MAM
Gruner + Jahr expands into New Delhi
MUMBAI: European media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG‘s publishing arm Gruner + Jahr opened is expanding its news corporate in New Delhi to cater the needs of recently acquired companies, MaXposure Media Group and Networkplay.
Gruner+Jahr‘s entered India in 2008 through the launch of Geo magazine through a license contract and has since then been strategically advancing to build a strong portfolio of print and digital media activities. As part of the expansion strategy in India, the company also acquired majority stakes in digital ad network Networkplay and magazine publisher Maxposure.
Gruner + Jahr International executive board member and president Torsten-Jörn Klein said, “The opening of Gruner+Jahr‘s new office is an important step in streamlining our operations and building a strong platform in India. Looking at attractive market growth rates and having gathered the two fast growing companies of their respective industry, emphasizes G+J‘s & Bertelsmann long term commitment to India and strong belief in the growth of the media industry.”
The new office will provide employees of both Maxposure and Networkplay the opportunities of closer interaction and support on personnel and business level and motivate them to jointly achieve greater heights in their respective industry.
Gruner + Jahr has over 300 magazines and 150 websites in more than 30 countries. In fiscal year 2011, the company generated revenues of euro 2.3 billion and employed around 11,800 people worldwide. 74.9 percent of Gruner + Jahr is owned by Bertelsmann AG, 25.1 percent by the Hamburg publishing family Jahr.
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.
