‘NDTV is DEAD’, that was the blunt assessment of some in the highest corridors of news when Rahul Kanwal announced that he was leaving India Today Group to join the Adani-owned media network as the CEO and Editor-in-Chief in May, 2025.
Back then, NDTV had reported a net loss of approximately Rs 21 cr. for the preceding financial year which had just escalated tenfold to touch Rs 218 cr. in FY2025 amid rising operational and expansion costs. What then compelled one of the most successful news anchors in India to take over the reins of NDTV, exactly a month later, despite select names from the news fraternity writing it off?
Kanwal explains, “I know that there are people in multiple newsrooms that would like nothing better than for NDTV to die. Because an NDTV which is alive, and breaking news in Davos, during the budget, elections, etc., is their worst nightmare. Naturally, if I have a competitor I’m very worried about, I’d like that competitor dead. I don’t think anybody can kill NDTV”.
Going on to elaborate he says, “The idea of NDTV is deeply rooted in the minds of our consumers. For three decades, a legion of fabulous journalists, editors, anchors, producers, photographers have worked hard to build this brand. The connect it has with audiences in India and internationally is very deep. It is my responsibility to keep that idea alive, to build on it in its new avatar, and that’s what we’re working towards. Only that will determine whether NDTV lives, thrives, or dies.”
Declining TV viewership
The challenge, however, is larger than NDTV, especially on the TV broadcast front. In the past six years, India has lost nearly 40 million Pay-TV households, linear TV viewership has begun to decline in absolute terms, and commercial TV news advertising has been underperforming, with advertising volumes registering their lowest level in four years in July, 2026 according to TAM AdEx data. From the suspension of BARC ratings to recurring friction over TV versus digital regulation, and the exclusion of ‘landing page’ viewership from official television ratings—a move that has divided the industry—the television broadcasting sector, particularly news, is navigating a period of considerable uncertainty.
The moot question thus is, how will Kanwal, a first-time CEO, navigate severe structural headwinds in traditional TV broadcasting without sacrificing on production standards or editorial integrity. In a heavily polarised media industry, dominated by high-decibel, sensationalised prime-time formats, NDTV historically traded on its reputation for understated, credible reporting. The then Dr Prannoy Roy-owned NDTV has produced India’s top anchors like Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami, Barkha Dutt, Nidhi Razdan, Vikram Chandra, Sreenivasan Jain and many more. However, following corporate ownership changes and leadership transitions, maintaining brand trust while competing for prime-time television ratings will require a foolproof content strategy. Kanwal clearly has his task cut out for him.
Rebranding of NDTV
In the past 14 months since taking over, Kanwal has steadfastly prepared himself for what he calls the news network’s ‘rebirth’, marked most visibly by rebranding NDTV 24/7 into NDTV with the thought, ‘When it really matters’. He is banking on programmes like The Buck Stops Here, India Matters, NDTV Newsroom and Breaking Ground on their English news channel as also programming across the newer regional channels launched by the Group—NDTV Rajasthan, NDTV Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh and NDTV Marathi, in addition to their business and Hindi news channels – NDTV Profit and NDTV India. The latter, quite recently, also changed its tagline to ‘Bharat ka Vishwas’. But Kanwal keeps it realistic, “Marketing teams can make fancy campaigns. But beyond a point, they mean nothing. It is the actual product which people consume that determines whether you have their trust or not.”
Editorial independence
The ownership question inevitably follows. As Editor-in-Chief of a news network owned by a corporate group, how does he ensure editorial independence? Kanwal says the answer cannot be established by mere declarations. “It is natural for people to have doubts. But I feel instead of me claiming something, people should find out by watching our channel, our digital, social, and YouTube feeds, and make up their own minds.” His test is simple: whether NDTV questions people in power, namely ministers, leaders and corporates without fear.
He points to audience behaviour as evidence of NDTV’s soaring popularity across platforms, “As per Comscore data, traction on YouTube and Instagram has seen a huge growth. NDTV.com has been India’s most watched broadcaster on YouTube for several months in a row. Television ratings have also been growing before the ratings data was suspended. So, it is evident that people are connecting with our journalism, you can’t fool the viewers anymore.”
Steering the ship
Kanwal describes his first 14 months as CEO and Editor-in-Chief as an effort to plant ‘saplings’ that can grow around a strengthened news core. To drive this overarching business and editorial transformation, Kanwal took the conscious decision to step back from anchoring a daily prime-time show, repeating a strategic move he made earlier in his career when running Headlines Today. He explains the managerial logic, “You can’t be coach, captain, and opening batsman all at once. When an editor-in-chief anchors a daily primetime show, the newsroom’s energy inevitably revolves around making that single broadcast shine.”
He adds confidently, “I aim to hire people who are smarter than I am. If insecurity leads me to hire less competent talent, I can never build a great institution. Look at Raghav Bahl at Network18 or Aroon Purie at India Today, they were comfortable in their own skin and happy to let others shine. Dr Prannoy Roy was equally comfortable with the stardom of Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai.”
The NDTV multiverse
Rahul Kanwal categorically declares that being in the race alone is not good enough for him. The CEO says, “I did not come here to participate in the Olympics, I came here to win.” And winning today is not a one-pronged strategy anymore. Not surprisingly, since the Adani acquisition three and a half years ago, NDTV has expanded its regional, global, and digital footprint. Beyond core news, the network has diversified into major properties like the NDTV ProAm Golf, NDTV Art Awards, NDTV Food Awards, and the Ind.AI Summit, while introducing specialised platforms including NDTV Launchpad, NDTV Lifeline, NDTV Datafy, and NDTV Automate.
While entering allied spaces beyond conventional news seems to be exerting short-term pressure on the balance sheet, the channel is hopeful that it would set the stage for long-term growth. For the financial year ended March 31, 2026, New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) reported consolidated revenue from operations of Rs 528.29 crore, a 13.6% increase from Rs 465.03 crore in FY25, alongside a net loss of Rs 323.16 crore.
Kanwal has made a similar transition before. As executive director of Business Today, he helped move it from a largely magazine-first print brand into a multimedia operation spanning BTV, stock markets, YouTube, digital and social platforms. He says revenue lines grew more than five times from the base he inherited.
The lesson is central to his current approach, “We need to run a news business which is credible and legitimate while ensuring that we’re financially viable and independent. This is not charity. We are an independent, private media organisation, that’s the reality of the world that I inhabit.”
Digital superpower and challenge
A silver lining for him of course is NDTV’s Digital news business which by his own admission, makes more revenue compared to its television counterpart. Incidentally, NDTV was one of the first traditional news media companies to focus on digital news and has since then reaped the advantages too, including significant direct traffic on its website and apps. As per Reuter Institute’s Digital News Report, 2026, NDTV is on top of the weekly news-reach rankings (covers online and traditional platforms) for the sixth consecutive year in India. And yet Kanwal doesn’t want to take that advantage for granted, at a time when Google search and discover traffic is coming down.
His answer is to accelerate the multiverse before the ‘Google Zero’ world takes over. “When algorithms decide where brands, news and users go, the only thing a media organisation has is trust and credibility. That’s the only belief that brings the consumers back to their platform.”
Is AI helping?
NDTV is already using AI in news processes, graphics, editing, repurposing, finance, HR, legal, automation and the app. In news processes, for converting text into graphics, editing, and repurposing content into different formats etc, but Kanwal draws a line at AI anchors. “I don’t believe in AI anchors. Whoever is delivering the news should be a human being. The moment you have fake AI anchors presenting the news, you’ve lost your connection to the audience.” Incidentally, the India Today Group, where he spent over two decades of his career, had popularised the trend of AI anchors.
Also, in an age where the news stories are moulded in studios as opposed to on ground, Kanwal claims, “There is not one Moses leading the way and showing people the path at NDTV, we have a big tent of ideas, of opinions and shades. Anchors and editors should be allowed to voice their own thoughts without being dictated to by a central command that this is the line you must toe. That’s not journalism. Also, assuming that all the mainstream channels are all ‘Godi media’ is not right.”
Kanwal clearly has to push all the levers to ensure that NDTV continues to be trusted, is credible and yet is profitable. That’s the challenge and the opportunity. What’s central to Kanwal’s first phase as CEO and Editor-in-Chief is that NDTV is not attempting merely to protect a legacy. It is trying to build a new media business around a legacy brand—one that can survive declining linear television, changing advertising economics, AI-driven disruption and the fragmentation of attention without sacrificing the editorial credibility on which the brand was built. Whether the investment-led expansion becomes a sustainable growth engine will ultimately be decided by the numbers. And whether ‘When it really matters’ India turns to NDTV and ‘Bharat Ka Vishwas’ becomes more than a tagline will be decided by the journalism Kanwal and his team showcase in the years to come.
Q&A
For decades at a stretch, NDTV was an outlier in the TV news ecosystem, a network which shunned the Foxification of news, where noisy debates had no place. In 2022, it underwent a massive transformation when the Adani Group took it over, and with it, subsequent expansion too, under a new editor. And last year, we saw Rahul Kanwal take over the reins of NDTV, as the CEO and Editor-in-Chief. In an interview with Neeta Nair, Editor of IMPACT Magazine, Kanwal talks about the NDTV ‘multiverse’ which will change the fate of their business, why his digital business is his trump card and why he will always be a journalist first
Q] In the company’s 38th Annual General Meeting, you spoke about ‘Building a New NDTV for a New India’. How would you go about it, and how much of what Dr Prannoy Roy built and what Sanjay Pugalia established before you would you retain with regard to ideologies?
I do not look at building a new NDTV as an exercise in saying everything that existed earlier was wrong. NDTV has been built over three decades by outstanding journalists and professionals, and its history must be respected. Its digital-first strength, app, website, search authority, direct audience relationships and international recognition are assets built over many years; my job is to build on them, not discard them. My approach is to listen to everyone—government, opposition, protesting students and police—and then apply our own journalistic judgement. India’s democracy lives in that middle space, and NDTV should reflect it. The new NDTV means greater energy, technology, speed, new formats and scale; not repudiating the past, but building on its strongest foundations.
Q] You took over NDTV at a time when it was facing existing revenue pressures, and now the network registered its 11th consecutive quarterly loss. What went wrong and how will you bring it back on the road to profitability?
NDTV is one of India’s most marquee media brands, most renowned internationally too. When the ownership changed, it underwent a management transformation. The brand was in a position where the road ahead had to be charted and I thought of that as a great opportunity to rebuild a new NDTV for a new India, to give this brand passion, purpose and energy; and we’re just one year into this new journey. There may be a hundred reasons why NDTV might have failed, there are just a few which can help it succeed. My question is, can you find the levers, and do what is required to be done in this age of AI, fragmented attention spans to ensure that it stays credible, relevant, and grows? That is a huge professional challenge. And I’m very grateful to the management of the Adani Group for thinking that I am worthy of this opportunity. It’ll take some more time, and the results will speak for themselves. And I will do it with integrity because being a journalist is most important to me.
Q] Speaking of integrity, NDTV was considered as the last bastion of independent journalism. Is it still a people’s channel? The case in point is, during the NEET protests, many students alleged that parts of the mainstream media, including NDTV, gave more prominence to political angles than to students’ core demands for accountability from the government. How do you respond to that criticism?
NDTV was arguably the only mainstream media organisation which had a battery of its top anchors, editors, reporters deployed at Jantar Mantar. Protesters have legitimate concerns, considering that mainstream media hasn’t done a fantastic job of conducting itself. That is the reality which you can’t run away from. If you call the students goons like some of the channels did, people out in the streets won’t like you. We, on the other hand, ensured that we were listening to the students’ voice and amplified it too. Did we do this well enough or could we have done more, those are key questions. But it’s not as if we were trying to vilify the protesters or demonise them. There were also certain anti-social elements which had crept in that were antagonising the police. That is also a reality, which is as much a part of the story. You carry the voices of the protesters and if they attack the police, you show that too. Journalism is not about picking a side or blindly believing what the government or the students say.
Q] Yet, on one hand, post-protests, many from the younger generation think that the traditional media has failed them and the independent digital platforms like Peek TV or Faye D’souza’s Beatroot News have become their voice. On the other hand, with the fast adoption of the digital medium, would you say NDTV’s competition is with the digital news platforms and not with those on TV?
NDTV has been digital-first long before I got here, unlike other platforms which are now getting there. This is the OG of India’s digital ecosystem. It has one of India’s best news apps and deep Google domain authority. More importantly, we make more revenue on the digital side than we do via television. NDTV Digital also gets a high proportion of people coming directly to the homepage or app rather than through Google search and discovery. That direct relationship is extremely valuable. I’m hugely excited by the changes the digital frontiers present for news organisations. Many will potentially fall by the wayside. But I am quite certain that the one brand that will be standing, when the ruins are being counted, will be NDTV.
Q] How much of your investment is going into linear television versus digital-first journalism? And how are you tapping into CTV, a fast-growing medium?
Our approach is platform-agnostic: we are investing in news, irrespective of whether it is consumed on television, digital, YouTube, social media or Connected TV. Digital will have a significant sway, with our focus on increasing reach, engagement and direct audience relationships. At the same time, linear television remains important to the overall ecosystem. CTV is a growing opportunity to move beyond simply replicating the TV feed, with longer-form programming, specialised streams and on-demand formats. We are also building capabilities in CTV, YouTube and international monetisation that were not sufficiently developed earlier. The ambition is ‘One NDTV, one content ecosystem’ across platforms.
Q] India Today Group recently laid off about 120 employees and interestingly, it is one of the media houses that has not even seen red in their balance sheets this year. Now, with declining TV news viewership, mounting losses, are such layoffs going to be a reality across TV news channels like NDTV?
It’s very sad that India Today Group had to let some people go. These are people who’ve been part of my family and part of my ecosystem. I care for them very deeply. What sets apart NDTV and our channels is that we’re coming from a low base. Given how big this brand is, in revenue, NDTV had really fallen off the cliff for the TV channels, whether it’s Hindi or English or Business. The other media brands are making much more money at this time because they have stronger muscle. We didn’t have a connected TV, YouTube sales, international sales team. As we build our editorial and sales muscle, we are trying to win back the businesses that are legitimately worthy of being with NDTV. We’ll start monetising the presence of those sales resources in these functions. That’s how it’s growing. But, yes, you’re absolutely right. Times are tough. Media economics are deeply flawed, not just in India, but internationally too. We have to make sure every rupee we spend delivers maximum return on investment so that we’re able to chart out a viable path to profitability at the earliest possible. We will put in the hard work towards ensuring that we’re financially independent.
Q] But realistically, how many years are you giving yourself for this turnaround?
That’s an internal conversation. And I ultimately will be judged as a chief executive not by what I say in this interview but by the financial returns that my organisation delivers quarter after quarter. That is the ultimate litmus test and I am committed to deliver by also building some alternate revenue streams, building IPs, which is a legit way to make money for the business.
Q] You have announced a slate of new IPs, events and platforms in the past few months—from art awards to wellness. Are you spreading your resources too thin when there is existing revenue pressure? To what extent are you focussing on core journalism?
The first thing on agenda is strengthening our journalism which is also taking up the bulk of our resources. But given the fact that linear Television is under pressure and AI is eating up a lot of Google search and discovery traffic, it is important that we build an NDTV multiverse. One of my biggest passion projects is NDTV World, to give India, which is one sixth of the world’s population, its own global media brand like CNN or Al Jazeera. It signals NDTV’s global ambition. It also makes sense from a business perspective because whatever eyeballs you get, they’re all international, so it’s dollar-denominated and not in Indian rupees. Similarly, NDTV Good Times platform is another bold bet, we are bringing back Band Baajaa Bride which amplified brand Sabyasachi back in the day. News organisations should build strong communities in niches like art, golf, photography, with a value proposition that bring people to you. We are also starting some award IPs like the Food awards, which have credible jury and a rigorous evaluation process. It would stand out from other such properties because at NDTV, you can’t buy the award, you have to earn it.
Q] From a revenue point of view, will the suspension of the BARC news ratings create a dent in your festive season targets? Also, the 2026 TV ratings policy opens the doors for multiple ratings agencies, do you think BARC’s monopoly should be at an end?
The ratings system is deeply flawed. Lot of the critique directed towards BARC and the way ratings are collected is valid. And yet, it is important to have a ratings agency so as to have a measurement yardstick which we don’t control ourselves. Otherwise, the editors in every newsroom would be convinced that they’re the best. So, I am very keen on the BARC ratings being back at the earliest. It’s even more important because at this point, NDTV is being priced at last year’s ratings and we have grown a lot since then. But to what extent, only actual ratings can tell. I’m also of the opinion that there should be multiple sources of ratings, because if more than one ratings agency says that NDTV is doing well, then everyone has to accept that, there is no scope for doubt.
Q] Tell us about the rebranding of NDTV 24/7 and what kind of transformation will it see with regard to programming and positioning? How will you go about marketing this?
NDTV 24x7 becomes NDTV, reflecting how audiences now consume news across television, apps, YouTube, Instagram, websites and Connected TV. The new positioning, ‘When It Really Matters’, recognises that audiences are overwhelmed by information but still seek a trusted destination during elections, budgets, wars or crises. The transformation will therefore focus on stronger, purpose-driven journalism, with an energetic newsroom visible across platforms. The journalism itself, will be the strongest marketing.
