MUMBAI: The general news vertical has been one of the strongest parts of the Network18 portfolio over the past year. In its best efforts to leverage the opportunities the scale affords, Network18 has announced key elevations in the leadership team of News18.com, its breaking news platform. Azim Lalani has now been elevated to COO – Brand Solutions & Convergence whereas, Mitul Sangani will take up the role of COO- General News as a part of the new working model. The step has been taken keeping in mind rapid audience growth and alignment with market dynamics in order to fully capitalize on emerging revenue models in Digital.
Azim Lalani, who was earlier holding the position of Business Head - English News Cluster, will now take up the role of COO – Brand Solutions & Convergence. “Azim is a creative and resourceful business leader, who has amply demonstrated the potential of Firstpost Studio as an independent business in a very competitive market over the past couple of years”, commented Network18 Digital President Puneet Singhvi. In addition to running Firstpost, Tech2 & Brand Solutions, Azim will be responsible for P&L, audience growth, product and marketing for these businesses under his new role.
On the other hand, Mitul Sangani, former Business Head-News18 Indian Languages, will now be running operations as the COO- General News. “Mitul has taken on the challenge of growing Network18’s languages business from its infancy last year to making it the largest in the country in a very short span of time. Despite monetisation challenges for languages internet publishers in India, Mitul has very effectively taken a next-to-negligible revenue stream and made it into a robust and growing one”, added Puneet. In his enhanced role, Mitul will lead the P&L, monetization, audience growth (along with the editorial team), product and marketing for the general news business comprising of News18 English, News18 Languages and all verticals therein.
On the development, Lalani said, “It has been an amazing journey to work with a highly-motivated team which is constantly working towards delivering unique campaigns and content which stand out and have emerged to be game changers in the industry. Network18 has successfully created many digital firsts and I look forward to leading this amazing team to create many more milestones while giving immense value to both stakeholders and consumers.”
Sangani said, “It is my second stint with Network18 and it has been a great experience working with such a platform which has been catering to diverse audiences through its unique content. With content in 12 languages, News18 has indeed established itself as the top news destination for audiences across the length and breadth of the country. I look forward to taking up the charge of my new role propel the business to new heights.”
Both Azim Lalani and Mitul Sangani shall continue to report to Puneet Singhvi.
