Times Now strengthening its digital presence

During a press briefing, editorial director and editor-in-chief Rahul Shivshankar also spoke about news channels pulling out of BARC.

Rahul Shivshankar, editorial director and editor-in-chief, Times Now, addressed a press briefing on Monday, about the performance of the news channel.

A leader in television news, Times Now is working towards strengthening its digital presence and is building its digital properties with new hires. "We are taking many steps. MK Anand, the MD and CEO, has invested a great deal of his time and energy to build our digital business," Shivshankar said.

Recently, Rohit Chadda has been appointed as President and COO - Digital Business and Vinay Sarawagi as Senior Vice President – Digital Content. The broadcaster now has digital news verticals in English, Hindi and Marathi.

During the press briefing the television news anchor also spoke about Broadcast Audience Research Council's (BARC) measurement of television viewership and channels exiting the ratings body.

Speaking on whether BARC's credibility is still under question even after ratings have resumed, Shivshankar said that Times Now has remained a top performing channel even after the clean-up.

Speaking about the system, he said, "The system is clear. We can have arguments over how many meters there should be, whether the system is representative enough or not. But I'm only talking about right now about the process. The process suggests there is absolute clarity."

Last month, iTV was the third news network to pull out of the BARC measurement system. Before this NDTV and Zee Media also pulled out its news channels.

Mentioning that the TRP scam had cost Times Now around Rs 400 crore, he said, "The misdeeds of one person has led to Times Now having to let go of hundreds of its employees. There was a huge human cost of this manipulation."