G Krishnan, Executive Director and CEO, TV Today Network

“We are not just looking at the US and UK markets, but other areas too like Canada, Middle East and South Africa. We will be entering foreign soil in a phased manner starting with the UK market. We are trying to release both the channels, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, in those markets.”

TV Today Network’s Executive Director and CEO, G Krishnan, is certainly a man of few words. After complete of 10 years, the group is upbeat about its next venture – the third news channel from its bouquet, Tez. Krishnan says the overall performance has been satisfactory, and that TV Today will push harder in the days ahead. In conversation with Malini Menon, Krishnan talks about the ambitions of the ‘sabse tez’ channel. Excerpts:

Q. What is the tagline for the channel and who are the target audience?

The tagline is “Khabrein Fatafat” and the channel is primarily aimed at the metros. People in the metros want news immediately and want to keep themselves updated on the latest. Tez caters to the audience who want things ‘fatafat’, which is what led to the tagline.

There isn’t too much of a gap. In South India, there are viewers for Headlines Today and the only difference in time spent is that of four minutes. If NDTV is viewed for 13 minutes, then Headlines Today runs close with nine minutes. The reason for NDTV having an edge in South India is only due to its format.

In the case of the Times Group this happened because it is in the print medium, which is a static medium. Hence, speed news in print is not really viable. The television medium is a dynamic, visual medium and, therefore, it will work. So I really wouldn’t compare the two.

We are in the broadcasting space and there are many opportunities that open up every now and then. When the opportunities knock, we shall look at them, but not at this point in time.

It is doing well. If you look at the first quarter results, we have done well and are pretty satisfied with the performance. We deliver around 19 per cent of the market and we have a dedicated 10 million audience today across the country and nobody would have believed this when we launched it in 2003. Ten million is a fantastic number. It has been a hard and difficult travel, but within the stiff competition that we have gone through, we believe that the channel has performed extremely well. We are very satisfied with the performance.

There are no learning points here. It was clear in the group’s mind that we have to invest for Headlines Today and create new spaces. You obviously have to invest money and if you don’t, you just can’t grow. We had to do this and I believe that what the company wished to achieve by launching Headlines Today has been accomplished. Let me tell you that people who watch Headlines Today love it because it is younger, with fresher faces who quickly analyse and put together faster stories. They are journalists who speak good English, have lots of substance and do not indulge in boring conversations. This is what the English audience demands.

At PROMAX-BDA India Awards 2005-06, we won gold for the best print ad for Aaj Tak, gold for Best Public Service Announcement for Aaj Tak, silver for Best Script for Aaj Tak, silver for Best News and Current Affairs Promo for Headlines Today. At Business Superbrands 2004-06 we were selected for business superbrand by Superbrands India. At RAPA 2005, we bagged best talk show for Seedhi Baat and best film-based programme for cinema. Also, at the New York Festivals, we received the finalist certificate for Best Insert Category for the police bribery case story.

We see it differently. A lot of people watch news and there is no reason to doubt it. If you follow the events that have happened in the last few weeks, the increase in viewership has been dramatic. The rationale is that there is a bigger audience in the metros that watch news and an important observation is that everybody is in a hurry, which is why they look out for speed news. This is why we are coming up with ‘Khabrein fatafat’. Fatafat is a very colloquial usage in India and almost everybody wants things fast. This is what led to this generic line. So, it is for people who watch long form of news, but while viewing an entertainment channel or a movie can catch up with the shorter, quicker wrap-up of news. So what we are saying is that you do have dinners that are lengthy but wouldn’t really mind snacking in between.

No, we are not looking at any alignments. We felt that there couldn’t be anybody better than Vir Sanghvi who could get the last word on the hottest topics. We believe that his show is an eye clincher and is working very favourably for the channel.

There are Asians living in these markets, so they are looking out for news channels and other entertainment channels. Indians settled abroad have distinct likes and have the option to subscribe to what they want. There are people who like to be updated with what’s happening in India in their mother tongue. As far as competitors releasing English news channel from India goes, our agenda is different, and in any case there are so many channels in the market place competing against each other.

Yes, that is true. When the channel was launched, the group was aware of all these factors. In fact, unlike Aaj Tak, Headlines Today was launched in a far more competitive market and the TV Today Group realised that there was need for additional investments for the channel. We introduced fresh new faces for the channel as it was targeted at the young generation. Also, constantly the endeavour has been to upgrade the programmes.

We have started 11 new ways to stay sharp. We have Headstart, which is a short and snappy 15-minute highlight of important news worldwide. We have interesting formats like Sports Quarter-15 minutes of sports, Biz Today-15 minutes brief on world business, The Big Ticket-news from the move world, sneak previews and trailers, Wheel Spin-expert analysis of the latest wheels in the market today, Top Five Today, which is news that competes with each other and makes it to top five, EQ-everything on entertainment in 15 minutes flat and The Last Word with Vir Sanghvi.

No, there are no plans to increase interview-based shows. Seedhi Baat has been an extremely successful property for the channel and we wish to leverage on this. The show has been is an eye-stopper and that’s the way we want it to be.

I would say that the journey has been satisfactory. The first learning point is that you need to keep learning. The moment you feel complacent, the learning curve dips and that is where we are cautious. The second thing is that after launching a channel if you think that your task is done, then that is not true. You have to work even harder. Point No. 3 is that you need to be ready with the changes in the market. Market dynamics keep changing and you need to keep reinventing and recreating. Also, never underestimate any kind of competition.

The best thing is to keep your eyes and ears open otherwise you tend to believe that what you do is right. The important thing is to grasp the changing perception of the consumer. It isn’t like it was 20 years back, when the consumer perceived something and held on to it. We are also looking at internal dynamics in terms of challenges to ensure employee satisfaction. This is essential in this field, particularly because the business is driven by human capital here. I believe that these are areas, which make you feel that you need to be abreast with what’s happening around.

These plans are already on. We are at some stage of finalisation. We plan to do this before the end of this year. In fact, we are not just looking at the US and UK markets, but other areas too like Canada, Middle East and South Africa. We will be entering foreign soil in a phased manner starting with the UK market. We are trying to release both the channels, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, in those markets.

Tez is a 24-hour Hindi news channel that is positioned as ‘fast, crisp and extremely slick’ and would be a perfect media vehicle for those targeting busy working professionals constantly on the move. The channel gives news in a superfast style. The channel’s got an attitude and is more free. People nowadays want a mix of everything – long format of news, news analysis and a quick look at headlines. The channel would carry quick news on every genre – political, business and entertainment.

The group resources will be used to get this channel moving. There haven’t been any additional investments to set up this channel. Aaj Tak and Headlines Today staff will be working for Tez as well.

As a group, we will continue to consolidate and provide quality in news. We will keep trying harder.

Not in our case. We have been very careful in the selection of news because the moment you post anything and everything as breaking news, the essence and credibility gets affected. We have been extremely cautious because across media this is happening now.