business and not understanding these basics can have adverse effects on them. During my extensive marketing experience in Star News and now as COO of ABP News, I have seen that these skills are the most essential and it is important to understand them. Try the following and see if they work –

The essential marketing rule is that 80% of our profits come from 20% of our clients. We need to understand which 20% customers are giving us the maximum profit and we need to focus on them. For TV News channels, we need to see which section of our viewers are watching the maximum of our News programmes. During my experience with Star News and now with ABP News, I notice that maximum of our viewers stick to the same kind of programes. In order to maximise the profit we need to focus on these viewers and see what they like in a news presentation. Here, it is important to understand that 80% and 20% are only approximations and actual % may vary, but this is the general idea, that maximum profits come from a small number of clients and we need to identify them.

Another good strategy is to create segments of our clients by age, geographical location, profession, economic group and so on. In case of TV Programmes, I would say that some programmes tailored for some viewers are the most successful, if these viewers are the ones who give the maximum profit to the TV News channel.

Another basic marketing skill lies in shaping the product in such a way that our product stands out against other similar products in the market. Instead of getting drowned in a sea of similar products, our products should have an identifying feature. This is where branding and marketing skills are most reflected. In case of TV news Channel, this means that in a sea of 24×7 news going on hundreds of channels, we have to make our news presentation different from the rest. It could be a different way of reading the news, focusing on different topics, inserting opinions from prominent experts, or anything else. But our news programme should have a personality of its own.

Social media marketing is a very useful marketing medium if understood how to use it. First, it should not be used as an advertising platform. Rather, visitors should be engaged into a conversation, friendship should be developed with them, main features of our products should be regularly discussed intelligently and we should reciprocate our visitors’ interest by visiting their pages and commenting and liking their posts. Social media should be used as social media and not in an impersonal manner.

Following these essential marketing rules can enhance one’s marketing skills. These rules can be modified according to the product and more rules can be added to the list. But trying these rules is a good idea to see if they work. I can say in my experience with Star News and ABP news that they have worked for me.

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Avinash Pandey

Hindi News Genre ad Rates to Grow 25% by General Elections: Avinash Pandey COO, ABP News

Avinash Pandey

As India is preparing to witness state elections followed by General Elections in 2018-19, news channels too are gearing up for the period by offering innovative election coverage.  

Like always, elections set an upward trend in news consumption, which encourages advertisers to spend generously on news channels. In India, TV continues to be a key medium for media advertisers due to its unmatched reach. Television takes the largest share of ad spends at 40 per cent, followed by print at 34 per cent and digital at 15 per cent.

Avinash Pandey, COO, ABP News Network, speaks more about the network’s coverage plan and growth in news genre:

Avinash Pandey ABP News
There is a fundamental shift in election coverage, which is creating lot of buzz across the country, feels Avinash Pandey COO, ABP News (formaly Star News).

Election programming

Desh Ka Mood, the leading election programme of ABP News, released the survey results on November 2, done by CVoter, the timeline of the survey was October 2018 with over 15463 respondents spread Pan India.

“All the channels under the network are doing election coverage, starting from monthly poll on all the news channel of the network. Regional channels broadly do daily election coverage around 5pm and 8pm every day,” informed Pandey.

Taking the highest election recall programme of ABP News- ‘Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri’ forward, the network launched Siyasat Ka Sensex. The one- hour show is hosted by anchor Neha Pant from Monday-Friday between 8pm-9pm. The show will aim at giving viewers opinion poll data of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan during the upcoming elections.

“We have also started Siyasat Ka Sensex which is a daily poll on these states and big opinion polls on these four states are coming right after Diwali,” said Pandey. 

Election Coverage over the years

Pandey explained, “If you look at the elections, the way it was five years ago, it is becoming more interesting with strong viewpoints and change of political dynamics both in the terms of ideology and ground realities. There is a fundamental shift  which is creating lot of buzz in the people on the ground and thus all news channels, at least the top four, are doing quite well in terms of election coverage.”

Avinash Pandey shared that most of the news channels are booked for the entire season till December mid in terms of ad inventory. “As a network, on ABP News, ABP Majha and ABP Asmita, the changing political scenario is creating lot of news. Majha will be dedicated to Maharashtra, our Gujarati news channel, Asmita, is more focused on the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan elections. The channels has got good round of election programming which has resulted in a decent rate growth and advertising booking of the inventory lasting until December.”

Ad growth during General Election

As the country is moving to the General Elections, Avinash Pandey believes that the most of the advertisers today are booking in advance. He said, “The clients want inventory commitment till the end of the General Elections which is around May 15, 2019. Most of the deals are being negotiated.”

Pandey believes that most of the news channel will deliver double digit growth during the poll period with the Hindi news genre expected to grow by 15-25 percent.

Speaking about revising the ad rates for the network, he shared, “We have taken a jump of close to 10 per cent this festive season. Further hike would happen during the counting and polling of state elections, which can be close to 15 percent and third round of hike will happen when the General Elections will be announced and the rates can go upto 20 per cent.”

On an average for a season the rate varies from Rs 3,400 to Rs 10,000 for 10 seconds depending on the time of purchase and the time band brands are buying, which is the same for the top three channels. He said, “However for the state election counting day, ABP News starting 10 sec slot rate is minimum Rs 20,000, which will only go up every single passing day.”

Avinash Pandey added, “The regional channels rates will be decided closer to the election day but if somebody wants to take all the three channels of ABP News Network, which include Majha, Asmita and ABP News, they can buy at the rate of Rs 27,000 but if someone wants to buy closer to the counting day the rate will be above Rs 1 lakh for a 10 sec slot.”

Categories spending more

“Media advertisers’ ever growing interest in spending on television ads has made this medium poised for a substantial growth in revenue generation on the back of sectors such as FMCG, automobile, consumer goods, mobile handset and telecom that are trying to leverage the expected increase in news channel viewership. Apart from FMCG, automobile and mobile handset are spending more compared to previous years,” said Avinash Pandey.

National vs Regional news

“Regional news channels cover minute details of local tehsils or Zila whereas national channels cover broader topics. The interest of a national viewer is very different from that of a regional viewer. Hence, both are doing very well in election coverage. Like in West Bengal, ABP Ananda’s viewer base was double of all the channels put together in terms of overall eyeball.”

Plans to launch new channels

Avinash Pandey informed, “We have plans to launch new channels but we have to see the market environment in order to go ahead with that. Maybe in the next financial year we will be able to announce it. Currently it’s too early to comment on it.”