Accept, anticipate & adjust to changes in society: Hari Prakash K, CEO, Vistara News

The last decade saw regional news organizations battling several challenges from changing media dynamics to changes in technology. The latest entrant in this arena is the Kannada news channel, Vistara News.

Launched in November last year, Vistara News takes pride in its technological might. From robotic cameras to the largest AR/VR green room in regional media, this upcoming news channel is upping its game.

exchange4media spoke to the Editor and CEO of Vistara News, Hari Prakash Konemane, about the channel’s upcoming projects, the growth in ad revenue and much more.

Excerpts from the conversation:

Tells us about Vistara News and its inception.

Vistara news was started by journalists and is run by journalists. Our idea is to create the best workplace for journalists. This thought process began in 2017. Last year in November, we launched Vistara channel with the idea that a news channel shouldn’t become old in 10-15 years.

We are targeting A class audience but not neglecting the B and C classes. We are focused on creating aspirations through shows in the agriculture and business domain.

We launched YouTube channels four months ago - Vistara Money, Vistara Krishi, Vistara Omkara and so on for specific segments. The purpose of having multiple YouTube channels is for advertisers to get a targeted audience and for viewers to get uninterrupted content. We have got good subscription numbers.

We are focusing on 50% digital and 50% on TV. On our website, we are putting up news in the audio format too. We are targeting all age groups and reader profiles. Our slogan is Nikhara and Janapara, which means accuracy and pro-people.

How important is technology when it comes to media houses and what kind of tech does Vistara use?

Technologically, we are ahead of all channels. All our equipment are 4K and all channels of HD quality. There is no time lag in the transmission. We have robotic cameras in our newsroom, which don’t require an operator. One man can operate up to 99 cameras.

We have also developed our own Kannada script and so it is different from other regional media. We also have hyper-local news on the website covering every district in Karnataka.

What kind of response have you received from consumers and advertisers?

We have got good numbers in just two months but we are not yet going live with it. We are still in the process of correction and improvement and are exploring new advertisers. We have reached 80% of our ad revenue within 2 months. Major Karnataka brands are advertising with us on TV from varied categories like real estate, jewellery, education, health, agriculture and so on.

What changes have you seen in the southern media industry? Your thoughts on changing times?

In print media, there are many newspapers but only a few are making a profit. Why are only the latest newspapers making profit and old newspapers dying? That is because not everyone is ready to change and adapt to technology. Change is the only constant. We have to accept change, anticipate change and adjust to the change. We have to read the pulse of our readers and viewers.

What are the focus points for Vistara News for the coming months?

We have three channel licences – for news, entertainment and music. We are already on air with news. We are coming up with entertainment and music channels soon. We also have a publication called Vistara publication, which is in the works. We also have a movie production division and are planning to produce low-cost movies and classics.

Our approach is clear. Our focus is to give the best service to our viewers, readers and advertisers.