Times Now's Arnab Goswami on why the channel continues to lead the English news genre

Times Now and ET Now's President, News and Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami considers 2015 to have been the finest for Times Now and reveals how the channel maintains its leadership position

Aanchal Kohli | Mumbai | November 9, 2015

Arnab Goswami

Times Now, the 24-hour English News channel headed by Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami has been experimental and innovative in its programming and content line-up of late. The Bihar election coverage is the most recent example when the channel showcased a continuous coverage of 36 hours and used statistical tools for accurate analysis of data. Goswami spoke to the media about the future of television news, the rapidly transforming digital environment and the growing needs and demands of its viewers. Excerpts:

Encouraging 2015

“This year has been one of the finest years for Times Now. I could take over the responsibilities for ET Now and make the channel reach newer heights in terms of walking ahead of its competition. News Hour, one of the flagship shows has crossed 90 per cent channel share several times this year. Secondly, Times Now as a channel has received encouraging response by crossing 50 per cent channel share several times. We have been at the number one spot for more than seven years now and we have believed in innovating our strategies every year and not taking our leadership for granted.”

Future Predictions

While digital is creating a mainstream effect for channels, Goswami feels that television will keep growing and dominating the space. “The next seven- eight years digital will follow television but after a point digital and television might go hand- in- hand. Digital allows people to get involved and I personally feel that the viewer's involvement is the most important part for any news show. Hashtags define the differentiated content that our channels air. It highlights the stories that we want our viewers to be aware of and that is the reason aggressively promoting the use of hashtags,” he said.

Digital Innovations and Strategies

On the application front, the channel has been experimenting with the 'News Hour Shots' which enables a viewer to keep track of the highlights of News Hour.

Goswami also highlighted that the channel has a new digital team which is wholly focused towards strengthening the app, the social and its mobile website.

“Our new digital team is wholly focused towards strengthening the app, and the social platform. Digital has added more audience base to our kitty. As of now, I am focusing towards making our footprints strong on the digital front but after four to five years we might start putting up high quality content on our website and mobile application,” added Goswami.

Info@bestmediainfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com