Set for Sept 20 launch, News First looks to disrupt Kannada news space

On September 20, the Kannada news space will see a new entrant - News First - a venture by Olecom Media Pvt Ltd.

News First, the 11th news channel in the Kannada news space, is banking on quality – both in terms of content and the team behind the channel – to take on established players.

News First has been promoted by two veterans of the Kannada news space, S Ravikumar, CEO of News First, and S H Maruthi, Editor-in-Chief, News First, both of whom played an instrumental role in the success of TV9 Karnataka in making it the leader in the genre.

The team is now confident of replicating their earlier success and promises its audience an exciting line-up of innovative programmes.

According to Maruthi, “Content strategy, production treatment and programming format will be the key pillars that will help News First stand out in the monotonous news space.”

“News First will be a 24x7 Kannada News Channel catering to the quality conscious viewer. We will embrace a holistic approach to upgrading quality of news treatment, production, content and formats. Quality content always finds takers. It includes doing stories well and presenting them even better. Currently, there is stagnation in existing production formats. We will ramp up with high quality graphics and production.”

S Ravikumar – CEO, News First, talks about the need to change in status quo. “The brands which are in existence for decades are happy dishing out the same stuff on their broadcast and digital platforms. They don’t feel the need to change the status quo as the numbers are coming in. However, audience fatigue has set in Kannada news. This is a space News First is keen to squeeze and make a mark in. Backed by a strong team, sophisticated graphics that’s new to Kannada TV news and a technologically superior set up, News First is raring to go.”

For S Divaakar - Business Head, News First, “In the Kannada TV news market competition is between No. 2 and No. 3. No one is thinking about taking on the market leader who currently seems undisputed. With a solid product, innovative programme line-up and a competent team we are keen to go for gold. We believe if there is anyone who can quickly move up to No. 2, it’s us.”

Reaching Every Home In Karnataka

Currently, News First is in advanced discussions with all leading DTH and MSOs in Karnataka. At launch, News First intends to be available on all platforms with the plan to reach every TV home in Karnataka by the end of year 1. However, the current pandemic has added to the distribution challenge as Ravikumar explains, “The situation posed by Covid-19 and the consequent economic slowdown have affected revenues of TV channels. They’ve been finding it difficult to pay carriage fees to DTH operators and MSOs. Consequently not all DTH operators and MSOs have been flexible during pricing negotiations. This has been a significant challenge for us on the distribution front.” In addition to distribution, he says that as a standalone network with a single channel the other challenges are that the channel has no access to exclusive in-house content source and that it is considerably more difficult to generate revenue as compared to bouquet channels.

Building On The Digital Presence

While the TV channel is set to launch next month, News First has been active online since July 2019 and has already built a presence with its news portal newsfirstlive.com and established its social media presence on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. Its digital play is focussed on snackable and shareable content and includes news in brief, special features and celebrity interviews. According to News First, the portal has Average Monthly Page Views of 25 million, on Facebook the Average Monthly Reach is 24 million and close to 220 million views on YouTube. News First has already ratcheted up over 600K subscribers and followers each on YouTube and Facebook.

With integrated newsrooms and synergies being the norm, Maruthi says that News First will focus on contextualising content as per TV and digital requirements. While the content may be similar, the branching happens at the content management level, in content writing, editing, presentation and delivery. “TV obviously has its own self sufficient and fully equipped team. We have a small digital team which is being ramped up to cater to future digital consumption requirements,” adds Maruthi.

In addition to the legacy of the promoters, the digital numbers have helped garner advertiser interest. Says Divaakar, “The response from advertisers has been very encouraging. The inventory is steadily building up with big and small brands alike. We are quite hopeful of building on the inventory in the days ahead.”

The Road Ahead

Looking ahead Ravikumar says, “We expect a reasonable and steady growth given the market response that we are receiving.” The stated vision of the company is to create South India’s most watched TV and digital news network by 2025. Commenting on this he adds, “Our plans for creating a pan South Indian brand are contingent upon the success of our Kannada venture. At the same time we are exploring opportunities to be present across South India.”