The nation’s most-watched entertainment news channel, Times Now, officially launched its own Twitter hash-tag consultancy service at a grand ceremony today. The unit has since been flooded with plum deals from a wide range of marketing agencies with clients from diverse fields.
(Image via indiatoday.intoday.in)
“This was waiting to happen. It has always been Arnab and Times Now who have framed THE hashtags for the nation to use in its trolling insightful tweets. Be it #PreityNessMess or #AAPDrama, #IntolerantAAP, #KejriwalStunt or #PakJunketMongers, Times Now’s hashtags dominate Twitter’s trending topics on absolutely every news of interest. The supreme success of Times Now’s hashtags motivated us to get into full-time Hashtag Consultancy, and here we are, with such an overwhelming response from the marketing community right on day one,” Times Now CEO Sunil Lulla told The UnReal Times.
The new business is expected to give the channel some much needed insurance against revenue hits should Arnab suddenly decide to abandon the channel, and take the Nation along with him. “We have already signed up the top two Indian groups in the Twitter hashtag trending space – Asaram Bapu’s disciples and Salman Khan fans – for heavy sums. Our unit has started generating top quality hashtags for them such as #SallujiKaThullu and #AsaramNOTBesharam for them. Things are looking good,” added a buoyed Lulla.
The channel initially invited Preity Zinta as the chief guest at the launch, but the star, unsurprisingly, didn’t oblige. The channel then asked its second choice, Priyanka Gandhi, but was told brusquely that she wouldn’t be seen for another five years. The launch was eventually presided by Pak political analyst and Newshour panelist, Zafar Hilaly.
Later in the day, Times Now managed to make the Hashtag Consultancy’s launch the top trend on Twitter, by generating the hashtag #TimesSuperMegaHashtags for itself.