The 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Indian Broadcasting & Digital Foundation (IBDF) convened today in Delhi where K. Madhavan, Punit Misra, I. Venkat and Rajat Sharma were re- elected to the board. K Madhavan has been re-elected as IBDF president.
Other Board members include Rahul Joshi, Aroon Purie, N. P. Singh, Nitin Nadkarni, Punit Goenka, R. Mahesh Kumar, and Gaurav Banerjee. The designated office bearers consist of K. Madhavan as the President-IBDF, Rajat Sharma serving as the Vice President for IBDF (News & Current Affairs), Rahul Joshi appointed as Vice President for IBDF (Govt. & Regulatory Affairs), and Punit Misra assuming the role of Treasurer for IBDF.
In the IBDF Board of Directors meeting that followed the AGM, John Brittas and Kevin Vaz were co-opted to the board.
Addressing the members during the AGM, IBDF President, K. Madhavan said, “Despite the ongoing geo-political issues like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle-East due to the Israel-Hamas war and accompanying economic volatility, the Indian economy in general and the Media & Entertainment industry, in particular, have shown extreme resilience”.
“India has firmly embarked on a digital transformation journey with 868 mn broadband users in India, and within a year of launch, 5G services have been rolled out across 97percent of Indian cities resulting in internet speeds going up by 3 times. Connected TV continues to grow with 90 percent of TV sets sold in India being smart TVs. 2023 will be a defining year for the Indian M&E industry with digital ad revenue expected to surpass ad revenue on traditional media,” he added.
Madhavan also spoke about the Linear TV penetration in the country and said “With 900 channels, linear television continues to enjoy an unparalleled reach of 900 million viewers and is the largest media platform in India. Unlike in other developed markets, there is significant growth potential for the Linear TV as one-third of households in India do not have access to television. It will require the collective might of the IBDF members to connect the left out 100mn households to our fold.”