MAM
CAA Kwan bags Bollywood biggie Akshay Kumar
MUMBAI: Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar is definitely a good name to have on any talent management agency‘s roster. Akshay has had strong brand associations with the likes of Thums Up, Dollar and Signature. This apart he has also anchored shows on Hindi GEC Colors such as Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi and helped build its connect with audiences when it was launched five years ago.
Now Akshay has signed entertainment & marketing management firm CAA Kwan as his brand custodian and exclusive representative.
Akshay joins other Bollywood talents such as Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Freida Pinto who are managed by CAA Kwan. The representation covers endorsements and live appearances, in India and internationally.
Says Akshay: “I have known of Anirban and the team‘s abilities at CAA Kwan for quite some time now. After having already worked with them, I was glad to have them represent me for my commercial work and manage my work behind the scenes while I focus on and give my work in front of the camera my all.”
Adds CAA Kwan managing partner Anirban Das Blah: “Akshay Kumar is one of the biggest stars in the country. Having delivered the maximum number of super-hits over the last 10 years, it is an honour to have a global icon who stands for success, integrity and perseverance. He exudes warmth and humility, has a strong pan India appeal, effortless style and a bank of blockbusters to vouch for his unmatched talent. It has always been a pleasure to work with him in the past and we are now looking forward to take this relationship to the next level as his exclusive agents in the brand and appearance market.”
While no numbers were available on how much the deal would be worth, Forbes India had earlier this year estimated that Akshay Kumar earned Rs 179.85 crore in 2012. A substantial part of this income came from endorsements and live appearances. This apart he is the highest tax payer in Bollywood.
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
