Dilip Venkatraman appointed CEO of CNN-IBN

N. Dilip Venkatraman, CMO, CNN-IBN, IBN7, IBN-Lokmat & COO, IBN Focus, has been assigned the mandate to lead Network18's English News Channel, CNN-IBN as CEO, with immediate effect. In his new role, Venkatraman will be responsible for the strategic, financial and operational management of India’s No.1 English News Channel. Earlier, he was leading marketing operations for all existing and upcoming IBN channels and managing IBN Focus, the alternative media solutions unit for the channels. Apart from his leadership role in building CNN-IBN, IBN7 & IBN-Lokmat into the country’s leading news brands, Venkatraman is known for conceptualizing benchmark properties at the Network including CNN-IBN Indian of the Year, Real Heroes, IBN7 Diamond States Awards, Citizen Journalist Awards and IBN7 Super Idols.

Venkatraman has over 19 years of corporate experience and prior to joining Network18, he held leadership positions at the India Today Group and Zee Network. Winner of the ‘Indian Marketing Award’, Venkatraman is a graduate in public administration and holds management qualifications from IIM Bangalore and Harvard Business School.

Speaking on this development, B.Saikumar, Group COO, Network18 commented "We believe that the English news market is poised for tremendous growth and CNN IBN would be best placed to lead this emerging trend. In Dilip, we entrust the responsibility of managing this growth, ensuring sustained profitability and leading the drive to further enhance the brand’s equity and audience franchise”

On this occasion, Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-In-Chief, CNN-IBN, IBN7, IBN-Lokmat said “Dilip has been a core member of the team instrumental in building the IBN news network into a leadership position, beginning with the launch of CNN-IBN in 2005. His remarkable success in communicating our values of inclusive journalism has helped us grow CNN-IBN into a clear leader in English news and ensured that CNN-IBN, IBN 7 & IBN Lokmat evolve into the stellar editorial brands that they are today and we’re confident that he’ll continue to contribute immensely in the next level of growth for CNN-IBN” 

Dilip Venkatraman added "I believe that, right from the outset, CNN-IBN has set the agenda for news in the country with its unique brand of inclusive and passionate journalism which has inturn powered its growth. I hope to work closely with team CNN-IBN to further strengthen our editorial and market leadership”