GECs
Aamir Khan all praise for Star India CEO Uday Shankar
MUMBAI: Film star Aamir Khan has been passionate about Satyamev Jayate, and it was thanks to his passion and the great platform and tremendous support he received from Star India, that today, his show has turned out to be India’s most meaningful and impactful TV show for positive social change.
So it was understandable that Aamir Khan was delighted when Star India CEO Uday Shankar was named the Impact Person of The Decade – an award he received from the Governor of Maharashtra, C V Rao, in Mumbai.
The prestigious award recognizes the one individual who has made maximum and far-reaching impact on and influenced and helped shape the media, marketing and advertising industry tremendously over the last 10 years. And obviously, amongst the many initiatives that Star India leader Uday Shankar has rolled out over the past decade, one of the most significant, with tremendous positive social impact, has been Satyamev Jayate with Aamir Khan.
“I’ve known Uday for about five years now — his razor-sharp mind, his intelligence, his courage, his boldness to take difficult decisions…” Aamir Khan told a galaxy of top professionals through a recorded message at the award ceremony, adding, “Uday believes in the impossible! That is why he achieves the impossible!”
An initiative of the scale of Satyamev Jayate could never have been executed to perfection unless both leaders of the show – Aamir Khan and Uday Shankar – did not have the same kind of passionate belief in and commitment to working for social good through the show.
This shared passion and commitment was obvious when Uday Shankar, who believes strongly in collaboration, told the audience in his acceptance speech, that “The willingness to collaborate has been built on solid conviction to do the right thing – not just for Star but for the entire industry and society. The conviction to not do regressive content, the conviction to not compromise the larger interest of community and the conviction to be not bogged down by fear of failure.”
Referring to three other top, acclaimed Bollywood film directors whom Star India brought to television, Uday Shankar said, “If at Star we have been able to change the content landscape, that’s happened largely because Star has shown a better ability to attract and work with an eclectic spectrum of talent – be it the likes of Aamir Khan or Karan Johar or Ashutosh Gowarikar or Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Together we have all raised the bar for content at Star.”
GECs
ZEEL overhauls sales structure to chase growth across TV and digital platforms
New structure sharpens digital push as viewing habits fragment fast
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is reshuffling its sales playbook as it looks to keep pace with a fast-changing media landscape, where audiences are scattered, screens are multiplying and advertisers are following the data.
According to media reports, the rejig is anchored in the company’s push to build a more integrated, data-led monetisation engine, one that can straddle both traditional television and fast-growing digital platforms with equal ease.
At the heart of the move is a reworked sales architecture designed to deliver cross-platform solutions. With connected TV gaining ground and digital consumption surging, ZEEL is aligning its teams to move quicker, think broader and sell smarter.
The restructuring is being led by chief operating officer, advertisement revenue, Sandeep Mehrotra, at a time when the company says it is seeing tremendous growth. The idea is simple: match the right talent to the right opportunity in a market that is anything but static.
As part of the overhaul, several long-serving executives have been elevated to chief sales officer roles across regions and content clusters. Sanjoy Chatterjee will head the east market, while Gunjarav Nayak takes charge of the west along with high-margin verticals such as hmg, brand works, intellectual properties and digital sales. Rajnish Gupta will oversee bengaluru and chennai markets alongside the kannada and tamil clusters.
In other key moves, Divjyot Dhanda will lead hyderabad and kochi markets and manage zee tv, zee keralam and the telugu cluster. Roshan Vasu Kotian will supervise a diverse portfolio including Zee Marathi, &tv, Zee Punjabi, Zee Anmol, Big Magic and Zee Biskope.
The company is also strengthening its bench, appointing national sales heads across retail, regional clusters, digital and brand solutions. Ankur Kapila’s appointment to lead digital sales signals a sharper push into a segment that continues to outpace traditional formats.
Behind the scenes, dedicated strategy and operations roles have been carved out for both linear and digital businesses. Nitin Shetty, Rajkiran Shrivastav and Priya Nambiar will take on key responsibilities to ensure the new structure runs with precision.
The broader aim is clear. ZEEL wants a bigger slice of advertising budgets that are steadily drifting towards digital and connected TV ecosystems. By integrating its offerings, the company hopes to deepen client relationships while unlocking new revenue streams.
The new structure takes effect immediately, with Mehrotra continuing to report to chief executive officer Punit Goenka and steer the company’s advertising revenue strategy. Senior executive Laxmi Shetty will support the transition, with her revised role expected to be announced soon.
In a market where content is everywhere but attention is scarce, ZEEL’s latest move is less about rearranging the org chart and more about staying in the game.
