MAM
Alpha channels to feature region-centric ads
MUMBAI: ‘Alpha Features’, the latest ad revenue generation strategy announced by the Alpha Group of channels plans to do away with the myth that TV advertising is expensive.
The innovative concept aims at targeting the small time entrepreneurs and retailers in each region by giving them a chance to advertise brands which need high local penetration and visibility.
By doing so, the Alpha channels, part of the Zee network, expect to expand their revenue stream by tapping the retail segment which they expect will contribute 50 per cent of the overall revenue of the channels.
The scheme, slated to be economical for advertisers, will offer anchor support to them and inform the viewers on the products, services, latest trends, various schemes and discounts offered, states a press release.
To maintain the right balance between advertising and informative programming content for its viewers the channel is appointing ‘business partners’ who will help the advertisers produce informative features on the industry at a nominal fee, the release adds.
“Today, with the introduction of Alpha Features, we are bridging the gap existing between an advertiser and viewer by offering them a mutually beneficial relationship. The initiative will also enable the advertising market to grow exponentially with the introduction of cost effective advertisements. We have advertisers like Runwal Builders, Chintamani Jewelers, Davars College, Raj Tours and Travels to name a few,” says Alpha Channels Head Prashant Sanwal.
The channel has also introduced various on-ground value added incentives for advertisers and the audience such as free passes to the Alpha Gaurav Awards, the prestigious literary awards for Marathi films, music and theatre, if the customer buys products from an advertiser’s establishment worth a particular amount.
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.
