Product Manager

Job Description About Times Internet: At Times Internet, we create premium digital products that simplify and enhance the lives of millions. As India's largest digital products company, we have a significant presence across a wide range of categories, including News, Sports, Fintech, and Enterprise solutions. Our portfolio features market-leading and iconic brands such as TOI, ET, NBT, Cricbuzz, Times Prime, Times Card, Indiatimes, Whatshot, Abound, Willow TV, Techgig and Times Mobile among many more. Each of these products is crafted to enrich your experiences and bring you closer to your interests and aspirations. As an equal opportunity employer, Times Internet strongly promotes inclusivity and diversity. We are proud to have achieved overall gender pay parity in 2018, verified by an independent audit conducted by Aon Hewitt. We are driven by the excitement of new possibilities and are committed to bringing innovative products, ideas, and technologies to help people make the most of every day. Join us and take us to the next level About Times Of India: TOI is India's largest and most influential news publisher in English. We inform and actively engage you to drive progress at a local and national level. We bring you the latest news, analysis and videos across current affairs, business, entertainment, sports, lifestyle and culture everyday. About the Role We're seeking a data-driven Product Manager to own and accelerate video consumption across our news platform (website and mobile apps). You'll be responsible for transforming video from a supplementary format into a primary consumption mode, driving engagement, retention, and monetization through strategic product initiatives. What You'll Own Primary Metric: Video consumption (views, watch time, video sessions per user) Secondary Metrics: Video completion rates Video-driven DAU/MAU Video ad revenue and yield Video share of total time spent Key Responsibilities Strategy & Vision Define and execute the 12-18 month product roadmap for video across web and apps Identify opportunities to increase video consumption at each stage of the user journey (homepage, article pages, dedicated video sections, notifications) Develop video content strategy in partnership with editorial - determining optimal video types (breaking news, explainers, shorts, live streams) Build business case for video investments with clear ROI projections Product Development Design and optimize video player experience (autoplay, quality, controls, PiP) Create engaging video discovery mechanisms (feeds, recommendations, personalization) Develop video-specific features (playlists, watch history, save for later, sharing) Implement video formats suited for different contexts (Stories, Shorts, long-form, live) Build seamless cross-platform experiences (continue watching across devices) Growth & Engagement Drive video viewership through product interventions (placement, CTR optimization, thumbnails) Increase video completion rates and watch time Reduce video abandonment through UX improvements Create habit-forming video experiences and recurring video properties Optimize video notifications strategy Monetization Partner with ad-ops to maximize video ad revenue (pre-roll, mid-roll strategies) Balance user experience with monetization (ad load, frequency) Explore premium video subscription opportunities Implement video sponsorship and branded content frameworks Technical & Operations Work with engineering to ensure optimal video delivery (CDN, encoding, adaptive bitrate) Monitor and improve video technical metrics (load time, rebuffering, error rates) Define video content requirements and workflows for editorial teams Build analytics instrumentation for comprehensive video tracking Cross-functional Leadership Collaborate with editorial to align on video content priorities Partner with design for best-in-class video UX Work with engineering on technical feasibility and architecture Align with business teams on revenue targets and advertiser needs Coordinate with marketing on video-led user acquisition campaigns Requirements - 3-5 years of product management experience, with 2+ years focused on video or media products - Strong analytical skills with experience using data to drive product decisions (SQL, analytics tools) - Proven track record of growing engagement metrics (views, time spent, retention) - Deep understanding of video technology (streaming protocols, encoding, CDNs) - Experience with A/B testing and experimentation frameworks - Understanding of digital advertising and video monetization Strong Plus - Experience at news/media organizations or video-first platforms - Knowledge of video recommendation algorithms and personalization - Familiarity with video CMS and production workflows - Understanding of mobile-first video consumption patterns - Experience with short-form video (Stories, Reels, Shorts) - Background in user research and qualitative analysis Technical Skills - Proficiency with analytics tools (Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, etc.) - Basic SQL for data analysis - Understanding of video metrics (VTR, completion rate, engagement rate) - Familiarity with video ad specifications (VAST, VPAID) Key Competencies - Data-Driven Decision Making: You live in dashboards and let data guide your product choices while balancing with qualitative insights - User Empathy: You understand how, when, and why users consume video content differently than text - Bias for Action: You ship fast, learn, and iterate rather than pursuing perfection - Cross-functional Influence: You can rally engineering, design, editorial, and business teams around a unified video vision - Content Understanding: You appreciate editorial judgment while bringing product rigor to content strategy - Business Acumen: You understand the unit economics of video and can articulate its impact on the P&L