Print's power: Meet the industry's revenue & sales chiefs

The Print industry has seen several ups and downs in the past two years, owing to the Covid-induced lockdowns, rising newsprint cost and the subdued marketing spends by several big spenders. However, the sector has bounced back in many ways and a major factor has been jump in ad sales and revenue generation. And the bosses in the print industry are to be thanked for the same.

Today, we look at the chiefs of ad sales and revenue departments of the country’s leading media publications who have been at the forefront of this sector’s revival and growth.

BCCL

Estimated Ad Revenue: Rs 4,352 cr for FY22

Revenue: Rs 7,394 cr for FY22

Partha Sinha
President- Response

Partha Sinha joined BCCL in 2020, his primary responsibility is to grow revenue and facilitate the interaction between brands and content. Sinha is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, and IIM Ahmedabad. In a career spanning over 30 years, he has been a nuclear design engineer, a banker, the strategy and marketing head of media and internet companies, and an advertising strategist. He has worked with Citibank, Zee, Ogilvy, Publicis, and BBH. He was the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of McCann Worldgroup.

Key individuals

Samir Sainani, Director, West
Sudha Natarajan, Director, National Verticals and Creative Business
Ashok Bindra, Director, North
Deepak Saluja, Director, South and East

Times Of India is the only English Newspaper with 55 editions across India.

HT Media + HMVL

Estimated Advertisement Revenue: Rs 1,600 cr CONSOLIDATED FOR HT MEDIA + HMVL FOR FY22

Rajeev Beotra
Executive Director, HT Media

"I strongly believe that today one of the most important responsibilities of a media sales leader is to put together a team that provides business growth solutions to advertisers, and not just ads. We’ve also observed that customized solutions result in significantly better yields and client retention. Personally, I take pride in having played a role in attracting fresh young talent to HT Media over the years and building a dynamic, passionate team. One of the key challenges in the last few years has been to navigate the entire sales organization through a major digital pivot at HT Media, as well as taking multiple large-scale changes like brand refreshes to market, and expansion of digital platforms from three to more than twenty today.”

Key individuals

Rajat Kumar, Chief Revenue Officer – U.P, U.K, Bihar & Jharkhand, HT Media
Neeraj Singh, CRO, West, HT Media Group
Mitesh Desai, Agency Partnerships and Sales Excellence, HT Media Group
Karthi Narayanan, Chief Revenue Officer, South – Digital & Print, HT Media Group
Anil Dua, Chief Revenue Officer – Print & Digital, HT Media Group
Amitava Bhattacharya, Chief Revenue Officer – East, HT Media Group
Neeraj Saraswat, Chief Revenue Officer – Radio & Digital Innovation Businesses, HT Media Group

Dainik Bhaskar

Estimated Advertisement Revenue: Rs 1,182.73 cr overall for FY22

Satyajit Sengupta
Chief Corporate Sales and Marketing Officer

Satyajit Sengupta, Chief Corporate Sales and Marketing Officer, has been associated with Dainik Bhaskar for more than five years. With an experience of nearly 25 years, he has played a crucial role in generating around 35- 40% of the advertising revenue for the organization from across the country. He plays a central role in managing the sales revenue of 24 mega editions across India. Prior to Dainik Bhaskar, Sengupta was the Associate Vice President, The Times of India Group, wherein he led the Metro Response team, generating revenue for all Times Group publications.

"I think my biggest accomplishment has been to build a great team. Our advertising team is seen as the go to team to generate ideas that are innovative, and deliver the best of eye balls and results. I don’t think there are any regrets. Unless one talks about the lost opportunity in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. I think the best years for Dainik Bhaskar lie ahead, and I am proud and glad to be a part of this path-breaking organization.”

Key individual

Harrish Bhatia
President Sales and Marketing

Harrish Bhatia has been with DB Corp for more than 21 years. In 2007, he was elevated as CEO of Media/Entertainment and Consumer Durables divisions of DB Corp Ltd (Radio Division). Bhatia was appointed the group’s President in 2017, and has since been leading a group of seven COOs across India. In addition, he was in charge of the top line, brand, and HR functions, as well as the team’s growth and development.

Dinakaran

RMR Ramesh
Managing Director

RMR Ramesh has a rich experience of over three decades in the media industry. He played an active role in the initial days of their first video magazine in Tamil, named ‘Poomalai’ and Suryan FM. He went on to become Vice President - Administration, HR and Projects, Sun TV. He is currently MD of Kal Publications, which owns Dinakaran, Tamil Murasu and Kungumum Group of Magazines.

Key individual

Rajesh Kannan
CGM, Marketing 

Anandabazar Patrika

Oommen Thomas
National Head, Ad Sales

"One of my key accomplishments would be the way we have been able to carve out hybrid solutions for clients, leveraging multimedia and providing impact for the advertiser. Another accomplishment was using the Portfolio Approach to grow revenues. Here we provide a client with a plan or package, which adds on other media options like digital, radio, sampling, etc., thereby satiating the requirement of the advertiser. As we celebrate the Centenary year, we take pride that ABP enjoys a lot of advertiser and reader faith and trust. Building on this, we want to continue being the preferred choice of media when it comes to Bengal. Today, we are no longer just a newspaper publisher, but our expertise is across print, television, digital, influencers, radio, and activations.”

Malayala Manorama

Varghese Chandy
Vice President, Marketing, Ad Sales

"Dispelling some of the myths regarding the Print Industry will be a great challenge. For instance, “print is dying” is something which we keep hearing. Covid definitely disrupted the distribution nationally, however, Kerala had the least disruption due to Covid. We are still operating at close to 2 million copies, and hoping to catch up with 2019 levels. In Kerala, Print gets close to 50% of the total advertising revenue. Despite that, planners tend to give least priority to print in Kerala taking the cue from the national situation. Commoditisation of the media is yet another challenge we are all facing, hence the huge discounts in the rates that the Media buyers are demanding. This has also led to a lot of unhealthy practices where the merit of the media takes a back seat.”

MATHRUBHUMI

Sudeep Kumar T
General Manager, Advertisement

"I have been part of the management team, which transformed Mathrubhumi from a Print media company to a modern media organisation. We are now into all verticals of media business like Print, Television, Radio, Digital, OOH, activations, exhibitions, events, etc. My professional mantra is to develop the best possible team, and to try understanding the client’s business.”

Key individuals

Naveen Sreenivasan, Head, TRD Sales

Jayakrishnan N, National Head, Metro Sales- Print

The Hindu

Estimated Total Revenue: Rs 858.89 cr for FY20

Suresh Balakrishna
Chief Revenue Officer

Suresh Balakrishna joined The Hindu Group as Chief Revenue Officer in 2018. Balakrishna is accountable for all India print advertisement sales (National accounts and South accounts), THEME (Events & Activations), and Brand Marketing & Solutions. His mandate is to build a sustainable, future-oriented high-performance sales and marketing team that delivers performance with purpose on the advertising front across both ATL & BTL activities. Prior to joining The Hindu Group, he was Chief Executive Officer, South Asia and Middle East, Kinetic Advertising India Private Limited, part of the WPP Group. In his 31 years of professional journey, he has acquired considerable experience and expertise in all forms of media (Print, Television, Outdoor), as well as the agency side of the business.

Indian Express

George Varghese
Chief Executive Officer

George Varghese has over 20 years of experience and expertise in Product Marketing and Management, Business Strategy, New Business Development, etc. An alumnus of St. Joseph’s Pune, he holds an MBA with specialization in Marketing Sales Management from IMDR, Pune as well. Before assuming his current role, he was working as the President, KEC International Ltd from 2010 to August 2013.

Dinamalar

Martin King
National Sales and Marketing Head

Martin King joined Dinamalar as a national sales head in 2013. He is responsible for the ad sales of the Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, and Pondicherry editions of the daily. With over two decades of experience, King started his career with Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd. After spending 11 years with the Times Group, he joined Radio City as its Regional Business Head before moving to Radio One, Chennai. He is a result oriented senior professional with 25 years of experience and expertise in sales, marketing, and general management. He has proven leadership abilities that include sales, marketing, brand building, team building and performance management. He is good at developing influential and positive relationships with people across levels. King is known to have a well-established and proven track record for delivering corporate objectives using allocated resources and within the allotted time.

Dinamalar was founded by philanthropist T. V. Ramasubbaiyer on September 6, 1951.

Eenadu

I Venkat
Director

I Venkat joined Eenadu group in 1987, and is currently the Director of Eenadu Television Private Limited. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science, and has been in the communication field since 1970. He joined the Board of Directors of Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., publishers of Eenadu Telugu newspaper, and the ETV group of channels in 1987. Venkat was the past Chairman of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), and a founding member of the Media Research Users Council (MRUC), as well as the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF). He is also on the Board of Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), International News Media Association (INMA), and Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

Key individual

KV Ramarao, National Sales Head (Print and Online)

Published by The Ramoji Group, Eenadu was first issued in August 10, 1974.

Vikatan Media

Balamurugan
General Manager and National Ad Sales Head, Vikatan Group

Balamurugan is responsible for the overall ad sales and revenue generation for the group in Print, Digital, Activations, and Awards. Focusing on growing and creating new revenue streams and opportunities, and in turn significantly contributing to the overall growth of the Vikatan Group, he is a highly experienced Sales & Marketing Professional with more than 25 years in Media selling. He has been in all facets of media, Print, TV, Digital, Events & OOH.

"My second stint in Vikatan started in March’21, I have come back to the group after five years. This time, I was given the responsibility of increasing the revenue from the previous financial year. I have successfully executed many awards, such as, the Nanayam Vikatan Business Star Award, V Connect Pinnacle Awards, and VConnect Pulse Health Care Awards. The number of clients have reduced and spends have reduced. Clients prefer electronic media over Print. We identify their challenges and problem statement, and we provide them with proper solutions. We are converting challenges into opportunities, and updating our Digital media. Since the restrictions are over, we are coming out with our marquee properties. Cinema and Nambikkai Awards.”