MAM
Ipsos India appoints Raja Bunet as COO
KOLKATA: Ipsos India has appointed Raja Bunet as chief operations officer, for leading contactless data collection operations, with immediate effect.
“Covid19 hampered our fieldwork operations due to lockdowns and restrictions, considering, face-to-face data collection accounts for almost 99 per cent of our fieldwork. And with woes of the virus far from over, we’ve majorly overhauled and launched our suite of contactless data collection solutions for clients to give them an edge in speed, quality and timely insights. And Raja Bunet from our top leadership team will be spearheading our contactless data collection operations with immediate effect. He will be designated chief operations officer,” Ipsos India CEO Amit Adarkar said.
“Ipsos India has always been at the forefront of client centricity and innovation, and I’m pleased
to announce that we are redrawing our strategy and infusing newer techniques in providing
clients with a large portfolio of tech-savvy, contactless data collection techniques and aligning
and customizing them to client requirements and exigencies. Bunet will be structuring his teams
for execution, of online and telephonic,” Adarkar added.
Contactless data collection techniques will supplement F2F data collection. In order to
overhaul the Operations and to put it on the grid, Bunet will be working jointly with Pratim
Thakurta (face-to-face, field operations head), in drafting the blueprint for Operations.
Bunet has about two decades’ experience in market research and has held a number of top-level positions in Ipsos India – from head of customer loyalty, to head of mobile research, etc; and his work experience has straddled sectors and categories. He is an alumnus of IILM, Delhi.
“In the last few months, we’ve been working on operationalizing our arsenal of contactless data
collection methodologies and are now focusing on building best-in-class processes to achieve
operational excellence,” Bunet commented.
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
