MAM
Rajesh Mathew joins Dentsu Communications as SVP
MUMBAI: Continuing with the series of senior-level appointments the Dentsu India Group has appointed Rajesh Mathew as senior vice president, Dentsu Communications Mumbai.
Mathew has an experience spanning over 17 years in advertising and his previous stint was as managing partner at Doosra Brand Communications, Mumbai (Part of the Aegis Media Worldwide network, since December 2011).
Dentsu Communications CEO Arijit Ray said, “Rajesh‘s induction into Team Dentsu Communications is part of our on-going impetus on strengthening and consolidating the talent profile. I am sure Rajesh‘s diverse experience across brands over so many years across markets, will help enhance our value proposition amongst our key business portfolios.”
Mathew said, “I look forward to the exciting challenge and opportunities at Dentsu Communications; given the ambitious growth plans that are set, I couldn‘t ask for a better timing than this, to come on board!”
Mathew started his career in 1995 and since then has been actively involved in building brands and strategic business consulting. His first job was with MAA Bozell in Bangalore and later he went on to work with some of the multinational network advertising like Saatchi & Saatchi Direct (Bangalore), Ogilvy & Mather (Bangalore), Lowe Lintas Worldwide (Chennai – as brand services director), Rediffusion DYR and Wunderman (Chennai – as GM for both the Agencies), Contract Advertising (Chennai – as senior vice president and manager) and Ogilvy & Mather (Mumbai – as vice president and business head).
Mathew has worked on a wide spectrum of Clients like – Star TV Network, Mitsubishi Motors (Lancer, Cedia, Pajero, Outlander, Montero) NIIT, SunDTH – HD, Muthoot Fincorp Ltd, Odyssey India, Editions – Pens of the world, Saint-Gobain Glass, Avestha Good Earth Foods , United India Insurance, Grundfos, Hindustan Unilever (Deluxe Green Label Coffee), Hewlett Packard, Wipro, Infosys , Texas Instruments, Mico-Bosch, BankMuscat, Oman Tourism, Oman Oil, The Intercontinental Hotels, Cuticura (talc and deo), Airtel, Citibank, The British Council, Tilaknagar Industries and Timeout Magazine.
AD Agencies
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.
