iWorld
Hotstar appoints Sameer Kapoor as Vice President – Agency Ad Sales
MUMBAI: Hotstar, India’s leading premium streaming platform, announced the appointment of Sameer Kapoor as Vice President – Agency Ad Sales. In his new role, Sameer will be responsible for driving the relationship with media agencies to deliver measurable and impactful media strategy for clients through Hotstar.
Sameer brings over 17 years of media and marketing experience to the table, having managed offline and online platforms in leadership roles across diverse industries and geographies. Sameer joins Hotstar from Google, where he was Head of Brand Measurement for the India & Southeast Asia markets. Prior to that, he sharpened his media management experience with Starcom as Vice President, overseeing the Samsung account, and Madison World as General Manager, handling Bharti Airtel.
Commenting on his appointment, Sameer Kapoor said, “I’m thrilled to have joined the incredible team at Hotstar. As India's leading OTT platform, Hotstar offers tremendous value to users and marketers alike. In my role, I look forward to building stronger partnerships with agencies, enabling them to offer the most effective media solutions for modern multiscreen consumers.”
Gulshan Verma, SVP and Head – Client & Agency, Hotstar added, ‘Sameer is joining us at a time when Hotstar has firmly established its might in digital video, through its massive content catalog and extensive set of advertiser tools to deliver highly targeted solutions for clients. It’s an exciting part of our journey and we’re excited to have Sameer drive the agency agenda for Hotstar.’
iWorld
Tips Music CEO Hari Nair to step down
Girish Taurani and Sushant Dalmia to jointly steer the company as the hunt for a new chief begins
MUMBAI: A leadership shuffle is under way at Tips Music. Hari Nair, the company’s chief executive, will step down on April 30 as the music label begins the search for a successor.
The company said Girish Taurani, executive director, and Sushant Dalmia, chief financial officer, will jointly oversee operations during the transition while the board identifies a permanent replacement.
Nair joined Tips Music in 2023 and set about reshaping the veteran music label into a more digital, data-led enterprise. During his tenure, the company secured licensing and partnership deals with global platforms including Sony Music Publishing and TikTok, while renewing agreements with Warner Music Group.
Drawing on earlier experience in technology and entertainment, including a stint at ByteDance, Nair pushed the organisation towards a performance-driven culture. He built a brand partnerships division and introduced proprietary software systems aimed at strengthening digital distribution and data capabilities.
Kumar Taurani, chairman and managing director, credited Nair with embedding a data-led culture within the company and driving revenue growth in line with shareholder commitments.
In his resignation note, Nair said that after helping transition the label into a modern, digitally focused and process-driven organisation, the time had come to pursue his next leadership challenge.
The leadership change comes as the broader Tips Films group shows signs of financial stabilisation. In the third quarter of FY26 the company reported a net loss of Rs 2.86 crore, narrowing sharply from Rs 14.2 crore in the previous quarter. For the nine months ended December, losses stood at Rs 12.37 crore.
Yet revenue told a more volatile story. Income from operations slid to Rs 4 crore in Q3 FY26 from Rs 56 crore in the preceding quarter, taking total operating income to Rs 4.56 crore.
For a company built on a catalogue of more than 34,000 tracks and decades of Bollywood hits, the next chief will inherit both a digital engine and a volatile music market. The playlist may be familiar, but the next act at Tips Music is only just beginning.
