Forging New India: Angad Bhatia

The sensational and trendy, Angad Bhatia, who is currently the COO of Indiatimes Lifestyle Network (ILN) founded his brand MensXP to create an authentic and familiar yet connectable voice for the nation.  Propelling ILN from 5 mn to over 40 mn unique users (UUs) in just two years, carving its brand identity as a bonafide, youth and new-media collective built for social-savvy millennials, Bhatia is the young winner of BW Businessworld’s 40 Under 40 finale. MensXP is young India’s most-loved media brand for millennial men. India’s leading youth lifestyle network, ILN comprises of Indiatimes, MensXP, iDiva and WhatsHot.

Bhatia stated that ILN was formed with a simple vision to serve as a platform for millennials to voice their feelings and read about issues that affect them the most. “We wanted to build communities where people not only align with our vision of entertainment but also to the undertone of the new India we want to forge,” established the young entrepreneur. Bhatia stated that they expanded their reach by engaging key talents who became the face of the brand, and by extension, expanded voice.  “We have worked tirelessly to build these communities by turning hushed whispers into conversations and spotlighting issues that were neglected until they became a part of our parlance,” informed Bhatia. ILN also represents an alternate voice for those who couldn’t relate to the messaging of the traditional brands on the conventional mediums at the time. The new faces have in turn shaped the company and the trendsetting content has become emblematic of the vision of the company, stated Bhatia. While discussing the journey, he said, “There is no set pattern. We have tried to do away with most patterns and consistently tried to reinvent the wheel. There are some basics we swear by—never take your audience for granted, listen and pay heed to their feedback, be flexible in your approach, and try to do better every day.”

Highlighting the journey, Bhatia said, “ILN is now, by far, India’s biggest content destination for millennials who seek social ammunition to navigate their daily lives. “Our nearest competitors in the lifestyle publishing space is roughly one-fifth of us in most metrics. While elucidating challenges, Bhatia said, “To keep growing with our audience, to stay relevant and keep up with a millennial-driven ecosystem and to be consistent in our quality, are a few.” Irrespective of the challenges, Bhatia feels excited to head four of the most inspiring and culturally-relevant brands, each of which has an authentic and trusted voice.

In December 2016, Indiatimes.com under the leadership of Bhatia has ranked the world’s most engaged brand on Facebook ahead of Fox, CNN, NYtimes, Huffington-Post, Buzzfeed, etc. Renowned and popular for some of its connectable and trendy pop characters, ILN has recently forayed into e-commerce with MensXP Shop, a premium one-stop online shopping space featuring over 50 fashion-forward brands offering the best products across beauty, clothing, footwear and lifestyle categories for the millennial men. MensXP has also launched a suite of its own DTC brands —MensXP Mud - a beauty range for men and is set to launch MensXP Butter - a shaving range and MensXP Basics - a minimal fashion label, with others to follow soon.

He informed that MensXP, iDiva, Indiatimes and WhatsHot holistically comprise of around more than 150 million, with annual video views of 1 billion, social media following up to  20 million and lastly social media engagement with across 100 million users on the internet.