As news of ace anchor Arnab Goswami, President of Times Now & ET Now, resigning from his role broke on the evening of November 1, social media went into overdrive and the media was given to strong speculation. To industry honchos, we sent out just one question...
I had to gently break the news to my Mom...
It was real dhamaka news at the fag end of the Diwali break. I had to gently break the news to my Mom who is a big fan of Arnab Goswami. The first thought that crossed my mind was when will he launch his new channel and what will we do every weekday at 9 pm until then! Kudos to Times Now for continuing to promote him and his show these past couple of days. I wish Arnab the very best for his new venture.
CVL Srinivas,
CEO GroupM, South Asia
News television becomes exciting all over again
Arnab Goswami created a new brand of TV journalism in the country. The Angry Young Man of TV News hit on a raw nerve of the audience and stuck to the course. As they say, the taste of the pudding is in the eating and in the world of TRP tasting, we cannot but admire what he managed to achieve. It is true that Times Now and the Times Group did give him a leg up. It remains to be seen how he flourishes outside the Times ecosystem. I’m sure Times Now will be able to create a new ‘Face’ brand for the channel. Hopefully, that new face will bring in a new outlook to the way news should be presented and also win the TRP wars. News television is going to become exciting all over again.
Ambi M G Parameswaran
Brand Strategist Founder, Brand-Building.com
Thought-provoking journalism
Over the past few years, Arnab has been able to provide fearless and thought-provoking journalism.
R S Sodhi
Managing Director, GCMMF
The real story is yet to come out
I was quite surprised to see Arnab moving on from a business which he had practically built since inception and lead-managed to transform the Indian TV news landscape altogether. The inevitable thought of a professional leveraging his domain expertise and unique style to become entrepreneur, and possibly enlarge the canvas or draw afresh came to mind. However, the lack of specifics on the next steps, apart from the stated intent to stay on in the TV business, leads one to believe that the real story is yet to come out. It would be really interesting to see the investors who would back him, and their motives and format, as well as the replacement anchor that the Times Group would bring on board. Let’s get set for more breaking news from the sector known primarily for breaking news.
Pradeep Dwivedi
CEO, Sakal Media Group
What will his Pakistani guests do in the evenings?
Oh Gosh! What will Peerzada and a lot of those ISI-sponsored, Pakistani guests do in the evenings, now that they won't have Arnab's show to go to? Pakistan can clearly claim this as yet another way of India being unfair to them and causing unemployment of their retired army folks.
Ashish Bhasin
Chairman & CEO, South Asia - Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman, Posterscope & MKTG - Asia Pacific
It was inevitable...
It was inevitable. He was as big as the channel, if not bigger.
Sam Balsara
Chairman, Madison World
I had switched off from him a long time ago
My first reaction was indifference, since I had switched off from him a long time ago. Now the brand marketer in me is interested in the new brand that Arnab may launch. I am keen to see how it is positioned and whether it will innovate in any way. As a news junkie, I worry about what this might mean for the future of balanced news coverage.
Suman Srivastava
Founder & Innovation Artist Marketing Unplugged
Waiting to be surprised!
My first thought was... Times have changed Now! Every morning one wakes up to a new surprise! Aaj Tak and Headlines Today surprised us with the trend of Breaking News; it changed how people consumed news forever. And then came another wave, albeit with split opinion. Arnab was to news what Saurabh Ganguly was to Indian cricket. Like him or not, he changed the way news was delivered and analysed forever. Now waiting to see what Times Now and Arnab will surprise us with. If they don¹t, they may be in for a surprise.
Charulata Ravi Kumar
CEO India, SapientNitro & Razorfish
I see no point in watching Times Now anymore
My first reaction was ‘Oh no!’ because I am Arnab Goswami’s most ardent follower. He was clearly the entertainment in the house at 9 o’ clock. He was my first choice on television and I used to constantly tweet about his debates. Despite all the criticism against Arnab, I think he is extremely well-spoken, well-educated, fearless, and a self-made man. None could question his integrity which can’t be said for some of his contemporaries. He has made an impact on Indian television like none other and I am sure in his new venture, he is going to have an equal number of followers. Meanwhile, I am going to miss him and as far as I am concerned I see no point in watching Times Now anymore.
Pratap Bose
Chairman & Co-Founder, Social Street
What happens to Brand Times Now?
My first thought was - What happens to the brand Times Now? It is the risk a brand faces when it is too synonymous with a person. How does the brand handle this painful separation? The second thought was what happens to Brand Arnab - having created a very distinct profile and a personality on this platform, what will he be able to retain on the new platform, assuming there is one, and how he may have to reinvent himself too in the process.
Sandip Tarkas
President, Customer Strategy, Future Group
I was expecting it...
I was expecting it. There comes a phase in the life of an organization where there can be only one brand at a time. So, it had to be either Times Now or Arnab Goswami. There were many people who were vocal about calling Goswami the noisy guy, one who doesn’t let anyone speak on his show, etc. But the fact of the matter is that the TRPs tell their own story. If a large majority of the population wants that kind of news, then who are we to object? Personally, I watched Times Now but only till the noise got to me.
Ramesh Narayan,
MD, Canco Advertising Pvt. Ltd.
Here’s to bigger times ahead
I will always wish Times Now and the Times Group great and significant success and to Arnab too – here’s to bigger times ahead.
Sunil Lulla
Chairman & MD, Grey Group India
Good for Arnab Goswami, I thought...
When I heard that Arnab Goswami had quit, I thought good for him. For all the seriousness which people attribute to it, News Hour was a complete entertainment show, a riot of people talking and making a lot of noise. I loved it that Arnab invited everyone as panelists for the debate and did not let anyone speak. It was great fun watching him keep them quiet. He had a pre-meditated point of view, and wasn’t really looking for anybody else’s opinion. I found it funny. If there was nothing happening on TV, I would quite happily watch News Hour, to figure out what the nation wanted to know, because we didn’t know what the nation wanted, but he certainly did. Now, I have no interest in watching Times Now. I used to watch it for him, just to see him and his master performance. Minus him there is no reason to watch the channel.
Sandeep Goyal
Chairman, Mogae Media
Wow! What will he do next?
The first time I got to hear of it was on a Whatsapp group and my reaction was, ‘Wow! What will he do next?’ I then messaged Arnab and I am sure I will eventually hear from him. We are going to do some fun stuff on-air around this and I know that he will do something awesome. The best reaction was from one of my colleagues who said, ‘Mera pati ab nau baje free ho gaya.’
RJ Malishka
Red FM
My TV volume button will miss all the action
I thought my TV volume button would miss all the action during Newshour. I then wondered what will the channel be without him? He built the biggest brand equity for them and with his exit, it will be a tough job for them to recover, but I'm sure he will start something on his own.
Roshan Abbas
Managing Director, Geometry Global Encompass Network
The urge for autonomy
A lot of people in the media industry, for a variety of reasons are pursuing an entrepreneurial path. In recent days, you heard about Vikram Chandra doing it, before that Barkha Dutt did it and Shekhar Gupta did it a while back. These are on the creative side, but many of those who work behind-the-scenes are also doing the same thing. My first sense when I saw the news about Arnab Goswami was that, here is another person who wants to be his own boss, and will take the entrepreneurial path in the next stage of his life. That was what came to my head.
What’s interesting is that, media people - both creative and on the business side, particularly people at some level of seniority and with a track record behind them - are looking beyond the corporate world. There is an urge for autonomy and literally being your own boss, and that urge for autonomy leads people out of the corporate world. For the creative people, the growth and momentum of digital media presents a real opportunity, and even relatively small players are able to make a mark for themselves. There is a wide variety of online journalism that India has, from global brands like Huffpost, to Indian ones like India Speaks, The Quint, Wire – and there is a huge amount of creativity that’s online. Online does not mean only text but also videos and audiences are available on the platform. My intuitive sense is that there’s a certain continuity in the way things are playing out. People believe opportunities exist and by setting themselves free from a large organization, they can pursue things which were not really possible in the big place. I think that pursuit of new opportunity, the lure of digital, the desire for autonomy, all of these have combined and Arnab is just another example.
Paritosh Joshi
Principal, Provocateur Advisory
