MUMBAI: Riding on the back of the stupendous success of its national Hindi news channel, TV9 Bharatvarsh, whose viewership share has grown by more than 100 per cent to catapult it to the number five slot ahead of Zee News and News18 India, TV9 Network today announced that it is strengthening its management team.

President Vikram K has been promoted as COO south and will drive the group’s flagship channels TV9 Telugu and TV9 Kannada. Amit Tripathi joins as the chief revenue officer.

As the COO for south, Vikram will have complete P&L responsibility for the flagship channels TV9 Telugu and TV9 Kannada. Amit Tripathi will spearhead the revenue function for the entire TV network.

“I congratulate Vikram on his elevation; he is a proven leader with twenty years of media experience and will now have greater responsibility resting on his shoulders,” said TV9 Network CEO Barun Das.  “Amit comes with vast media experience and has been a stalwart in the industry for more than two decades now. I welcome Amit to the TV9 family.”

Vikram said: “It has been a wonderful journey for me with TV9. I have been associated with the group for sixteen years. Now that we are the largest news network of the country, we have aspirations to grow further from here. I am excited to have this new assignment given to me and I am sure that I will be able to live up to the expectations of Mr. Barun Das and the group.”

Looking ahead, Barun Das said he expected the economic environment to be highly challenging. “But the television news industry will possibly be better off compared to other genres, and with our four regional language leaders in TV9 Telugu, TV9 Kannada, TV9 Marathi and TV9 Gujarati and the national Hindi news channel earning a place for itself in the big league, our network is well placed to meet the challenges of the economic slowdown,” Das noted.

The TV9 Network is India’s largest news network with more than 53 crore impressions as per the most recent data from television audience measurement body BARC.