MAM
Amazon Music releases Film Companion’s Cannes Film Festival red carpet podcast
Mumbai: Amazon Music India and Film Companion will bring the live glam right from the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. With the biggest names from the entertainment industry gracing the red carpet, listeners will be able to keep up with it right from their homes. Hosted by Anupama Chopra and Sneha Menon Desai, the podcast has a stellar guest lineup of filmmaker Chidananda Naik, actor Kiara Advani, actor Naseeruddin Shah, filmmaker Payal Kapadia and musician AR Rahman.
Speaking about the podcast from Film Companion, Amazon Music India director Mamta Saraf said, “Our goal at Amazon Music is to bring fresh content to the listeners and explore avenues that we haven’t before. We are excited to collaborate with Film Companion for the Cannes Film Festival special podcast, and elated about bringing it to Amazon Music listeners two weeks early.”
Addressing the association, Film Companion founder and editor Anupama Chopra said, “I’m absolutely thrilled to be back at Cannes, capturing the glory of the movies at one of the most prestigious events in the film industry. We look forward to bringing Amazon Music listeners access to the magic of the interviews and coverage of the Cannes Film Festival 2024 through our podcasts. With an incredible lineup of guests and insights into the world of cinema, this year promises to be truly unforgettable. So, tune in to ‘Film Companion at Cannes’24’ on Amazon Music and join us as we dive into the heart of cinematic excellence!”
‘Film Companion at Cannes’24’ Podcast is now streaming on Amazon Music!
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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.
