MAM
Amitabh Bachchan is the most recognised celebrity in India, says report
Mumbai: Hansa Research’s Brand Endorser Report has ranked Amitabh Bachchan as the most recognised celebrity in the country with a very high all-India rank. He is ahead of favourites who are younger and probably more active in their fields, such as MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan, and Salman Khan.
The celebrities are tracked on various metrics like likability, social media influence, perception, marketing potential, recognition, etc., which make up their final BE Score. With the highest score in the all India rank BE score, Bacchchan was ranked third in the West and North Zones, ninth in the South Zone and eleventh in the East Zone.
The Brand Endorser is a comprehensive report of intensive research conducted across 36 Indian cities. According to the research, Bachchan has the highest-ever recognition score of 92 per cent, making him the most well-known personality in the nation. He is seen as a global personality who is self-made, relatable, influential, energetic, fit, as well as sophisticated and reliable. He is a fascinating brand ambassador for a variety of products because of these features.
Commenting on the significance of the report, Hansa Research chief executive officer Praveen Nijhara said, “Our study Brand Endorser is a holistic and comprehensive assessment of the value that an endorser brings to a brand. The study aids marketers to take informed decisions and improve the overall return of investment (ROI) in celebrity engagement.”
As the “Shahenshah” of Bollywood, he has a strong presence and mark in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
At the age of 79, Amitabh Bachchan is one of the most ubiquitous personalities, endorsing various brands, providing voiceovers with his trademark baritone, acting in diverse Indian & Hollywood films, and hosting one of the longest-running game shows on Indian television.
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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.
