iWorld
Disney+Hotstar appoints Shalini Poddar as EVP & head of ad sales
Mumbai: Disney+ Hotstar has appointed Shalini Poddar as executive vice president and head of ad sales. Poddar replaced Gulshan Verma who had quit the streaming service in July to join Jio Ads as chief executive officer.
At Disney+Hotstar, Poddar will lead ad sales revenue and strategy for the service in India and lead a team of 140 across all aspects of the ads business from business planning, sales, sales strategy including pricing and format, revenue management, operations, data partnerships, programmatic, brand lab, measurement/RoI and customer marketing.
She was previously associated with Google as head of business development, Google Play Apps, India, Southeast Asia and Australia. She had joined Google in March 2016 as industry manager for telecom, gaming and payments. In a career spanning 17 years, she has had stints at Accenture Management Consulting and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
She completed her graduation from Delhi University and is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
iWorld
Epic Company launches unified Epic Studio for films and OTT
Vivek Krishnani to head films business; Samar Khan leads OTT & Television.
MUMBAI: Epic just merged its creative superheroes under one cape because when films and OTT need to fight for attention together, you don’t keep them in separate universes. The Epic Company has launched Epic Studio, a next-generation creative and production powerhouse that unites Juggernaut Productions and Movieverse Studio under a single banner. The move creates a streamlined, scalable platform for premium storytelling across theatrical films, OTT originals, television, digital-first formats and branded content.
Vivek Krishnani has been appointed chief executive officer, Epic Studio (Films), overseeing the theatrical and film business with a focus on culturally resonant narratives across Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and Malayalam cinema. Samar Khan continues as chief executive officer, Epic Studio (OTT & Television) and retains his role as chief content officer for Docubay and Epic On.
The Epic Company managing director Aditya Pittie said, “Epic Studio brings together our entire creative ecosystem under one unified studio vision. This is not just an integration of verticals, but the creation of a collaborative environment where writers, filmmakers, creators, and brand partners can seamlessly develop and scale stories across formats and screens.”
Vivek Krishnani added, “We are building an audience-focused mainstream film studio committed to delivering fresh, engaging, and innovative stories for both theatrical and streaming platforms.”
Samar Khan commented, “This alignment allows us to approach storytelling with a unified studio mindset. We are building IP under one creative umbrella, with scale and longevity in mind from inception.”
The unified structure eliminates silos, enabling ideas to flow fluidly from concept to screen while adapting to evolving audience behaviour. Epic Studio positions itself as a creator-led ecosystem championing purposeful, resonant storytelling with commercial strength.
In an entertainment landscape where stories now leap between screens faster than plot twists, Epic isn’t just building a studio, it’s crafting a single launchpad where every tale gets the best shot at soaring across every platform.
