MAM
Binance becomes official crypto exchange partner of Grammys 2022
Mumbai: Global blockchain company Binance has partnered with The Recording Academy to become the ‘first-ever official cryptocurrency exchange partner’ for the 64th Annual Grammy Awards and Grammy Week events, including the inaugural Recording Academy Honors celebration.
“Binance will continue to work with The Recording Academy to bring various Web3 technology solutions and experiences to the organisation’s members, events and initiatives throughout the year,” said the crypto platform in a statement on Friday.
“As we continue to evolve the Recording Academy for a rapidly changing music industry and for the next generation of creators, we feel that it’s important to work with innovative partners to explore new monetisation avenues for our members and create new experiences for music fans,” said Recording Academy co-president Panos A Panay. “As the leading player in the crypto and blockchain space and with its community-focused approach, Binance is the perfect partner for the Grammys and for our mission to empower music people around the world.”
“We were impressed by the Recording Academy’s ability to meet changing demands by its community—this is something we mutually share as a company that puts users and people first,” said Binance co-founder Yi He. “Starting with the Grammys, we are excited to work together with the Recording Academy to bring fresh new experiences powered by blockchain and all the great things Web3 technology can bring to entertainment.”
Additional details about the partnership will be announced at a later date.
Live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, SonyLIV will be exclusively streaming the 64th edition of Grammy Awards in India on 4 April at 5:30 a.m IST.
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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.
