Vishal Bhatnagar appointed national revenue head, CNN-IBN

Bhatnagar was serving as senior vice-president and regional head, North and East, CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz. Earlier, Sterling Ferreira was the national revenue head, CNN-IBN.

The Network18 group has appointed Vishal Bhatnagar, erstwhile senior vice-president and regional head, North and East, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz, as national revenue head for CNN-IBN. Bhatnagar joined in his new role recently.

Bhatnagar joined the Network 18 group in 2004 as regional manager, New Delhi Area (then, Television 18 India).

Before Bhatnagar, Sterling Ferreira was the national revenue head at CNN-IBN.

In an official communiqué, Dilip Venkatraman, CEO, CNN-IBN stated that Bhatnagar's contribution will be critical to shape a new phase of leadership for the channel.

Bhatnagar says, "CNN-IBN has clearly emerged as a benchmark amongst general news brands in the country in terms of credibility, viewership and innovation. I look forward to working closely with the channel team to ensure that we build further on its revenue leadership as well."

The group adds that this is a part of the leadership re-alignment at Network18 News Media. Network18 News Media is the client-facing ad sales unit which manages the advertising interests of the channels at the Network18 group, including CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNN-IBN, IBN7, IBN-Lokmat and History TV18. Ad sales for the ETV regional news network, subject to regulatory approvals for the acquisition, will also form part of this stable.

Sanjay Dua, CEO, Network18 News Media, says, "We believe that our brands are well-placed to build further on their leadership, both in terms of innovative client solutions as well as a strong network proposition. We're confident that this alignment is the beginning of a new phase of growth for us."

Bhatnagar brings with him over 18 years of experience in sales across media and has been with the Network18 group since 2004. He holds degrees in management and commerce from the International Management Institute (IMI) and the University of Delhi.

After graduating from Delhi University in 1993, he joined Times of India as executive to manager. After about 10 years at the organisation, he moved on as senior manager in 2003. He moved to Times Television as deputy chief manager and regional head, North.

After one year, he shifted to Network18 (then Television 18 India) in 2004, as regional manager, New Delhi Area. He was gradually promoted to the positions of associate vice-president, vice-president and senior vice-president at the group. His mandate was to head business development for CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz in North and East India.