MAM
All Indians Matter in Apple Podcasts, Spotify top picks
The All Indians Matter podcast has been featured as the top pick in Apple Podcasts’ ‘New & Noteworthy’ section and has shot up to No 11 on the Apple India charts after debuting at No 24. Earlier this month, it was among the top picks in Spotify’s ‘News & Politics’ section.
The All Indians Matter podcast is helmed by former journalist Ashraf Engineer and is presented by IdeaBrew Studios. It was launched on Independence Day eve this year. The podcast is a home for commentary and conversations with and about India on issues that matter.
The podcast features commentary by Engineer – who held leadership positions in some of India’s top newsrooms and continues to write for various publications and platforms besides making radio appearances for international radio stations. It also features conversations with experts on issues ranging from the economy to agriculture, the media and everything in between.
The weekly podcast has 16 published episodes already and is available on Spotify, JioSaavn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Hubhopper. About 20% of its listenership is from countries other than India and 80% of the audience is between 18 and 30 years of age. The show has also seen steady subscriber growth across platforms since launch.
“I launched www.allindiansmatter.in in early 2020 as a digital home for high-quality commentary on issues that matter to India. The idea was to explain how various events matter to citizens’ lives and why they should care about them. I was fortunate to receive the support of some veteran journalists and commentators, who contributed to the website. A few months later, IdeaBrew Studios suggested I extend the effort to a podcast – an idea that excited me,” said Engineer, who is now part of a strategic communication consultancy but retains his journalistic sensibility and links.
Aditya Kuber, co-founder of IdeaBrew Studios, said: “Our studio is a digital-age storyteller. We present quality content across genres, from news commentary to sports and lifestyle. All Indians Matter is special because it was our first presentation and we couldn’t be happier with its success. Amid the media noise and clutter, audiences are craving content that truly makes sense of their world for them – especially in the audio format. So, there is space for quality commentary on current affairs and national issues. Engineer, with his journalism background of nearly two decades in media organisations, has the right credentials for it. That it’s working is evident in the way audiences – especially the young – are taking to the podcast and also in the recognition the platforms are giving it.”
For more information, contact Aditya Kuber on aditya@ideabrews.com/9823799121.
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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.
