At the Young Entrepreneur Summit & Awards 2016 on Friday, a discussion on the topic 'Building News Network-Age Doesn't Matter' was moderated by Anurag Batra, Chairman BW Businessworld, and Kartikeya Sharma, founder and promoter, ITV Network shared his key insights on the subject.
Speaking about his journey as a media entrepreneur, Sharma mentioned the similarities between traditional businesses and the media business. He said, "Many people believe that media business is different from other business set-ups, but that is not the case in real. The basics are the same, it's just the mindset that is different. The big factor is: how do you understand your business and learn?"
Urging young entrepreneurs to brace for unexpected challenges, Sharma added, "When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. The important thing for the entrepreneurs is to take decisions without delay. You have to take decisions and don't worry whether they eventually go the right way or the wrong way, sometimes you may get corrected, but finally taking a stand is what matters."
Speaking about how digital is impacting all business, including the broadcast media, Sharma explained, "Digital definitely does usher a different world but the fundamentals of business will never change, and that fundamental in my domain is content. So, if you understand business at a fundamental level you will understand how it will evolve. Digital is going to grow business and will augment the baseline and the top line."
Explaining the inherent contradiction between diversification and specialisation as far as the broadcast business is concerned, Sharma added, "I don't see any contradiction as different types of content in media are diversified manifestations of the same business. In the coming time content would become an agnostic entity."