Twenty First Century Media appoints Basant Dhawan as the CEO

TCM, a full service sports marketing and management company for over three decades  has appointed Basant Dhawan as Chief Executive officer.

Basant will be responsible for leading all the existing business verticals of TCM – Sports consultancy ,Domestic league rights ,In-Stadia rights, Athlete representation, Sponsorship management, Event Operations etc. Additionally, he will be developing & implementing sports content strategies & drive other new business lines for TCM across domestic & international markets.

“As a company with expertise in providing wholistic solutions to sports marketing and management, Basant’s deep knowledge as a leader in running broadcast business ,creating & managing Sports IPs  with rich experience across functions will help us to further scale up and diversify our businesses”, says Lokesh Sharma, Managing Director, TCM.

TCM holds exclusive ground rights across various cricket stadia in India and globally. Outside India TCM holds the exclusive Naming, Sponsorship, In stadia rights across  New Zealand cricket, Cricket West Indies & Asia Cup tournaments (Asian cricket council).Besides this , TCM has on-ground partnerships with cricket boards of South Africa, Bangladesh, England and Australia.

Basant Dhawan, said “I am excited to be back in the Sports Industry after my previous stint as CEO of business & English news channels at Network 18. I look forward to contributing towards TCM’s vision of establishing itself as a leader in the sports marketing & management in India & internationally. TCM has been in the sports business for close to three decades & is unique in terms of its services.  It is continuously helping  right holders & brands to leverage sports for driving business & marketing needs. It is further looking at new sporting opportunities in line with the demand & changing consumption of today’s sports fan. ”  

Dhawan, has a management degree from IIM Calcutta, comes with an experience of over two decades with leadership roles across industries – Media & Entertainment, Telecom, Auto etc.

Prior to his recent stint with CNN News 18 & CNBC TV 18  as CEO, Dhawan was with Star Sports as SVP & Head Emerging Sports. He was part of the team that has delivered the new domestic leagues to India – Pro Kabaddi, Indian Super League ,Premier Badminton league etc besides establishing premium sports like English Premier League, Grand slams for Indian viewer.

Before Sar Sports , Basant was with Vodafone India where he successfully managed its brand sponsorship of the IPL & created activation IPs like Vodafone Superfan & the Zoo Zoos IPL campaigns. He headed the Media function as General Manager.