Raj Nayak's new venture targets sports, radio, cinema

Following his exit from the NDTV Media joint venture, Raj Nayak has been putting in place a plan for his new venture, AIDEM.

Advertising sales will continue to be the key revenue generator for the company, with Nayak considering getting into areas such as sports marketing, radio and cinema
as well.

Sports marketing, in particular, is an area he describes as promising.

The Indian Premier League cricket tournament, into its third year, is already a $2-billion enterprise. Nayak, an avid cricket buff, best known for setting new benchmarks in sports marketing following his aggressive sale of TV spots on ESPN during the Cricket World Cup in 1999, sees no dearth of opportunities there.

He told Business Standard, "One of the IPL teams has approached us with the idea of being their outsourced sales representative. We find that interesting.

Apart from cricket, there are other sporting activities that are coming up today. In our view, sports marketing can emerge as a strong vertical for us in the future."

On radio and cinema, Nayak sees AIDEM performing multiple roles -- marketing, sales, doing proprietary research, etc.

"Radio is not as disorganised as cinema is," he says. "As an independent, there is a role we can play here, whether it is disseminating information, getting theatre and mutliplex owners on a common platform etc. That, again, is something we are looking at," he says.

AIDEM's clients at the moment include NDTV, which is on board on renegotiated terms, Sahara, MSN, US-based Scripps Network, Sri Adhikari Brothers-promoted Mi Marathi channel, etc. "We are talking to a few more," he says.

"We will conclude the discussions shortly."

Nayak also hints at the possibility of "buying out some distressed asset,s as well as getting foreign channels into the country". He, however, refuses to spell out further details. "It is confidential," he says.

Sitting in the same Bandra office when he was head of NDTV Media, Nayak says the address for his new venture remains the same.

"We continue to be located at the same place, with the same set of people working for us. It is only the brand name that has changed," he says.

Currently, AIDEM has some 200 people on its rolls, with Nayak recruiting more hands. A key media executive to have joined him recently is Kaushal Dalal, executive vice-president at STAR India, who came on board on April 1.

"There are more people on their way," he says. "Our hands are full."

Image: Raj Nayak